Sounders seek revenge against Crew
When Major League Soccer scheduled a rematch of the 2020 MLS Cup at Lower.com Field, the Seattle Sounders undoubtedly saw it as a chance for sweet, sweet revenge against the Crew.
What better way to avenge the worst loss a team can suffer than to do it on the road in a new stadium in front of a likely sold-out crowd and nationally televised audience?
This should have been one of the marquee games if not the top game of all 918 regular-season games in Major League Soccer this season.
Now it has taken on an entirely different meaning, with both teams diverging almost into other realities.
“Last year didn’t just happen by accident. We still have a lot of the same group,” midfielder Darlington Nagbe said. “Maybe confidence isn’t as high, which is just natural when results don’t go your way, but overall I think the team is in a good place. A win would be a good way to turn things around.”
The Sounders (11-3-6, 39 points) have been — well — the Sounders, looking poised for a run to their fifth MLS Cup final in six years, while the Crew (6-8-6, 24pts.) has listlessly fallen from a heavy preseason favorite in the Eastern Conference to a team needing to play well in the final 14 games just to make the playoffs.
Five straight losses have plunged the Crew from fourth in the East to three points out of the playoff picture. Injuries and call-ups have affected the team, but the Sounders have dealt with their share of injuries and callups — even to as important as a player as possible in Jordan Morris, who tore an ACL before the season.
After a 1-0 loss to New York Red Bulls on Wednesday, coach Caleb Porter led a long discussion in the locker room. It was an attempt to reset ahead of a match that’s difficult to envision anything but a sure-fire sixth straight loss. But given the opponent, this is the type of game that can swing a season quickly in the other direction.
“We had a great talk after the game, a very honest talk, looked each other in the eyes,” Porter said. “Players agreed, we all agreed we need to be better, step it up even more. Great meeting today as well, and we’re throwing everything into Seattle.
“I know that we can win this game. I know we have a good enough team to win this game, and if we win this game, this whole thing changes.”
Nagbe and captain Jonathan Mensah said any win right now would boost morale. A prolonged losing streak can rip the fabric of a locker room. To them, that doesn’t seem to be the case, which doesn’t mean that camaraderie isn’t in jeopardy.
“The main message (after last
game) is we’ve got to do things ourselves,” said Nagbe, who missed last season’s final due to a positive COVID-19 test.
“We got into this situation ourselves, so we have to get ourself out of it. The biggest thing is the locker room is united. We’re all together, no one’s pointing fingers, no one’s looking at other guys saying they’re making mistakes or anything like that. We know that we’re close. That’s the big thing. It’s not like we’re getting just dominated.”
The Sounders have been dominating teams.
They have the league’s highest goal differential, have scored the fourthmost goals and have allowed the fewest goals in the league. The Crew hasn’t scored in the past two games and is averaging about one goal per game.
Seattle striker Raul Ruidiaz is a legitimate MVP candidate — again — with a
league-leading 14 goals.
“We just need to do a great job of always locating him, minimizing his chances of creating a shot for himself and running in behind us,” Mensah said. “Personally, I’m going to be ready, and I know the whole back line and the whole team is going to be ready for this game.”
Zardes out
Porter said forward Gyasi Zardes will miss two to four weeks after suffering a left hamstring injury in the first haff of a 1-0 loss to the New York Red Bulls on Wednesday.
Zardes will almost certainly miss all three games in the first window of 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers with the U.S. men’s national team beginning Sept. 2 against El Salvador. jmyers@dispatch.com @_jcmyers