SEATTLE — Roadmaps to wins do not come packaged with instructions. There are no guides, no rules, no signs. And there certainly is no one way to snap a losing skid and come out the other side in better shape than you were before.
So maybe Saturday’s 1-0 win over the Montreal Impact at CenturyLink Field wasn’t the prettiest thing you’ve ever seen. But sometimes you need to cut a path through dense underbrush to find your way back into the light, and the postmatch afterglow was certainly shining bright on Saturday night.
After a bitter start featuring three losses in its first three MLS games, Seattle finally has its first win of the year. And it couldn’t have come at a much more opportune time.
The Sounders went the entire month of March without a win, and so they’ll no doubt savor Saturday’s hard-fought, sometimes sloppy win over a quality visiting Montreal side that already had a few impressive scalps on the season. Pitching a shutout for the first time all season will be just as welcome as Clint Dempsey’s winning goal with just 10 minutes left.
Here’s a glance at three things we learned from Saturday.
Possession, purpose and goals
Sounders games have followed a general pattern this year. The team tends to flat-out dominate the opening half hour or so before the match’s pace settles into a more agreeable and sustainable rhythm. From there, Seattle chains the game to the ground without letting it get out of hand, but shots tend to dwindle as the match progresses.
That happened again.
Seattle utterly dominated the opening half, taking a 59 percent possession edge into half after a blizzard of an opening 25 minutes pinned Montreal back to the wall. The game evened in the second half as Seattle became decidedly more vertical. Still, only three of Seattle’s 12 shots were taken inside the box, one of which was Dempsey’s decisive 79th minute header that spiked off the turf before beating Evan Bush.
That was good news for Seattle, which needed a win regardless of the optics. No, it was not the most fluid match in history - after the game Seattle coach Sigi Schmid admitted the team had to “grind it out” a bit - but after a month where things hardly ever went Seattle’s way, they’ll take this one without complaint.
It should be said, however, that Seattle still - four games into the season - does not have a run of play goal from a forward.
Roldan, Mears develop a quick rapport
Tyrone Mears and Cristian Roldan have played together before, but not often. Judging by how comfortable the two looked stacked on top of one another tactically, that wasn’t all that evident on Saturday.
Brad Evans’ return from injury after being knocked out in the opening match of the season was no doubt a boon to Seattle’s defense. It was not a coincidence that its most coherent defensive performance of the year coincided with Evans’ return. And it was important Evans returned on Saturday in particular, because Ignacio Piatti was on his way to town. Piatti, a left-sided midfielder in Montreal’s 4-2-3-1, is one of the most dangerous men in MLS.
But the biggest connection - and perhaps most important to shackling Piatti - was between Roldan and Mears, who developed a preternatural bond together. Piatti was not exactly a non-factor, but this was as quiet as he’s been all year, and the combined efforts of right-sided defensive midfielder Roldan and right back Mears denied him any space to work with on his preferred flank.
Piatti was undoubtedly the defensive focal point, and Seattle managed to limit him to just 35-for-44 passing, one cross and two total shots.
The understanding between Roldan and Mears in particular was blindingly evident. Roldan managed five tackles and three interceptions sitting in front of the back line, and he kept both Evans and Mears fairly clean. Even when Montreal did crank up the pressure over the final 10 minutes or so, they certainly didn’t have many clear-cut opportunities to beat Stefan Frei.
Osvaldo Alonso played out of his mind again
We knew Alonso had been on some kind of hot streak even before Saturday. His start to the season has been critical for Seattle even despite the lack of wins, and the combination of his passing acumen and dogged pursuit in the defensive third was without question. But the team’s 0-3 start obscured just how good Alonso had been. In many ways it was without equal when you consider his favored midfield partner, Gonzalo Pineda, retired in the offseason.
So if you’d had any doubts that Alonso was hitting the form of his life at the tender age of 30, look back at his performance from Saturday and behold with the wonder and fury of a thousand suns.
Alonso’s numbers against Montreal: 66-71 passing, nine tackles (!), three interceptions and maybe the most memorable he-is-the-Honey-Badger moment of his career: in the span of two seconds, Alonso pushed over teammate Andreas Ivanschitz and an Impact player in search of the ball. It happened so suddenly and without warning that Ivanschitz popped up looking for a foul.
Nobody on the field had more touches on the ball than Alonso’s 92, which proves the well-understood theory that a good day for Alonso inevitably means a good day for the Sounders. And, believe it or not, there’s also this: Alonso is still the only Sounders player to score a goal from the run of play this season.
It’s been long-known that Alonso is the beating heart of any well-performing Sounders team, and yet he’s somehow managed to elevate his game to a new level this season. As Seattle celebrates its first hard-earned win of the season, nobody did more to earn it than Alonso.
