SEATTLE – The breakout offensive effort the Seattle Sounders have been waiting for has finally materialized.
Seattle jumped ahead on a penalty kick in the 6th minute and never looked back, eventually cruising to a resounding 5-0 rout of Supporters’ Shield leading FC Dallas in their Wednesday evening home fixture at CenturyLink Field.
“We’ve felt that if we got a goal then maybe the floodgates would open up,” Seattle head coach Sigi Schmid said after the game. “They opened up for us today. I’m really happy for the group in the locker room because they stayed the course and they continued to believe in themselves and they got a good victory tonight.”
The offensive explosion couldn’t have come at a more crucial time for the previously goal-starved Sounders, who came into the game with an MLS-low total of 14 goals on the season.
You wouldn’t have known it from watching the dynamic attacking display the Sounders showcased on Wednesday as Clint Dempsey, Andreas Ivanschitz, Jordan Morris, Joevin Jones, and Cristian Roldan all found their way onto the scoresheet and paced Seattle to the blowout result.
“We knew we needed a game like this,” Morris said. “You can just see the collective sigh of relief. Everyone’s smiling and happy in the locker room. It’s been frustrating because we’ve been playing well but we just haven’t been able to score goals, so to get some today was awesome.”
Wednesday’s contest was a wild affair from the get-go, as FCD’s Maynor Figueroa was issued a red card for his handball in the penalty area shortly after kickoff that led to a converted penalty kick from Dempsey.
Dempsey himself would then be red carded later in the first half for making contact with the face of Juan Esteban Ortiz, turning the rest of the game into a 10-on-10 affair. Dempsey’s exit wouldn’t stop the offensive barrage from the Sounders -- who scored twice after his ejection -- but it will sideline him for Seattle’s upcoming Cascadia Cup clash with the Portland Timbers on Sunday.
The blowout was still a more-than-welcome sight, Sounders captain Brad Evans said, even if it doesn’t completely offset his team’s early-season struggles.
“Obviously I think we’d all rather have five 1-0 victories,” Evans said. “But at the end of the day, this was bound to happen. It’s good to get to the result now. It lifts the spirits a bit…Now we’ve got a taste of victory and hopefully we can start to get consecutive results and start to pick up some points and make up some ground.”
