Photo Recap: Lodeiro leads Sounders to 2-1 victory over RSL

The Seattle Sounders continued to narrow the gap between themselves and a playoff spot on Sunday, riding two first half goals to a 2-1 win over Real Salt Lake. Nicolas Lodeiro opened the scoring and added a sublime assist on the second, once again leading a resurgent Seattle attack to a multi-goal performance. Brian Schmetzer’s second win as interim manager leaves Sounders just five points off of sixth-place Portland in the Western Conference standings with two games in hand on their arch-rival.

Sounders fielded the same lineup that won 3-1 at Orlando last Saturday. The match marked the third straight in which Schmetzer ran a 4-2-3-1 formation, and he indicated after the match that it would continue to be used. Jeff Cassar replaced Chris Wingert with Tony Beltran but otherwise left his side unchanged from their 3-1 home win over Chicago.

The match kicked off and Seattle seemed to pick up where they left off last week. The hosts outshot Salt Lake 5-1 in the first twenty minutes and their sixth would yield the first goal of the match.

Andreas Ivanschitz ran down the left flank and centered for Lodeiro, who ran on to the ball in the middle of the area and struck a left-footed shot off the underside of the bar and into the net. It was a classy finish for the Uruguayan’s first goal for the club. After 24 minutes Sounders held a well-deserved lead.

The visitors responded two minutes later via Kyle Beckerman and a wicked dipping strike from distance that bounced directly in front of Stefan Frei, who did well to parry out for a corner. The resulting set piece chance came to nothing. In truth, RSL were unable to find a foothold in the first half as Seattle ran rampant at times.

Loderio turned from goal scorer to creator, placing a pinpoint cross on the forehead of Jordan Morris who put his side two up on 37 minutes. Sounders’ standout Homegrown Player powered the ball past Rimando for his team-leading eighth goal of the season. Meanwhile Lodeiro tallied his third assist in two weeks; unbeknownst to him at the time, it would be a second consecutive game-winning assist for the #10 as well.

Morris nearly put the game out of reach several minutes later. He poked a shot just wide of the right–hand post after running past nearly all of the Salt Lake defense to a one on one situation with Rimando. Morris did everything but score, just as he’s done on a few other notable occasions of late . Despite the miss, Sounders looked dominant as they went in to the break with a 2-0 lead.

Yura Movsisyan subbed on for Olmes Garcia to start the second half. Clint Dempsey turned cleverly on 49′ and curled just wide from the top of the area, but the real action didn’t start until near the hour mark.

Lodeiro played a perfect chip for Dempsey running into the box. His shot was blocked away and RSL soon countered; Beckerman sprayed the ball long for Movsisyan. The Armenian forward beat his defender with a cutback before Frei made himself big and beat away a strike from close range.

Frei attempted to distribute the ball on the ground from the top of his area. Movsisyan stepped in and intercepted close to where Frei had thrown the ball from and had an empty net in front of him. Evans and Marshall raced back to help, but Movsisyan found an open Joao Plata in the middle of the area before Frei could smother the ball at his feet. Plata tapped into the net and RSL had halved their deficit.

Cristian Roldan rode a challenge as he ran into the right side of the area, and Justin Glad reached his right leg out and chopped the midfielder down. Referee Kevin Stott rightly pointed to the spot and Dempsey stepped up to put the game away. He stung his penalty attempt past Rimando but off the bar. The ball bounced away without crossing the line; Sounders recycled possession and found Mears open seconds later, and Rimando saved Roldan’s effort off of the right back’s cross to finally end the chaotic sequence.

Glad cynically hacked substitute Erik Friberg to the ground to halt a counter in the game’s final moments, but little else of note happened after Dempsey’s PK miss. There was no furious push to equalize from the visitors, who ultimately failed to record a shot after Plata’s goal.

The victory marked the first time Sounders have won back to back games since May 7th. RSL drop from third to fourth in the Western Conference standings thanks to LA Galaxy’s 1-1 draw with Colorado.

Lodeiro was the best player on the field for a second week running, and it wasn’t close. The former Boca Juniors man scored his first goal for Seattle, and his assist to Morris was his first at home as well. The diminutive attacking midfielder has made everyone else in the front six better with his presence. He has transformed Sounders from a side down and out to one in the thick of the playoff race. Few other players in recent memory have taken this league by storm in the middle of a season the way Lodeiro has.

RSL next host FC Dallas, while Sounders must prepare for a vital home-and-home series against Portland sandwiching a trip to Houston in a busy week-long stretch. With two wins on the trot and a huge derby in sight, it seems the Seattle Sounders have finally found some momentum.