All even at PayPal Park: Sounders settle for one point

The Seattle Sounders went on the road to face Bruce Arena’s San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday night and came away with a 1-1 draw. The Earthquakes opened the scoring on a fortunate deflected goal for Beau Leroux in the 32nd, and Seattle found their answer through Ablert Rusnák in the 80th.

The Sounders took some time to find their way into the game, but after the 15-minute mark they seemed to be putting the Earthquakes under pressure. Alex Roldan had a dangerous header in the 18th minute after Rusnák played a clever pass to put Paul Rothrock in space down the left side and Rothrock sent in a good cross, but Earthquakes goalkeeper Daniel came up with a quality save to deny a goal in favor of a corner. Then in the 20th it was Obed Vargas at the end of some sharp passing around the edge of the box, driving toward the end line and trying a cutback that was blocked out for another corner.

The Earthquakes started applying pressure of their own after that, and eventually found the opener in the 32nd minute. As the Sounders attempted to work their way out of their own end following an Earthquakes attack seemed to have been cleaned up, Alex Roldan’s attempted pass for João Paulo was easily picked off just outside the area by Leroux, who took a touch to control and hit his shot from the edge of the box as Ragen came in to block it and got a touch. But, unfortunately, the touch was just enough to loft the ball over Stefan Frei, just under the bar and into the back of the net to give San Jose a 1-0 lead.

Seattle had a pair of chances at the end of the first half, but came out of halftime having swapped Danny Musovski for João Paulo and from there it was pretty much one-way traffic during the final 45 minutes. After having been pretty even during the first half in terms of shots (Seattle had seven to San Jose’s six), the Sounders piled up the chances during the second half as they amassed 19 to their hosts’ four. SJ’s goalkeeper Daniel made 7 saves after only needing to make 1 in the opening half. The one shot he couldn’t save came from Albert Rusnák in the 80th minute.

The Sounders stacked up a series of chances between the 74th and 80th minute, and Georgi Minoungou was at the center of several of them with his direct dribbling causing the right side of the back line all sorts of problems. In the 79th minute Minoungou slipped a pass between a pair of defenders while on the run and found Jesús Ferreira, whose shot was blocked out for a penalty. The ensuing penalty was initially recycled through Ferreira who hit a spectacular bending pass from near the end line to Cristian Roldan at the top of the box; Roldan played a much simpler pass to the other corner of the box, completing the switch started by Ferreira, to get the ball to Rusnák. Rusnák showed some nice skill to evade a defender and drive into the area before hitting an excellent shot into the far netting to make it 1-1.

Seattle continued to push for a winner, but couldn’t find a second goal. The Sounders managed to come from behind to claim a result in MLS for the first time as they earned their first road point of the season. They now turn their attention to the club’s first meeting with expansion side San Diego FC as they go back on the road next Saturday.

Key moments

18 - Header! Rusnák plays Rothrock down the left wing and Rothrock hits a good cross that meets Alex Roldan, but his header is saved by Daniel and put over the bar for a corner.

20 - Corner! Some slick passing around the corner of the box leads to Vargas dribbling to the end line before attempting a cutback that’s blocked out for a corner.

23 - Clearance! Several failed attempts to control or clear the Earthquakes attack lead to a late intervention from Alex Roldan to smash the ball out for a corner.

32 - Goal, SJ. Alex Roldan’s pass is easily picked off by Leroux, whose shot takes a huge deflection off of Ragen to loop it over Frei and under the bar. 1-0 SJ

43 - Clearance! Cristian Roldan makes a sliding clearance to keep a Judd flick from becoming a real threat, but Roldan gets a big collision with the post for his trouble.

46 - Shot! Rusnák has a rip from distance and makes good contact, but Daniel saves easily enough.

47 - Chance! Another smart pass from Rusnák after some good control to find the space sends Rothrock in on goal and his shot goes just wide as he takes a bump.

51 - Flurry! An incredible pass from Ferreira puts the ball on Alex Roldan’s foot in the area, but the ball is cleared. Nouhou follows this up with a pair of shots that both force Daniel to make saves.

69 - Stuffed. Vargas plays a perfect pass for Musovski to beat the back line, but with only the GK to beat he puts his shot right in the ‘keeper’s gloves.

74 - Shot! Cristian Roldan hits a laser from 25 yards out, but Daniel does well to catch it and maintain his team’s lead.

75 - Chance! Minoungou beats Rodrigues and drives at the goal before playing a pass to set up Musovski on the doorstep, but the attempt soars over the goal.

78 - Shot! Minoungou has a look of his own as he cuts inside from the left, but his shot from distance is easily caught.

79 - Corner! Minoungou finds Ferreira with a slick little pass, but Ferreira’s shot is blocked and goes out for a corner.

80 - GOAL! Albert Rusnák finds the equalizer! As possession is recycled from the corner Ferreira plays a great pass to find Cristian Roldan at the top of the box, Roldan plays a simple pass to Rusnák at the corner of the area and he smashes the ball into the far side netting. 1-1

Quick thoughts

The “Best XI” isn’t always the 11 most talented players: The Sounders made a single halftime sub, pulling João Paulo out of midfield to deploy Danny Musovski up top. This move dropped Cristian Roldan back a line to play in a double-pivot with Obed Vargas, and slid Jesús Ferreira back a line and out to the right. It allowed Cristian to be more impactful – both with his runs and distribution – and meant that Ferreira was more naturally able to pick up the ball between the midfield and defense. Musovski is a frustrating player, but as long as Jordan Morris and Pedro de la Vega are unavailable, having him show up in typical No. 9 spots allows the rest of the team to work around him in a way that they don’t seem to with Ferreira playing in that role. For the next few weeks, that may just be the best path forward.

Building up some karma: Sometimes when watching this Sounders team concede goals through truly remarkable mistakes or bits of bad luck, it feels like some sort of karmic retribution for all of the wrongs we’ve all done. But on nights like this when the opener came from an ill-advised pass and a genuinely remarkable deflection, when the team is also piling chances up without scoring an alternative way of looking at this comes to mind. Maybe the Sounders are simply stacking the karmic balance in their favor, preparing to cash out their karma at a later date? I don’t really think it works like that, but if they keep creating chances eventually they’re likely to score a few of them.

Clean up the defense: The Sounders have had arguably the best defense in the league the last two seasons, and have been one of the best for longer than that. The personnel hasn’t really changed, but through 6 games they’ve only kept a single clean sheet and have allowed eight goals. They’re beating themselves at the back, and not infrequently struggling to do simple things like clear the ball or pass out of the back. I don’t know the source of these issues, but especially as long as the attack is stuttering they’ll need to tighten it up in the back.

Notable quote

Player spotlight

Obed Vargas – The constant in the midfield double-pivot, Vargas completed 55 of 58 passes, completed 3/3 dribbles, and won 6/10 duels.