Credit: Charis Wilson
By Steven Agen
The Seattle Sounders bowed out the US Open Cup on Wednesday night, dropping a 4-2 decision to the LA Galaxy at the StubHub Track & Field Stadium. The visitors took the lead twice in the Quarterfinal clash but failed to hold it for long either time en route to a furious LA comeback. The defeat leaves Sounders without a clear trophy prospect in 2016 as the club continues to face its greatest difficulties as an MLS franchise so far.
Seattle fielded a lineup primarily comprised of reserves. League games with Dallas and Portland in the last week severely limited Sigi Schmid’s tactical options. Sounders were forced to play their second road game in four days while Galaxy had five days off since a home win over Houston on Friday. That set the stage for a better-rested, closer to first choice lineup for LA than Seattle. Plenty of star power sat on both benches, but it looked unlikely that the home side would need to dip into their bench to carry the night.
The match opened in a similar fashion to a 2011 Open Cup tie that came in the same round as this year’s. On that occasion, it was Nate Jaqua putting Seattle ahead after only four minutes. This year, it was senior team debutant Michael Farfan grabbing an early lead. An errant pass out of the Galaxy back line found Farfan instead of its intended target and the center midfielder walked in and calmly beat back up goalkeeper Clement Diop. The surprise lead gave Sounders something to defend, as even in the early stages of the match LA exerted their will and controlled the run of play.
Everything in the LA attack ran through Alan Gordon in the first half, and he would restore parity only thirteen minutes after Farfan’s walk-in. Baggio Husidic sent a low driven ball into the area from the right side, and Gordon ran onto the ball and redirected past a helpless Tyler Miller. The reward was a deserved one for Galaxy, who created virtually all of the chances in between the first two goals of the game.
The halftime whistle came with the score still locked at 1-1. At that moment, nearly everything had fallen Sounders’ way — their youngsters were keeping up with a more experienced Galaxy side in a way that was awfully reminiscent of their win at RSL in the Round of 16.
Galaxy picked up where they left off in the first period, quickly winning a corner after the restart. They were able to fashion a number of looks off of set pieces before Sounders took the lead again.
Dylan Remick sprinted forward down the left on a counter attack and received a ball in space from Farfan. The left back crossed towards the far post, where Herculez Gomez was waiting to volley past Diop from a tight angle. After 58 minutes, the upset appeared to be on still.
Cristian Roldan subbed on for Aaron Kovar on 66’ after the latter suffered a bad collision with Oniel Fisher in his own area. Sigi Schmid said postgame that the winger had sustained a broken collarbone. After a lengthy delay Kovar walked off under his own power, but the diagnosis after the game is sure to keep him out of a commission for the foreseeable future. He was seen with his arm in a sling after subbing off.
Substitutions would continue to play a major role in the match, as eight minutes later Bruce Arena subbed on Giovani dos Santos and Gyasi Zardes. Their quality was immediately apparent and Arena’s power play would soon pay off.
LA equalized on 77’ thanks to a gift from veteran center back Zach Scott. Pressured while possessing in his own third, the 36 year old played a square ball for Tony Alfaro that instead found dos Santos. The Mexican international received the ball just outside the top of the area with no one in between him and the goal except for Tyler Miller. Dos Santos rounded the goalkeeper and tapped in to level the match at 2-2.
A Sebastian Lletget brace in the last ten minutes settled the tie. Gyasi Zardes played Husidic into space on the right endline, and Lletget was the first to get on the end of his cross. He finished first-time and LA had their first lead of the night on 85’. Tyler Miller made a fantastic save off of a less-notable Scott mistake moments later to keep Sounders in it.
Zardes and Lletget combined down the center on 88’ and the latter finished past Miller for his second goal of the game, putting the tie to rest.
The result was a bit of a cruel one for Sounders. All of the younger players in the lineup stepped up and took LA to the wire, only for the longest-serving veteran on the field to make the error that costs them the match.
LA will host FC Dallas in the US Open Cup Semifinals while Sounders will now prepare for a road clash at Sporting KC this weekend. There is little solace for Seattle, and the result may mean it is time to start looking to 2017.
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