It was a historic night at CenturyLink Field on Thursday, as the Seattle Sounders exploded for five goals in the first 33 minutes and added two more in the second half, cruising to a resounding 7-1 blowout of the San Jose Earthquakes.
Raúl Ruidíaz and Joevin Jones each scored a brace for Seattle, while Jordan Morris, João Paulo and Kelvin Leerdam added a goal apiece.
The five goals in 33 minutes were the fastest any team has managed five goals in MLS history, and the seven total goals set a new single-game Sounders record.
Morris got the party started just four minutes into the contest with a stellar individual run that started near midfield and ended with the star Homegrown product capping it off with an easy finish.
The floodgates opened from there, as Ruidíaz finished off a point-blank shot on a feed from Nicolás Lodeiro, who was sprung in on goal by a pinpoint pass from Jones in the 12th minute.
Leerdam scored his second goal in as many games with a rocket finish to make it 3-0 just three minutes after that, marking the third goal of the season for the Seattle right back.
Jones, who was playing as the right midfielder with Cristian Roldan dropping back to the defensive midfield in the absence of Gustav Svensson (international duty), then got his first of the season on 20 minutes, with Ruidíaz playing the role of assist man with a feed right in front of goal.
Ruidíaz capped off the epic first half, finishing off a pinpoint through ball from Morris for Seattle’s fifth.
The attacking clinic continued into the second half, as João Paulo scored his first MLS goal shortly after the restart, cashing home an assist from Leerdam, before Jones rounded off the scoring with his second of the evening in the 59th.
THREE TAKEAWAYS
A HISTORIC NIGHT
Wow. To state the obvious, you don’t see a team put up seven goals very often, even one with as many dynamic attackers as Seattle. This wasn’t just a blowout victory, it was done in historic fashion. The milestones are noted above, but aside from that, it was a necessary bounceback for the Sounders after their defeat to the Portland Timbers on Sunday. This should have the squad brimming with confidence looking ahead to Phase 2 of the MLS restart.
JOEVIN JONES DOMINATES
There are plenty of good picks for Man of the Match. Morris’s run on his opener was a thing of beauty and he dished out a trio of assists. Ruidíaz got two more to bring his total up to seven goals on the season. Leerdam had another assist in addition to his goal. João Paulo got his first league goal. The list goes on. But this might have been Jones’ best game in his illustrious Sounders career, as he assisted on two of the goals in addition to his brace and was all over the place throughout the night. Simply put, he dominated the proceedings and is a worthy choice as the MOTM for this one.
FIRST PLACE IN THE WEST
With the dust settled, this victory now puts the Sounders atop the Western Conference table with 18 points from 10 matches and a healthy 1.8 points per game clip. There’s still plenty of work to be done, but that’s right where you’d hope to be at this point in the season. Not every match is going to be as easy as this one, but the defending MLS Cup champions very much have their swagger going now. And that shouldn’t be a comforting thought for the rest of the league.
