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– Seeking Justice for the Seriously Injured –
Matt Pentz is an award-winning sports reporter who writes weekly columns on Sounders FC for Prost Amerika. Matt’s work also appears on the Guardian, ESPNFC, FourFourTwo and Yahoo
Will Bruin, a one arm man but not a one man army
Will Bruin is far more to Sounders than a pop-up goal scorer
by Matt Pentz
The Sounders were badly in need of a lift when Will Bruin heaved his body forward, showing little regard for his dislocated left elbow.
Seattle entered Sunday night’s match against Houston on the back end of a 3-0 beatdown at the hands of Columbus earlier in the week, and for more than an hour, it had struggled to break down a disciplined Dynamo defense.
With the international break looming on the other side of the match, a positive result was imperative. Momentum can be extra important heading into a bye week, especially for a squad still trying to find solid footing,
The breakthrough came out of nowhere: A pinpoint Cristian Roldan cross whipped in from the right, and Bruin throwing himself between a pair of black-shirted opponents to power it into the net. Bruin didn’t even grimace when he hit the ground, perhaps in respect to his former club for whom he made 178 appearances and scored 50 goals, instead throwing both his arms skyward – one of them in a bulky brace to shield his injury — to celebrate the goal that would settle a 1-0 Sounders victory.
“The doctors assured me that his elbow couldn’t extend all the way and that’s the function of the brace,” Seattle coach Brian Schmetzer said afterward.
“The majority of the concern amongst the coaching staff – I don’t think Will (was concerned) because he’s a tough kid, he wasn’t worried about it – but we were worried about it and how it just affected his movement, his running, his balance, some of those things are what we were concerned about.
“But he proved tonight he was willing to sacrifice and get on the end of a header, challenge with a bunch of big defenders, so he was good.”
Bruin, like Roldan, has been one of the bright spots of a mostly gloomy 2017 in Seattle. The Sounders haven’t been bad, exactly – Sunday’s win lifted them above the playoff cutoff line into sixth place – but they haven’t been good, either.
Lagerwey has a big DP decision to make
Photo: Matt Warso
That they’re in the position they are is a credit not just to to the backline that has pitched three straight home shutouts; but also to:
- Roldan and Osvaldo Alonso, the midfield anchors this team is built around;
- and to Bruin himself, who is tied for the team lead with four goals and has provided a finishing touch to an attack often lacking for it.
Bruin’s performance against Houston was typical of his game.
You didn’t often notice the forward until he popped up in the crucial moment. In the meantime, he was doing the dirty work that frees up teammates, tussling with opposing defenders with little regard for his weakened left arm.
“It was kind of tough I was telling some of the trainers at halftime that I don’t have my full strength of pushing off and holding guys,” Bruin said. “And I’m a lefty, as weird as that is, because I’m right footed. But it was different; I was trying to use my whole body or my right arm.”
Bruin’s second-half header came at the outset of a crucial summer in both the short and long-term future of the club.
Sounders general manager Garth Lagerwey has said that he will consider Jordan Morris’ best fit when considering whether to add a Designated Player forward or winger when the transfer window opens back up next month. Bruin’s continued standout play complicates that decision, both in where to play Morris and how to invest those resources.
Seattle has steadied itself with those three consecutive 1-0 wins at CenturyLink, but away from home, it’s evident that something’s still missing. With three of their next four on the road, the Sounders cannot feel too secure about their standing.
So as such, yeah, Bruin’s goal came with a lot going on behind the scenes, and in what could prove a crucial stretch of the season.
“We like to take things a game at a time, so this game was just really, really important,” Schmetzer said.
“We’ll focus on the first part of the season (during the break) and probably do a little bit of reflection there of what we did well, what we can improve on and try and get them a little time off. And when they come back we’ll try to fine tune some things, but it was definitely a very, very big home stand for us to get those nine points.”
The week-and-a-half gap between Sunday’s match and next week’s Open Cup match against Portland could have felt yawning had Seattle not managed a victory against the Dynamo.
As it is, that self-reflection will be less harsh, and tinged with the optimism of the summer ahead.
