Seattle, WA – For the first time since perhaps the beginning of this 2023 campaign, the Seattle Sounders truly felt like the club that had pissed so many around Major League Soccer off. This felt like the Sounders that had mounted such an impressive streak of playoff appearances, with high energy on the offensive attack while shutting things down defensively with the club’s great goalkeeper of all time, Stefan Frei, holding things down in the net. Despite this, the visiting LA Galaxy found their equalizer in the 54th minute to quell the positive momentum that Seattle had rolling. As the final minutes of extra time allotted by head referee Victor Rivas ticked away, the Sounders hero was none other than Cristian Roldan, busting through to help the club clinch a postseason berth.
Seattle Sounders FC forward Jordan Morris scored a header goal in the 9th minute, getting the scoring started against the LA Galaxy. Photo by Nate Koppelman
Dad strength
In case you weren’t aware, Seattle Sounders forward and Mercer Island native Jordan Morris became a father as he and his wife, Eliza, welcomed their son Theo into the world back on Tuesday. With fatherhood in the world of sports, comes the phenomena of “Dad strength,” a supposed extra boost in physical performance for that player that just became a father. Was Morris going to come out and make his mark on the match, scoring for the first time since late August? That question was answered quickly as Jordan found the back of the net in just the ninth minute of the match, connecting on a Joao Paulo cross with a rocket header to beat Galaxy goalkeeper Jonathan Bond and get the Lumen Field crowd on their feet. Paulo had to regain possession of the ball after a failed attempt of a ground pass, before whipping in a perfectly placed ball to the middle of the box, finding a leaping Morris who headed it perfectly past Bond to get the scoring started before we had even reached the ten-minute mark. To celebrate, Morris held up the letter T, for the name of his new son: Theo.
LA Galaxy midfielder Douglas Costa scored in the 54th minute, equalizing the game against the Seattle Sounders FC. Photo by Nate Koppelman
A defensive lapse
In so many of their matches over the course of this 2023 campaign, and in a solid amount of them in the second half of 2022, the goals that Seattle conceded largely ended up being situations where a defender had a lapse which resulted in a free runner into their box. The exact scenario happened to the Sounders in this matching, seeing the Galaxy draw level in just the 53rd minute. There was quality on display from Julian Aude on the pass into the box for Douglas Costa, as well as the first touch to maintain that possession into the box by Costa, but LA was given far too much room to operate. Nouhou had come into the center of the pitch to help and defend the current counter that was being run by the Galaxy, and he was largely caught watching as Costa ran right in from of him to collect the pass in by Aude and run unbothered into the Seattle box, where there was little that Sounders goalkeeper Stefan Frei could do in that one-on-one situation.
I need a hero: Sounders edition
With time ticking away at the end of this match, it was looking more and more like Seattle was going to back into a playoff berth as one of the clinching scenarios, LAFC beating Minnesota United, was well on its way to being decided. It seemed like this match was going to end just like so many had since the month of May when the Sounders were last really themselves: score first, concede a goal to equalize, and then eventually settle for a split of points to maintain the status quo. But that wasn’t what midfielder Cristian Roldan had in mind, despite how tough his year has been dealing with injuries off and on. A concussion had largely kept Cristian sidelined, frustrating himself as he watched his club continue to drop points, so when there was an opportunity to win this match and collect the win within his grasp, he took it.
A beautiful sequence occurred for Seattle to score this goal, as late into extra time, Sounders defender Alex Roldan launched a long throw in towards the box. There, midfielder Josh Atencio flicked a header in the direction of Cristian Roldan, sitting within the club of Seattle and LA players just outside the six-yard box, with just enough room to get a shot off. Cristian volleyed to the near post, reacting quicker than Bond in goal and causing madness at Lumen Field. The Sounders had done something that we haven’t really seen from this in the past year: they found a way to get the dagger to put their opponent, and having that kind of energy in the building down the final stretch of the season and into the playoffs may just be the spark that gets this club going for a strong postseason run.
Seattle Sounders FC wing Leo Chu looks for a pass in the clubs 2-1 victory over the LA Galaxy. Photo by Paul Kahl.
What’s next?
Following their thrilling victory over the LA Galaxy, pushing their unbeaten streak against that club to ten in MLS regular season play, the Seattle Sounders will have a few days before their next contest. On Saturday, October 7th, the Sounders will host Cascadia rivals, the Vancouver Whitecaps, in Seattle’s final regular season home match of 2023. With their playoff spot secured, it’s all about seeding now for the Sounders as they will host this year’s Cascadia Cup champions, as the Whitecaps are looking to improve their current seed as well, sitting just three points behind the Sounders. Kickoff for this match is at 7:30PM PST, as Vancouver aims to build momentum off their 3-0 victory over St. Louis City, which took place today, after previously going winless in their last four matches.
Check out photographer Paul Kahl’s photos from the match here
Check out photographer Nate Koppelman’s photos from the match here
