There was a time not so long ago that the space in between Sounders games felt like a time for interminable soul searching.
For the better part of three months, from May through July, Seattle didn’t once string together consecutive positive results in MLS. In fact, between May 14 and July 24, Seattle put together a 2-8-1 record in 11 league matches that dumped the Sounders into ninth place in the Western Conference. As each week stretched on, it seemed as though there was another fire to squelch, another issue to address, another position to tweak.
That was not so long ago. And yet somehow, in light of recent events, it feels like eons.
What a difference a Lodeiro can make.
The Sounders’ literal match preparation for visiting Real Salt Lake on Sunday (4 p.m. PT; FS1; KIRO Radio 97.3 FM, El Rey 1360am) is perhaps not so different under interim coach Brian Schmetzer as it was under Sigi Schmid. To be sure, Schmetzer has his own training rhythms, and he’s certainly organized his attack markedly different than Schmid. But Schmetzer often helped orchestrate practices as an assistant too, building a familiarity with players that’s helped smooth the ruffles of transition.
And yet things are still so different. For months, practices had a dour edge to them, limned as they were with the shadowy light of draws snatched from wins and losses snatched from draws. If the matchday performances were rarely all that bad, the results certainly indicated a general sense of foreboding. The Sounders couldn’t seem to catch a break.
That’s flipped now, with practices surging in intensity and, by the coaching staff’s own admission, smiles far more commonplace. Part of that has to do with the fresh blood infusion brought by Nicolas Lodeiro, who’s had one of the more memorable two-week debuts in Sounders history. The other part of the equation, not to be underestimated, involves the simple act of playing well and getting results.
It does wonders. And it certainly has for Seattle’s confidence.
That’s the backdrop for Real Salt Lake’s weekend visit. It almost seems inconsequential that RSL is third in the conference and the Sounders are ninth. This Seattle team is playing like an utterly different creation than the one that landed in that crater to begin with. Seattle still has plenty of work to do to qualify for the playoffs, and if current form is any indication they’ll probably have to win around seven of their last 12 to assure a spot in the postseason for an eighth straight year.
The heart of the transformation has been in chance creation, which of course flows from Lodeiro’s golden boots. In the last two weeks, Seattle’s moved from 18th in passes leading to shots up to 12th. That’s key, because for all its possession under Schmid, Seattle couldn’t find meaningful shots. The fact that Seattle is still 16th in the league in assists should tell you everything.
Even when Lodeiro hasn’t been directly involved, he’s largely been setting up the man who ultimately got the assist. That happened twice in Seattle’s 3-1 win at Orlando City SC last weekend. Lodeiro rang up two secondary assists, both killer passes to give the ultimate assist man - in these cases, Tyrone Mears and Jordan Morris - clear looks to set up the goal.
This had been patently missing for months. It’s part of the reason why Clint Dempsey registered his first hat trick in more than two years in Orlando. He’s finally getting the looks in front of goal he coveted without Obafemi Martins in the lineup.
Lodeiro’s influence has unlocked everyone else in the attack, and it’s simultaneously allowed Schmetzer’s 4-2-3-1 to place Osvaldo Alonso and Cristian Roldan in more dedicated defensive roles. Both will come forward from time to time, but neither no longer needs to. This has helped shield the back line and, with the exception of one defensive error against the LA Galaxy and a missed set piece assignment against Orlando, it’s been sturdy as ever.
The question Seattle faces this weekend is what kind of RSL team is towing along to CenturyLink Field and whether it can deploy a plan to slow down a Seattle attack that’s suddenly among the best in the league.
RSL has largely subsisted on the remnants of the team that asserted so much dominance at its peak around five years ago. Javier Morales, Kyle Beckerman, Nick Rimando, Jamison Olave and Yura Movsisyan are all key contributors, just as they were a half decade ago. There’s nothing statistically anomalous about this particular iteration, though, and RSL finds itself in the league’s statistical midsection in categories like passing distance, possession and shots per game.
But if anything’s defined RSL’s season, it’s been one marked by shootouts. The Utah side has had little trouble in racking up 35 goals this season and, on the other side of the coin, letting in 34. To boot, Olave’s started two of RSL’s last three games, and his 35-year-old legs can no longer travel quite so fast or quite so far as they once could.
RSL is quality this year under coach Jeff Cassar, opting more often than not to keep it on the ground and move it through the ageless Beckerman in the middle. That’ll be the biggest boulder Lodeiro will be tasked with navigating around, and it won’t be easy. But RSL has hardly been a shut-up shop this year, so opportunities should be there on Sunday.
Just like they have the last two weeks, a period of time that’s totally shifted the lens of the 2016 season. Hopefully it isn’t too little, too late.
