VANCOUVER — It’ll come.
That was the feeling in the Seattle Sounders’ locker room following their 2-1 road loss to the Vancouver Whitecaps on Friday in the first Cascadia clash of the year. The Sounders, 1-2-3 through their first six matches of the season, hit two posts at BC Place and had a final golden opportunity cleared off the goal line in the final seconds.
The Sounders had 62 percent possession, had 200 more passes than Vancouver, had 15 total shots and had 10 corner kicks to the Whitecaps’ two. But Seattle was unable to matriculate their chances into goals.
“All the possession in the world doesn’t do you any good unless you can score,” said head coach Brian Schmetzer. “We had the ball there, credit Ousted, credit their defense, credit them getting a timely goal to throw us off. At 1-0, we’re not in panic mode, but at 2-0 it’s a tough thing to swallow. We gotta figure out ways to not let teams off the hook when you dominate them.”
Seattle’s MLS schedule is not doing it any favors either. The defending MLS Cup champions have to play five of their first seven 2017 matches away from home with another huge road date against the LA Galaxy next Sunday. The Sounders have four points from two strong home performances against the New York Red Bulls and Atlanta United, so it’s hard to categorize the Sounders’ recent results as overly concerning, and the tough road fixtures and travel are not something the players are using as an excuse.
“It’s not anything we’re thinking about,” said midfielder Cristian Roldan. “I believe that we played well today, we just didn’t put away our chances. We weren’t very careful on two opportunities that they had and they took advantage of it.
“It’ll come, it’ll come, it’ll come with time, with patience,” he continued. “We just have to be a little [cleverer] and decisive in the final third. The goals will come.”
The Sounders’ slow start to last season and improbable run to MLS Cup is now immortalized in Seattle lore, but it’s a predicament the team does not want to find itself in yet again. Their 2016 playoff push was magical, but only because of how difficult it was. The Sounders don’t want to have such a massive hole to climb out of again.
“I don’t think this is a hangover,” said Roldan. “We’re playing well. We have to start winning.”
