ORLANDO, Fla. —
Jordan Morris
may have to slow down a bit to allow his Seattle Sounders
teammates to keep pace with him. Better yet, perhaps he can keep feeding them on the break following a dazzling display on Sunday night against Orlando City SC.
Morris’ runs set up the second and third goals of
Clint Dempsey
’s hat trick in
an
emphatic 3-1 win that ended a Lions’ unbeaten home run dating back to July 18, 2015.
Interim head coach Brian Schmetzer revealed Dempsey’s 59th-minute substitution was as
much to do with trying to keep up with his young strike partner as it was from any injury
concern.
“He was feeling a little winded, and this is a team sport,” Schmetzer said. “What happened,
for me anyway, was that Jordan Morris is pretty fast and Jordan kept getting in behind their
defense. Clint was catching up with him, having to sprint 60, 70 yards at a time, and so Clint’s
effort in those moments got him the goals that he scored and that was part of the reason he may
have been a little fatigued.
“Then I have the luxury of having
Nelson Valdez
and other good players off the bench, so that is
a positive for me. It was the same thing with Joevin [Jones], who was having a little bit of a hard
time breathing, although I don’t think it was anything serious. If one player doesn’t feel like he
can contribute 100 percent, he has the confidence that players coming off the bench will be able
to supply that effort.”
Schmetzer was thrilled that his team got their rewards for some scintillating attacking play,
unlike the previous week’s 1-1 home draw with LA when they failed to convert a high
enough percentage of their chances.
“I was happy with both games because we were getting chances,” he insisted. “We created a lot
against LA and we finished them tonight. You would certainly expect to finish two or three when
you’re getting 15 chances a game.”
The other big takeaway for the Sounders coach was the continued form of new signing
Nicolas
Lodeiro, with the Uruguayan midfielder turning in a second successive eye-catching
performance following his move from Boca Juniors. He repeatedly opened up the Orlando
backline with astute passes and his movement kept the home team off balance most of the night.
Lodeiro chalked up his first two MLS assists on Dempsey’s first and third goals.
“People around the league will see first-hand just how good Lodeiro is now,” Schmetzer said.
“For only his second game with Clint, Jordan, Osvaldo [Alonso] and some of those guys, he is a
player who can make others around him much better.
“And that is the key thing for me — he makes every player on the field better. That’s the type of
player we needed and we’re ecstatic that he’s here.”
The stand-in boss was also bullish about his team’s record as road warriors, though the win makes them just 2-7-2 away from CenturyLink Field, insisting they can
once again underline that reputation with a playoff place still in reach.
“I prefer to just look at the history of the Sounders franchise,” he said. “Over the years we have
been a good road team and I wanted to instill that confidence back in the group. We can be a
good road team, we will be a good road team, and we are going to need to be a good road team to
have a chance of making the playoffs.”
