Chad Marshall, Gustav Svensson and Raúl Ruidíaz scored a goal apiece, pacing the Seattle Sounders to a 3-2 victory over the Houston Dynamo in the Western Conference matchup between the sides at BBVA Compass Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Kevin Garcia and Mauro Manotas each netted for the Dynamo in the second half to make it interesting, but Ruidíaz’s late tally ensured the Sounders the three-point result, moving their record to 17-11-5 on the season.
Marshall put the Sounders on top 26 minutes into the contest with a vintage flicked header off a corner kick from Nicolás Lodeiro, giving the Sounders a 1-0 lead they would take into the halftime locker room.
Svensson doubled the advantage with a headed finish of his own on another corner kick from Lodeiro – a virtual mirror image of the goal the Swedish midfielder scored in Houston in the first leg of the Western Conference Championship during Seattle’s postseason run a season ago. Ruidíaz then added the dagger in the 87th minute, rendering Manotas’ late tally for Houston a moot point.
THREE TAKEAWAYS
AIR MARSHALL STRIKES
The veteran center back has proven to be a menace to opposing defenses on set pieces once again in 2018, as Sunday’s tally marked his fourth of the season. He’s putting in another Defender of the Year-caliber campaign for his work on the back line, but don’t sleep on Marshall’s ability to find the scoresheet.
INTERNATIONALS RETURN
The Sounders were without two key contributors for their 2-1 road win against Orlando City on Wednesday with Lodeiro (Uruguay) and Svensson (Sweden) on international duty, but both came back and made their presence felt in this contest. Svensson bagged his third goal of the season with his second-half tally, while Lodeiro picked up three assists to bring his total on the season up to 15 in 26 games. With the third assist, Lodero is now the club's all-time regular season assist leader with 35.
With three assists Sunday afternoon, Nicolás Lodeiro became the club's all-time regular season assist leader / Joe Buvid
DECISION DAY LOOMS
The long and rigorous MLS season is finally winding down, as the Sounders only have one more league match on their schedule coming off this six-point road trip. With playoff positioning still to be fully fleshed out in the Western Conference, it’s a Decision Day date with the San Jose Earthquakes at CenturyLink Field to close out the season next Sunday, October 28 (1:30 p.m. PT; JOEtv, YouTube TV, 950 KJR AM, El Rey 1360AM; TICKETS). After that? It’s playoff time for a 10th straight season as the Sounders look to make a run at their third straight MLS Cup final appearance.
SCORING SUMMARY
SEA - Chad Marshall (Nicolás Lodeiro) 26'
SEA - Gustav Svensson (Nicolás Lodeiro) 49'
HOU - Kevin Garcia (Óscar Boniek García) 63'
SEA - Raúl Ruidíaz (Nicolás Lodeiro) 87'
HOU - Mauro Manotas (Romell Quioto) 89'
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
SEA - Nouhou (Unsporting Behavior) 72'
HOU - Óscar Boniek García (Unsporting Behavior) 74'
