SEATTLE – Exactly how badly did the Seattle Sounders need their cathartic first win of the season on Saturday?
Perhaps the better question is this: How come it took so long?
The Sounders’ 1-0 win over the Montreal Impact wasn’t exactly anything new for Seattle, even if the final result was refreshing. Despite three straight curious and hard-luck losses to open the season – a franchise record in futility – there were no dramatic exhales of relief at CenturyLink Field for Sounders players, who insisted they’ve been remarkably confident throughout the first frustrating month of the season.
“Obviously we had some results that didn’t go our way, but we still believed in the ability we have in this locker room,” said goalkeeper Stefan Frei, who posted his first shutout of the season. “From front to back, defensively, offensively, technically in the middle, we have it all. We’re confident in ourselves, and we have enough veterans to know that, and to not start to panic.”
The win snapped a franchise-record three-game losing streak to start the season and gave the Sounders their first home win in four games across all competitions.
It wasn’t the prettiest game the team has played – there were large chunks of the game where neither team made much of dent beyond midfield – but that didn’t dampen the glow. The Sounders controlled the tempo for the majority of the first half, Clint Dempsey grabbed his first goal of the season and Frei did just enough to keep the Impact at bay all night, ripping Seattle back from the brink of almost certain early-season anxiety few would have expected a month ago.
“We’ve not been worried about the performances,” right back Tyrone Mears said. “Tonight it was the same performance as the other two or three games. We were strong, we had a good mentality … it’s a good start. We’ve got to build from this now.”
While Dempsey took the plaudits for his game-winner in the second half, youngsters Aaron Kovar and Dylan Remick also made impressive first starts of the season after the FIFA international break sapped a pair of the team’s expected starters. Both forward Jordan Morris and defender Joevin Jones sat for the first time in 2016 after midweek games and lengthy travel back to Seattle, forcing the Sounders to trot out a striking new look against the Impact that ultimately did the trick.
But the remedy for success was surprisingly the same. The Sounders struck for their second set-piece goal in as many games – and fourth across six games in all competitions this year – and the defense welcomed center back and captain Brad Evans back into the fold to lock down an Impact attack that rang up three goals each against Vancouver Whitecaps FC and the New York Red Bulls to open the season.
“I thought we played well at home again, just like we did against Vancouver,” Dempsey said. “We were unlucky that game. Tonight we had a little more luck on our side.”
The Sounders return to action on April 10 at the Houston Dynamo.
“I’ve been in this position before,” head coach Sigi Schmid said. “You play well, and you sort of grind one out a little bit … and from there the road gets easier. Everybody’s able to take a big sigh and a breath of fresh air.”
