NEW YORK — When asked whether there any positives to take from Saturday’s road loss at New York City FC, Seattle Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer was succinct: “No. It was a loss.”
Rain fell, and fell hard, at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx as NYCFC turned a 1-0 halftime deficit into a 2-1 win and three points. Players fell left and right chasing a ball that would skip menacingly at first before dying in a puddle on the soaked grass. The Sounders took the lead in the 40th minute off a brilliant run and finish from Cristian Roldan, but a penalty kick and then a back-post volley from David Villa sent Seattle back to the Pacific Northwest emptyhanded.
The Sounders need to now quickly turn their attention to Orlando City SC, a team that entered Saturday fourth in the Eastern Conference with 24 points.
“We’re able to get onto a flight and shift the focus,” said Roldan. “Obviously, this is an Orlando team that was hot at the beginning [of the season] and is rising at the moment, it’s a quality team and we’re focused already. We’re focused on what they bring to the table and we have to take it to them because we’re at home and that’s where we play extremely well.”
Orlando has turned its beautiful new soccer-specific home stadium into a fortress, sporting a 6-1-2 record heading into a home match against the Montreal Impact on Saturday night, but OCSC has only mustered six four points from six away games. Seattle, meanwhile, has three consecutive home shutouts — the Sounders have not allowed a goal at home in more than a month — and are excited to get back to the friendly confines of CenturyLink Field.
“The [Yankee Stadium] field was small, but it’s not an excuse, we have to play better,” said captain Osvaldo Alonso. “We’ll play at home and we have to set the tempo and get three points, no matter how we play.”
Brad Evans, who missed Saturday’s match with a calf strain, said recently that if the team was not going to pick up results on the road, then winning at home becomes all the more essential, especially as the MLS season nears its midway point.
“Tonight was a tough match, they worked hard,” said Schmetzer. “It was a sloppy field, it wasn’t easy to play, so the mentality was there… We just need to look at the film and help the guys be a little better.”
