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After a 2-1 win on the road against Sacramento Republic FC to advance to the US Open Cup, the Seattle Sounders hit the road again to face Austin FC on Saturday. A 1-0 win for the Sounders maintains their good form – four league wins in a row and six games unbeaten in MLS (five and seven games in all competitions) – with a chance to continue their climb ahead of the League Cup.
The Sounders are a reborn team. While they aren’t blowing teams out of the water, you can’t argue with the results they are getting. Mark Kastner talked about the idea that they are a team with moments this column after the win against the New England Revolution, and it seems like that becomes more true with each passing game. They’ve built a structure around those special moments over the last few games, though, just to be the better team and continue to push on both sides of the ball to not only create those special moments, but limit the opponent. the ability to have their moments.
Enough preamble though, let’s dig into some of the players who helped create those special moments.
Winners and Losers
wINNERS
Jordan Morris: As long as he continues to play as one of the best power forwards in the league, Morris will essentially be a permanent fixture in the scoring division. Appearing as a first-half substitute, he scored the only goal – his ninth of the season in MLS – and was sent off by Brendan Hines-Ike for two yellows as he struggled to cope with Morris’ strength and speed. The goal in particular showed a level of composure and precision that those less familiar with his game might not think of as a “Jordan Morris goal,” but he has shown an ability this year to use his touch to find a moment of calm amidst the chaos. so often fills the penalty area, and within this created calm he very rarely misses as he chooses the perfect spot to place his shot.
The way he has made his place in the starting No. 9 since claiming it, especially with his blossoming partnership with Albert Rusnák, could be changing the calculus for Craig Waibel and the front office as we enter the window of summer and look forward to the off season.
Obed Vargas: The midfielder got a deserved secondary assist on the Morris goal for his incredible dribbling and layoff on Paul Rothrock. If you haven’t been paying attention to the teenage midfielder, you could be forgiven for missing the form he’s in. Somewhat overshadowed by the impressive numbers of teammates Morris and Albert Rusnák, during the current six-game league unbeaten run, Vargas has contributed four assists, playing all but four minutes of the 540 minutes available during that run. period. He has 1 goal and 6 assists for the season now, with the second most assists on the team behind only Rusnák’s 10, and making him fourth best on the team in goal contributions with 7 behind only Rusnák ( 14), Morris (10). ) and Raul Ruidíaz (10).
His performance against Austin was much more than just his assists, as he barely put a foot wrong on either side of the ball. He had 5 passes in the final third, a successful dribble and completed 21/26 passes along with winning all 3 shots he attempted, 3 interceptions, 3 fumble recoveries, 3 draws and 8/11 duel wins. He is leaving the Sounders for a hefty fee it’s a moment when, not at this point, but as long as he’s here, he’s not just a key part of the team and a starter, but a deserving star.
Pedro de la Vega: The young designated player made just his second start of the year – coincidentally his first since the first round of this match back in March at Lumen Field – as he has worked with the Sounders staff to build his fitness and to make sure that he is able to stay on the field for a long time. He’s still knocking off some rust as he works to start building some form in addition to his fitness, and while he didn’t make the stat sheet, he put in a very promising performance during his 45 minutes. A brilliant save from Brad Stuver on his free-kick from distance denied him a goal and a seemingly uncalled for odd tackle on what looked like a fairly clear penalty denied him a tangible impact on the game, but he was able to indicate that the ability to become a regular starter is likely to be the cliché of a player returning to fitness being “like a new signing” when the window opens.
losers
Stefan Frei‘hateful and suspicious: We’re not far from the time when there were real questions about whether Stef Frei was still the right choice as Seattle’s starting goaltender. It looked like Father Time might be catching up with the club legend at times over the last two seasons and in some of his more worrying omissions this season. He has put those fears to rest as of late, moving up the all-time MLS shutout list to move one behind Kevin Hartman for second with 111 after back-to-back shutouts against Austin and the Revs. It’s just the second time the Sounders have kept a clean sheet in a row this season, the first going back to April with their 5-0 win over CF Montreal and 0-0 draw against FC Dallas.
Frei made a total of four saves, and two of them stand out in particular. First in the 49th minute, his reaction at the near post to deny Sebastian Driussi’s shot from around 12 yards kept the scores level as Austin looked to start the second half on the front foot, setting up end the table for Morris’ goal to give Seattle. the lead about 15 minutes later. The other important save came in the first minute of stoppage time and squelched a potential Austin celebration before it started. CJ Fodrey’s quick header looked destined for the far-side net, but Frei made a spectacular dive to tip-toe the ball not only to keep it out but to clear it to the touchline, where Alex Roldan was able to collect and clear the ball. the ball instead of kicking another corner. Frei is cementing himself as not just a club legend, but one of the league’s all-time greats. As long as he is able to continue to challenge Father Time, we will be happy to have him here.
What happens next?
The Sounders are back at it on Wednesday when they face a struggling St. John’s side. Louis City, which has only known defeat by the Sounders. St. St. Louis is currently 13th in the 14-team West and has yet to win away from home after going 0-5-5, -10 on the road so far this season. If Seattle can come out on top from that game, they will go into the final game before the League Cup begins, possibly as high as 5th in the West. That final game is likely to be the toughest home game on the calendar this year as they host LAFC on Saturday, July 20. LAFC could hand Olivier Giroud his debut in that game and the Sounders could end this fine run of form with a serious statement.
However, we begin with St.
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