Out of gas: Sounders fall on late goal to Galaxy

The Seattle Sounders ended their season with a 1-0 loss on the road against the LA Galaxy in the Western Conference final on Saturday. Dejan Joveljic’s 86th minute goal proved the difference.

The Sounders made their second trip to Los Angeles in as many weeks, this time taking on the Galaxy. Through the opening 45 minutes Seattle played LA to a much more even game than many pundits or commentators expected. The two sides went into halftime tied 0-0 as the Sounders particularly limited Riqui Puig’s ability to get on the ball in dangerous areas with any kind of regularity, and as a result kept Joseph Paintsil and Gabriel Pec from getting into the kind of spots that they’ve been able to punish teams from so regularly this season.

Both Stefan Frei and Galaxy goalkeeper John McCarthy had to come up with pretty big saves. Frei got down to his right to keep a snapshot from Dejan Joveljic from finding the bottom corner in th 19th minute. Then in the 40th minute Albert Rusnák won a free kick right on the edge of the box and nearly had the opener on the ensuing shot if not for McCarthy tipping the effort over the bar.

Coming out of the half the Sounders looked the more likely team to grab the opening goal. In the 53rd minute a fantastic run and pass from Pedro de la Vega put Obed Vargas in for a dangerous shot, but Carlos Garces was able to block it and McCarthy caught the deflected ball. In the 62nd it was a fantastic through ball from Jackson Ragen that set up a cross from Nouhou. Nouhou’s ball in hit a defender but fell to Morris with his back to goal. Morris dropped the ball back for Rusnák, but the shot was dealt with by McCarthy once again.

The Sounders were forced to make an unwanted change in the 70th minute when Rusnák had to come off with an apparent flare up of the hip injury that kept him out of the second game in the Houston Dynamo series. João Paulo subbed on for him, and Schmetzer shifted things around with PdlV moving to the 10 spot and Obed Vargas swinging out to the wing.

Seattle continued to control the game for the most part, but in the 86th minute Alex Roldan attempted to clip the ball over a defender for João Paulo in Seattle’s defensive end, but his pass carried over JP and the Galaxy immediately went towards goal. Puig got on the ball and played a pass into a pocket of space as Joveljic ran to fill it; Joveljic reached the ball ahead of scrambling defenders and hit a first-time shot that Frei was able to get a touch on but not enough to keep the ball out of the goal and the Galaxy had what proved to be the winner.

The Sounders tried to find a way back into the game, but the only real excitement in what was left of the match was a little exchange between Nouhou and Gabriel Pec as both of them made some less than good choices that ultimately proved meaningless and inconsequential.

Thus begins the offseason. It’s earlier than we would have liked, but it was a good run nonetheless.

Key moments

3 - Shot! Georgi Minoungou dribbles at a group of three defenders and the ball squeaks through for Albert Rusnák to pounce on it in the area. He gets a shot off, but it’s blocked out for a corner.

15 - Chance! Pedro de la Vega drives at the Galaxy defense before playing a slip pass to Jordan Morris who attempts to return the favor with a pass that’s cut out by goalkeeper John McCarthy.

19 - Save! Stefan Frei has to scramble over to deal with a shot that he seems to spot late from Dejan Joveljic, and paws it away from goal for Alex Roldan to clean up.

40 - Free kick! Rusnák wins a free kick on the edge of LA’s box and hits a great shot that McCarthy has to tip over the bar.

53 - Shot! A great dribble from Pedro de la Vega followed by an excellent pass into Obed Vargas who controls it well and gets a shot off that’s blocked by Carlos Garces and caught by McCarthy.

62 - Shot! Jackson Ragen plays a perfect through ball for Nouhou who hits a cross that is blocked but falls to Morris. Morris lays the ball off for Rusnák to have a shot but McCarthy easily catches it.

79 - Block! The Galaxy work the ball into Seattle’s area with some tight passing to set up a shot for Riqui Puig, but Nouhou steps in the way to block it.

86 - Goal, Galaxy. A giveaway in their own end sends the Galaxy at a scrambling defense. Puig plays a great pass into a pocket of space for Joveljic who puts it past Frei first-time. 1-0 Galaxy

Quick thoughts

Obed Vargas is a star: For most of his time as a Sounders first team player, Obed Vargas has been Very Good for His Age. He’s had moments, sometimes games or runs of games where he was just Very Good, but his age and inexperience could still poke through. Throughout the playoff run, though, Vargas left any consideration for his age behind when it comes to his performance on the field. Against LAFC he was the best non-Stefan Frei player on the field, and he didn’t take much of a step back in this one. He completed 47/52 passes, had a very Sounders-y 74 touches, completed 2 dribbles, was a genuine threat going forward, went 2/2 on tackles and won 6 duels. Vargas is a star, and we should all enjoy watching him shine in Seattle for as long as we get to.

Attrition is a tough obstacle to overcome: We find ourselves in an oddly familiar position, having been knocked out of a competition by an LA team in a 1-0 loss. The Sounders ran the Galaxy about as close as they possibly could have and came up just short. It was a commendable performance, but especially as Albert Rusnák was forced off the field by an injury it’s hard not to think of the players who weren’t on the field to begin with in this one. Yeimar, arguably Seattle’s best defender, missed the game after coming out of the LAFC game banged up. The same goes for Reed Baker-Whiting, who was an integral part of the performance to beat LAFC. Paul Rothrock, who made himself a key part of Brian Schmetzer’s lineup in the second half of the season, played through an injury during the first-round series against Houston that ultimately ended his season. Maybe those players wouldn’t have made the necessary difference, but it’s hard to have to make so many changes when the games mean the most.

We still had some fun: You’re allowed to be upset. It’s a completely reasonable feeling, having been so close to another final and coming up just the smallest bit short. Sports, maybe especially this one, are or at least can be cathartic because they can make us feel such a full range of emotions. But when you’re ready, come back and finish reading this. This playoff run, the last six months or so, even this whole season have been fun. Yes, there have been awful, frustrating periods, but as with the rest of life you get to choose which parts you focus on and we can choose to remember how much fun we've had. Taken on the whole, this was a good season. We got to see Obed Vargas blossom, Paul Rothrock and Georgi Minoungou burst into the first team and provided a spark to the offense and delightful goal celebrations. We got to see the Sounders end their streak against LAFC in a big game in dramatic fashion. We saw Jordan Morris and Albert Rusnák have career years that put them in territory reached by few other Sounders in the MLS era. For all the struggles, this season has been a blast. Next season will be too. It will be different, there will be new faces, and some old faces will move on, but we’ll all still be Sounders together.

Notable quote

Player spotlight

Georgi Minoungou - In the biggest game of his career so far, Minoungou got the start and was pure Georgi. His inexperience showed at times, but he had 5 successful dribbles on 9 attempts, 5 touches in the box and was credited with 1 chance created.