Jordan Morris equalized for Seattle in stunning fashion on Saturday night in Toronto.
By Steven Agen
The Seattle Sounders rode their momentum from an Open Cup victory on Wednesday, drawing Toronto FC 1-1 at BMO Field on Saturday night. Sigi Schmid retained two of his starters from the penalty shootout win in Utah in Zach Scott and Cristian Roldan. Ultimately eight players that saw at least 40 minutes of action that night contributed against the Reds. Despite the trip across the country coupled with the burden of extra time at Rio Tinto Stadium, Sounders looked the fresher of the two sides towards the end of the match. The draw ends a two-match losing streak for Seattle in league play, who had also more grimly lost five of their previous six league games.
Toronto FC and manager Greg Vanney will rue a myriad of missed chances. Despite missing four starters to various injuries, the hosts carried the run of play for the majority of the match. Sebastian Giovinco headlined the the four carry-overs from the Reds’ dramatic Voyageurs Cup win in Vancouver, also on Wednesday night. Vanney opted for a 3-5-2 formation on Saturday that generated plenty of opportunities for the reigning league MVP and his strike partner Jordan Hamilton. Vanney lamented those chances post-match: “It’s really very simple, we had loads of chances, we left the first half, and especially we had a number of chances, really good looks at the goal that we got out of that half with something to show for it. The second half I thought likewise, we had some more chances at goal.” Toronto failed to put any of their seven first half shots on target and, in the end, only drew even with Seattle with 12 shots each overall, three on target each. The statistics do not properly impart the degree of control that Toronto had in the first period, a half they failed to score in.
It took until the hour mark for either team to score and then each did in quick succession. Tsubasa Endoh picked out Giovinco on a chip over the top and the Italian’s first touch controlled the ball perfectly, dragging him slightly left of goal. Stefan Frei had no choice but to rush out to meet him near the corner of the six yard box. The former TFC man blocked Giovinco’s initial effort but the ball rebounded centrally to Jordan Hamilton who hammered it into the empty net. It was a deserved lead for the hosts – Seattle had grown into the match by that point but Toronto were generating better chances at a higher frequency. In the moment, it looked like the breakthrough that would resolve the match.
Jordan Morris, however, was not to be outdone. Joevin Jones received the ball on the left sideline near midfield immediately after the restart from the goal. He picked out Jordan Morris with an excellent ball into the left side of the penalty area. Morris controlled, held off a defender, spun, and shot right-footed into the far side netting. The goal was a stunning piece of individual skill from the rookie, highlighting all of his best attributes as a forward. He showed pace to get into the area, kept his body between the ball and his defender and then finished clinically. Sigi Schmid praised Morris after the match, calling the goal a reward for his hard work of late. More importantly for Sounders, it had them level barely a minute after falling behind.
After the back-to-back goals, Seattle were the more energized of the two sides. For the first time in the match, they carried large stretches of the game and routinely created good looks. The best came from Erik Friberg on 80 minutes, lashing a volley just wide of the far left post from the top of the area. Seattle may not have found a second goal but the performance in the last half hour was their most encouraging in ages, at least in league play.
In large part, that’s thanks to the momentum earned by the club on Wednesday in their win at RSL. A renewed vigor seemed to permeate through Seattle at times, hints that they are working their way out of their slump. That eight men who lept the first hurdle did so again on Saturday is of little surprise, in that context.
The road point still leaves Seattle ninth in the Western Conference on 17 points, but the feedback is almost entirely positive after Seattle’s youngsters earned them a second result in four days.
Seattle Sounders FC
