Gonzalo Pineda’s been around the block. He’s won a top division title in Mexico. He’s been to the Olympics, played in World Cup matches. He’s helped knit together the best stretch of possession soccer in Sounders FC’s MLS history.
Perhaps it’s that experience, which lends so much broader perspective to narrow events, that allows Pineda to see past Seattle’s current dip in form. If anyone’s exhorted the team to avoid hitting the panic button, it’s the experienced Pineda.
“We have to be positive in our mind and be clear of mind and to say the past is the past and we’ll be better,” Pineda said. “Obviously we need the full team. It’s not just Pappa and Clint, I mean everybody. Now it’s Ozzie again. We need everybody here, and that way we can be better. I know that because we’re a great team. We can’t forget to play soccer in just two months.”
That’s the overarching message as the team’s cadre of missing players filters back into the lineup. For the players who’ve ground through this stretch, the cavalry is cresting the ridge.
Sounders FC had been without Stefan Frei, Brad Evans, Marco Pappa, Clint Dempsey, Osvaldo Alonso and Obafemi Martins for significant chunks of the summer. That’s all three Designated Players, one of the most irreplaceable left wingers in MLS, the most in-form keeper in MLS and the team’s emotional anchor.
Last weekend against Vancouver, Dempsey, Evans and Frei all returned to starting duty. For Dempsey and Evans, it was a return from Gold Cup duty that knocked out their club play for part of June and all of July. Frei, meanwhile, came back from an injury that hit the pause button on one of the great extended goalkeeping performances anywhere in the league this season.
Even though Alonso is now dealing with an injury of his own which could sideline him for a while, the blessed return of Martins nears. He’s been in training for several weeks after being knocked out with an injury in a Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup match on June 16. Before that match, Dempsey and Martins had been the most lethal attacking combination in MLS, and it wasn’t close.
The team’s blizzard of signings late in the transfer window should help, too. While Pappa’s absence continues, the recent addition of the left-footed Andreas Ivanschitz could help plug that hole. Erik Friberg is already re-introducing himself to a midfield that’s needed his depth of experience. And today, the club announced the signing of Paraguayan forward and Bundesliga veteran Nelson Valdez.
All that to say, with its full complement finally returning to the field after a long July, the team expects the next month to bear little resemblance to the previous one. So the fact that Frei, Dempsey and Evans’ first game back was a 3-0 loss to the red-hot Vancouver Whitecaps wasn’t necessarily a wider cause for concern as those pieces are reintegrated.
“I don’t think it was ever going to be a situation where everyone was back and it was suddenly going to click and everything’s going to work,” veteran center back Chad Marshall said. “It does take some time to get the understanding again out on the training field, and that carries over to the game. That being said, we’re a veteran team. We should be able to do better than we did this past weekend, and I know the guys are working hard to make that happen.”
From Seattle’s perspective, Dempsey’s return is the planet around which everything else orbits. He’s the most unique attacking player in the league, and Seattle desperately needs his production to prod its movement in the final third. In games Dempsey’s played this season, Sounders FC is 9-3-1 with 23 goals. In games Dempsey hasn’t played, the team is 1-8-1 with just two goals in those 10 games.
Dempsey went 49 days between Sounders FC league appearances this summer. Between a 3-0 win over FC Dallas on June 13 to a 3-0 loss to the Vancouver Whitecaps on August 1, Dempsey missed time due to suspension and the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup. The encouraging thing for Sounders FC is that the Dempsey that returned looks almost exactly like the Dempsey that left.
Take a look at Dempsey’s pass map from the FC Dallas game on June 13. He did vital work in both hemispheres attacking and stoking possession. Martins didn’t start this game, but he did play the final 29 minutes, which certainly helped Dempsey’s forward movement.
Now take a look at Dempsey’s passing matrix from the team’s 3-0 loss to Vancouver last weekend.
Notice a difference? Because there isn’t much of one.
Statistically, Seattle actually played better in the loss in every category except chance taking. The team generated more shots against Vancouver than it did against FC Dallas, kept far more possession and was more dominant in the air. But as is the case in soccer, he who finishes his chances finishes the game. And so it went for Seattle’s Cascadia rivals.
But there’s good news afoot, and that’s wrapped in the form of Dempsey’s sizzling play of late. He came back from national team duty as hot as ever, and that’s clearly carried over. Despite his high risk style, Dempsey only missed on seven passes against Vancouver, only two of which came in his own half. If you need proof of how easy he can make life on strikers, just take a look at his two feeds to Chad Barrett the first time Seattle waxed the Whitecaps at BC Place earlier this season.
Dempsey, Martins and the horde of players coming back to the lineup will make Seattle a much more complete team for the stretch run. And not a moment too soon.
“I think you’ve seen over the years in this league it’s about getting hot at the right time,” Marshall said. “But at the same time, I think we always want to play well. We don’t want to just say that if we get hot at the end of the season, we’ll be good. We want to play good, attractive soccer throughout the year, but also be trending upwards come playoff time.”
