Another uncharacteristic error led to the Seattle Sounders playing from behind for much of the match, but this time they were able to salvage a 1-1 tie with the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday. Albert Rusnák’s 80th minute strike was a beauty and allowed the Sounders to walk away with something after dominating the second half. It wasn’t enough to keep their winless run against the Earthquakes from running to nine games across all competitions, however.
Highlights
Stats
San Jose Earthquakes: 1 (0.78 xG) vs Seattle Sounders FC: 1 (2.96 xG) #SJEvSEA | #Quakes74 | #Sounders | #MLS | 🤖⚽
— MLS Analytics (@mlsstat.bsky.social) 2025-03-30T05:30:49.653822+00:00
MATCH SUMMARY
Seattle Sounders FC 1 – San Jose Earthquakes 1
Saturday, March 29, 2025
Venue: PayPal Park
Referee: Guido Gonzales, Jr.
Assistants: Micheal Barwegen, Gerard-Kader Lebuis
Fourth Official: Mark Badawi
VAR: Michael Radchuk
Attendance: 15,228
Weather: 58 degrees and cloudy
SCORING SUMMARY
SJ – Beau Leroux 32’
SEA – Albert Rusnák (Cristian Roldan, Jesús Ferreira) 80’
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
SJ – Cristian Espinoza (caution) 35’
SJ – Ousseni Bouda (caution) 59’
SEA – Jackson Ragen (caution) 90’+2’
LINEUPS & STATS
Seattle Sounders FC – Stefan Frei; Yeimar, Jackson Ragen, Nouhou; Alex Roldan, Obed Vargas, João Paulo (Danny Musovski 46’), Paul Rothrock (Georgi Minoungou 73’), Cristian Roldan, Albert Rusnák; Jesús Ferreira
Substitutes not used: Andrew Thomas, Cody Baker, Jonathan Bell, Kim Kee-hee, Kalani Kossa-Rienzi, Reed Baker-Whiting, Danny Leyva
Total shots: 26
Shots on goal: 9
Fouls: 13
Offside: 6
Corner-Kicks: 12
Saves: 2
San Jose Earthquakes – Daniel; Bruno Wilson, Dave Romnev, Rodrigues; Reid Roberts (Daniel Munie 73’), Ian Harkes, Cristian Arango, Beau Leroux (Mark-Anthony Kaye 86’), Cristian Espinoza; Preston Judd (Nick Lima 66’), Ousseni Bouda (Josef Martinez 73’)
Substitutes not used: Earl Edwards Jr., Paul Marie, Jack Skahan, Amahl Pellegrino, Jamar Ricketts
Total shots: 9
Shots on goal: 3
Fouls: 18
Offside: 2
Corner-kicks: 4
Saves: 8
Quotes
Brian Schmetzer
“When you look at the stats and the second half and you look at the goal we gave up, it’s two points dropped.”
“I made the decision to start Jesús at the No. 9 but we can all see he likes to play in pockets. We wanted Paul and Cristian to stretch field. But Musovski was effective. It was a total tactical sub. JP wasn’t playing poorly. They didn’t have much. We just felt we needed to make that change rather than wait. Musovski did a good job and Jesús was real effective where he was playing.”
“I’m leaning toward giving Danny another chance against San Diego. He played well, he didn’t get on the scoresheet but he gave us a lift.”
“I still need a little more out of Albert. He can help us in the buildout. I thought he and Jesús were real effective in second half. Albert doesn’t really change but he saw more of the ball.”
“If we play like we did in the second half, we’ll win some road games.”
“Moose put himself into a few good spots and opened up the field. I’ll watch the tape and we’ll see if we see anything different.”
“Paul was doing well in the first half, may have been our best player. To have Georgi on the bench and putting him out on the left, I thought he was really good. He created a bunch of chances. Yes, he might have made a couple of choices I wish he wouldn’t have but you can’t deny he put them under some pressure.”
Albert Rusnák
“We’re not happy with 1-1, we’re not satisfied. We created enough chances to score more than one goal. But there were positives. We have to find a way to start better and play more free. It’s kinda mixed feelings. A lot of positives from the second half.”
“I don’t think we necessarily played a bad game on the road in the first half. It was an unfortunate goal that we cause ourselves. It wasn’t pretty but it wasn’t bad, either. They got some momentum after they scored. It took awhile to get going again. The halftime break was a good time to regroup and find some new thoughts and go into the second half more clear minded.”
Cristian Roldan
“I was able to find the game a little bit. Danny was able to get in behind and gave us a little more athletic ability up top. Committing numbers forward as well.”
“We have to rely on Stef a lot. He’s always been our rock. He’s always going to say the guy in front make it easy. If you’re going to take something away from this game that we have a good squad and will be just fine. We need to start games better and score goals. Once those come together we’ll start winning games.”
“I don’t think it’s putting a burden on us but we have to step up. We don’t know how long it will be until we have everyone back. I know the results aren’t what we wanted but we have to move on. We have another road game on Saturday in conference. We’ll look at the bad things and the positives and have to prepare for the next game.”
