For Seattle Sounders coach Sigi Schmid, his team’s 3-1 defeat to the Colorado Rapids at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park on Saturday had a notable distinguishing feature from the other three losses his team has endured this season.
“I thought the first three games of the year, even though we lost, we were unfortunate and I thought we played better and created more chances than the opponent,” Schmid said after the game. “We were a little bit unlucky. Today, I thought we as a unit, coaching staff, players, we beat ourselves today.”
The first half saw the saw Sounders learn something that the rest of MLS might want to take note of as well: Jermaine Jones is back. In his second game after returning from suspension, the 34-year-old U.S. national team veteran wreaked havoc on the Sounders' backline on set pieces throughout the first half, putting the hosts up 1-0 with a 20th-minute header and narrowly missing two additional clean looks on goal.
Despite falling behind 2-0 courtesy of a 51st-minute tally from Colorado’s Luis Solignac, the Sounders found themselves in position to salvage a draw thanks to a 63rd minute goal from rookie forward Jordan Morris and a huge penalty kick save from goalkeeper Stefan Frei.
But a nifty - and disputed - tally from Colorado substitute Kevin Doyle in the 86th minute sealed Seattle’s fate.
“We had enough balls that we ended up playing in behind, we had enough chances. We had crosses that were going across the six that we just didn’t get on to,” Schmid said. “Our possession didn’t amount to anything at the end of the day because we didn’t do a good enough job defensively.”
Doyle’s goal also led to a red card for dissent dealt to Sounders captain Brad Evans, who will now have to sit out next weekend’s home matchup with Columbus Crew SC.
The red card was just the second of a 10-year career for Evans, who said he asked head referee Jorge Gonzalez for some clarity after he thought Doyle’s goal was offside, among some other calls he found questionable.
“I said, ‘You need to talk to me,’ he said, ‘No,’” Evans said. “I gave him an expletive and he gave me a yellow card. I said, ‘It’s your duty to talk to me on the field,’ he said, ‘No it’s not.’ I gave him another expletive and that was the double yellow.”
The Sounders were playing without veteran attackers Clint Dempsey and Nelson Valdez, with veteran Herculez Gomez and rookie Oalex Anderson each getting the starting nod in their place.
“We felt we had a chance to equalize the game,” Schmid said. “Obviously there's guys who haven't played 90 minutes and if we got enough production from guys who came on becomes a question. But at the end of the day, there's opportunities there, and there was opportunity there tonight for us to tie this game and we didn't make use of it.”
Added Evans: “I think the first three games this year we beat ourselves as well. We haven’t been playing especially well, I think we can all be honest in that. We’ve said it after every game, so we’ve been lucky with a couple of home results. So tonight it caught up with us.”
