The Seattle Sounders are continuing their efforts to climb back up the MLS standings after a slow start to the regular season, attributable in part to the team’s successful CONCACAF Champions League campaign. The 2-1 victory over Charlotte FC on Sunday night at Lumen Field will certainly go a long way in fueling these efforts. This inter-conference affair between the two sides marked the tenth time the Sounders have faced an expansion team at home since joining MLS in 2009. Of the previous nine games, Seattle had lost only one of those matches, a 1-0 defeat to LAFC back in 2018. This record, along with the Sounders’ positioning in the standings, received a critical boost over the Memorial Day weekend when Seattle would come from behind in a home match in MLS play for the third time this season to collect all three points.
The Sounders seemed to be really setting the tempo in the opening 15 minutes of play, including promising chances from Obed Vargas from outside the box and Jordan Morris via excellent combination play. The visitors were ultimately able to stay the course, effectively breaking the deadlock in the 21st minute when a free kick ball stopped by the post and deflected off of Stefan Frei kindly fell to the feet of Ben Bender, who made no mistake in putting the ball in the back of the net and giving Charlotte the 1-0 lead into halftime. “I saw the ball come through, I actually got my fingers to it,” Frei said after the game. “Unfortunately, it comes back and hits the left foot and then sits on the platter for Bender to put it in.” This tally also extended the streak of the longest amount of home regular season matches the Sounders have had without keeping a clean sheet to eight games, the longest in Seattle’s history.
Despite being down 1-0 at home yet again, head coach Brian Schmetzer was pleased with his team’s performance in the first 45 minutes of the game. “I was pleased with the way the team performed in the first half,” Schmetzer stated after the match. “Obviously going a goal down wasn’t ideal, but I thought overall our play in the first half was really good except for maybe that final pass, that final action, so I thought the first half was really good.” However, the Sounders weren’t able to replicate their play as well in the early going of the second half. “When we came out at halftime, I didn’t think we played as well as we did in the first half,” Schmetzer told the media after the game. With the match continuing to wind down and Seattle in need of finding a way to score an equalizer, the Sounders made their first change in the 62nd minute when Fredy Montero replaced Obed Vargas. “I was trying to get as many attackers as I could on the field,” Schmetzer explained. “I thought Fredy came on (and) did well.”
The Sounders were finally able to get their goal in the 72nd minute, when Alex Roldan hit a beautiful in-swinging ball with his left foot from the right flank for Jordan Morris to head into the back of the net, equalizing the game at one goal apiece. This tally for Morris came after missing a fantastic opportunity to tie the game back in the first half when the Sounders forward was unable to capitalize on a low cross supplied by Cristian Roldan and failed to direct the ball on target. “Strikers and goal scorers have to have a short memory,” Morris explained after the game. “It (soccer) is an imperfect sport, so you’re going to miss chances like that and you just have to try to rebound and put the next one back in there.”
Seattle completed their comeback efforts in the 80th minute when Raúl Ruidíaz hit a turnaround wonder-strike from the perimeter of the 18-yard box after cutting away from Charlotte’s net to give the Sounders the 2-1 lead. Alex Roldan was highly complimentary of his teammate’s goal and talent after the game in the locker room. “He puts the ball in the back of the net in places that you don’t think are even possible,” Roldan stated after the game. “That (goal) was unbelievable,” Schmetzer added in the post-match press conference. “He’s going kind of off this way, and he somehow gets his foot around it and scores that goal.”
With Sunday night’s win, the Sounders have won three of their five post-CCL matches in MLS play thus far. “The team has won three out of the last four MLS games, so maybe now we can write a story that we’re finally over the Champions League hangover,” Schmetzer stated after the game. This weekend’s game also marked the first of a five-game homestand for Seattle that will run through the month of June. “It was kind of a must-win game if we wanted to really consider ourselves contenders for playoff positioning (and) going deep in the playoffs,” Schmetzer told the media after the match. “I think we have to make a statement that we’re back, and we’re here at home and we’re gonna start collecting points.”
Before the Sounders continue their stretch of games at home, the team will enjoy a two-week international break to open the month of June, a period of time that players and coaches alike are looking forward to after a grueling start to the 2022 season that saw Seattle play 21 competitive matches across three competitions dating back to mid-February. “It’s very important to take advantage of this break and mentally get away from it (and) recharge the batteries physically, but also mentally, because it’s been a grueling beginning of the season,” Stefan Frei explained after the victory on Sunday night. Brian Schmetzer also shared his thoughts on the upcoming break. “We’ve played a lot of games this year, it seems like we’re already two-thirds of the way through a season,” Schmetzer stated after the match. “So this break, hopefully, is a good one, and hopefully we’ll be able to continue this momentum that we started tonight into the next four games.”
