The Seattle Sounders beating FC Dallas 1-0 in April is unremarkable. Whether this season ends up as a success or a failure, no one is going to look back on this match and remember anything about it. No one had their best game ever. Nothing particular interesting happened in the game, at least on the surface. It was a very ordinary win. Which is exactly what the Sounders needed.
In order to turn something into a habit, you have to start somewhere. Whether it's going to the gym or a new way of loving yourself, it can't be routine until you start. So far this season the Sounders haven't really started. How many years have we had this conversation in April? However unremarkable Seattle's victory in Dallas on Saturday was, it can be the start of the Sounders building a routine of winning again.
Underneath the surface of a boring win was something most fans have been calling out for. Last week on Nos Audietis Jeremiah and I talked about how one of the biggest issues the Sounders were facing this season was a lack of bravery. Bravery in the sense that everything they had been doing on and off the ball was so slow and methodical. Like a cargo ship trying to turn around in the Suez Canal. Saturday night showed that deep down, the Sounders can be different. They can be brave.
What I liked most about the win over Dallas was that Seattle showed a willingness to try stuff. That has been sorely missing from their recent run of form. Largely this has been down to missing the players in the starting XI that have that ability in their bag, mainly Pedro de La Vega. We saw that his ability and inclusion in the first half made the whole thing tick. Danny Musovski's first half goal came from a really great movement and shot from de La Vega. Good things happen when you try things. There was a sharp decline in Excepted Trying Things™️ when he came off.
It was in the second half where I think the bravery they've been sorely missing set in. In order to have a successful season you need to be able to win boring. Winning boring means taking a game that is very much in the balance and ensuring that nothing out of hand happens. For example, against San Diego, the Sounders very much did not do this. There was a game to be had for them but they let things get out of hand. Against Dallas? The opposite!
Right before half time, Jackson Ragen comes up lame with a hamstring injury. With de La Vega's fitness, the halftime sub for him wasn't unexpected, but Ragen's injury had to change things. I'm sure a second goal was high on Brian Schmetzer's halftime wishlist, but potentially higher than that would've been making sure the clean sheet was seen out. A few inches here or there and both would've happened, but what's more important is that a pieced together group of players dug deep and made sure FC Dallas didn't find a way back into the game. Dallas had just 3 shots in the second half, none of which were on target.
The Sounders are now at a bit of a crossroads in the season. With the familiarity of early season disappointment and an entire season ahead of them, they get to decide what happens. Every team is going to deal with injuries to key players. Every team in MLS deals with the strange things that can happen within this league. However, the Sounders get to decide in this moment if the victory over FC Dallas on Saturday night was the start of a new routine of bravery or if that was just an anomaly in a season of slog.
