Photos by Matthew Warso Captions by Toby Dunkelberg
Wednesday saw host to a pride week matchup between the Seattle Sounders and Orlando City FC. Both teams have struggled to score goals and currently sit near the bottom of MLS in terms of goals scored
The Sounders started well. Showing a composure and switching play with an ease they hadn’t show often this season. Still they struggled to convert that to good use as balls were still misplayed
The hope was that with Clint Dempsey and Jordan Morris back from USMNT duty would help the Sounders get over their scoring woes.
But instead it was Will Bruin who did the damage. Nicolas Lodeiro found Bruin with a perfect ball over the top. Bruin then cutback to shake defender Jonathan Spector and beat goalie Joe Bendik to the near post to put the Sounders on top.
Orlando managed only one real chance before the whistle blew for halftime when Carlos Rivas split Roman Torres and Nouhou Tolo to get on the end of a beautiful ball. Stefan Frei came out and made a great stop to keep Orlando off the score sheet.
Sounders started the second half right where they left off and pushed hard for the first twenty minutes of the second half. Jordan Morris was relatively quiet so far this season. But in these twenty minutes he showed flashes of the kind of player the USMNT hopes he can be. He showed his pace and strength on one play where he ran through three Orlando defenders before taking a hefty touch forced Bendik to come out and save.
Mere minutes later it seemed like the Sounders were about to put the game out of reach thanks to Clint Dempsey and Osvaldo Alonso getting a touch on the ball off a cross from Morris as it ping-ponged around the box before Bendik could finally collect it.
Despite the great chances the Sounders struggled to put the game away, and were stuck with the 1-0 scoreline as the game entered stoppage time. The concern for Sounders fans is that this has come a pattern as they’ve only scored one goal in four straight home games.
In the last minute of stoppgage Kaka stepped up to take a free kick due to a foul that earned Roman Torres a yellow card. Kaka launched in a beautiful ball to Seattle’s near post. Orlando pushed three players at that post leaving Scott Stutter just enough space to head it on goal for the late equalizer, and the final touch of the game
The late goal left Seattle feeling like they lost as the full three points were a minute away from being theirs. The draw puts a damper on what was otherwise a promising outing from Seattle. They’ll look to improve on their miscues as they turn their attention to their match at Portland on Sunday.
