After 93 minutes in the Houston heat on Sunday afternoon, it looked like the Seattle Sounders would be returning home from Texas empty-handed. Again.
Chad Marshall wasn’t having it.
Second-half sub Oalex Anderson sent in a left-footed cross that ultimately fell to the feet of the veteran Marshall, who picked up the equalizer in the final minute of the Sounders’ 1-1 draw at BBVA Compass Stadium.
“It was tough to break them down,” said Marshall, who scored his first regular-season goal in 55 matches and second in three seasons for the Sounders. “I’m glad I could get up there, throw my body around, and get one.”
Marshall’s goal secured the team’s fourth point of the season and, more importantly, the first point on the road. Houston has historically been a difficult place for the Sounders to earn positive results – they’re now 0-3-4 all-time in the regular season and playoffs - but the 31-year-old defender said it’s more about what the latest result does for the locker room’s morale moving forward.
“We’re happy to take a point give the way the game went,” he said. “We look to carry the momentum from these last two games into Philly next week and hopefully get a good result at home.”
After a lackluster first half, head coach Sigi Schmid said he told his players at the break that they had no excuse not to leave with a point.
“Halftime talk was just simply that we didn’t come out to play in the first half,” Schmid said. “We’re rested, we are fit … I said there was no reason not to put in the effort. I challenged them and obviously, as a team, they responded.”
Gomez makes his debut
Forward Herculez Gomez subbed on in the second half, making his debut in the 79th minute and bringing not only fresh legs, but veteran experience with him to a team that was searching to grind out a result on the road.
“Any time you come off the bench, you want to be a difference maker,” said Gomez, who nearly earned his first assist on a header to Clint Dempsey in the 85th minute, but the chance was cleared away by the Houston defense.
With the team slowly rebounding after a rough start to the season, captain and center back Brad Evans said while it wasn’t a win, the result gave the team something to build from ahead of the team’s match against the Philadelphia Union at CenturyLink Field on April 16.
“Ties come in different forms,” Evans said. “You go up, then you give one away, you have a different feeling. When you go down, then grab one in the 90th, 94th-plus …it almost feels like a win.
“You grasp on to something, you hold on to it and you get home with a point.”
