SEATTLE — When the Seattle Sounders assembled their roster this offseason, they surely had days like Saturday in mind.
Already holding a 3-0 lead in the 60th minute, head coach Brian Schmetzer was able to summon Jordan Morris and Albert Rusnák off the bench. About 15 minutes later, he called on Alex Roldan and João Paulo to help see out the result. Finally, with about 10 minutes remaining, newly signed veteran Ryan Kent was able to make his Sounders debut in a completely ideal scenario.
Three of those players would likely have been starters if they were fully fit and the other two could still end up as starters. It’s a luxury of riches any coach would love and made even more gratifying in a match that proved to be a second consecutive win, second straight shutout and pushed the Sounders to .500 in a season that has gotten off to an uneven start.
“We knew we were in a hole, we had to dig ourselves out and that was a gutty, gritty win down in Dallas,” Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer said. “My fear was, let’s not that effort go to waste. The message this week was we wanted to put Nashville under pressure. We wanted to outwork, outthink, outsmart them…
“There were some real positives in that game.”
That was especially true in the first half, despite using a lineup that was missing at least five first-choice starters. All the ostensible replacements had standout performances.
Headlining that group was Danny Musovski, who got a second consecutive start mostly on the back of his performance against FC Dallas, which featured his first MLS goal in more than a year. Musovski wasn’t necessarily expansive in his game, but he again pushed Nashville’s defense by staying high and repeatedly put himself in dangerous positions.
When Jesús Ferreira flubbed a shot from inside the box, it was Musovski who was perfectly positioned to sweep it into the net with a clever backheel that gave the Sounders an early lead.
Musovski had plenty of company in terms of solid performances off the bench. Kim Kee-Hee barely put a foot wrong while filling in for Jackson Ragen; Kalani Kossa-Rienzi was again solid at right wing back in place of Alex Roldan; Ferreira had two assists while playing in Albert Rusnák’s No. 10 spot; and Paul Rothrock scored his second goal of the season while continuing to do a impressive job of spelling Paul Arriola.
“Everybody was doing what we practiced in preseason,” Schmetzer said. “It was one of those games where everything worked and we’ll hope that continues.”
While it’s hard to draw too many broad conclusions, it’s looking increasingly like one of the biggest keys to the Sounders’ success is simply having one of Musovski or Morris on the field.
In 538 league minutes with one of their true No. 9s on the field, the Sounders have outscored opponents 12-6. That works out to a per 90 average of 2.01-1.00. But when neither are available, the Sounders have been outscored 5-0 in 272 minutes (or an average of 1.65-0.00).
The underlying numbers tell a similar story. With one of them on the field, the Sounders have an xG advantage of 1.95-.92 per 90 minutes. When neither are on the field, they have a disadvantage of .69-.83 per 90 minutes.
And that agrees with the eye test: The Sounders just look like they know what they want to do and are able to do it quickly when there’s a real No. 9 on the field. When there isn’t, they just look a little lost and unsure of themselves.
“I think in our system, it helps when you have a direct forward,” Musovski said after the game. “Jordan definitely fits that profile and I would say I also fit that profile a little bit. We’re able to release some pressure if we need to hit a direct ball and kind of move the game more into the other team’s half.”
The Sounders are still not quite out of the woods. For a team that was a lot of pundits’ pick to win the Supporters’ Shield, sitting at 3-3-3 is not where the Sounders expected themselves to be. The belief was that their roster was built in a way that they could weather the type of injuries that sidetracked them over the previous month.
But this was arguably the first time all year that the Sounders looked fully themselves. Nashville came into the game as one of the top statistical teams in the league and were badly outplayed for most of the final 80 minutes. There’s ample reason to think that the Sounders may be finally hitting their stride.
“I think everyone came together for these couple of wins,” Schmetzer said. “I’m going to use my voice to drive that forward for the rest of the year.”
