SEATTLE — Not a lot went right for the Seattle Sounders during Monday night’s 3-0 rout at the hands of the LA Galaxy. But a trio of defensive lapses that led to the decisive first-half goals stood out in what was a one-sided affair on both sides of the ball.
“That was one of the worst 45s that I can ever remember playing, I think, from top to bottom,” defender Zach Scott said following the defeat. “Letting in three goals is just ridiculous.”
LA’s first goal came after Landon Donovan simply ran past Seattle’s Jalil Anibaba and was able to set up Gyasi Zardes for a relatively easy look against Seattle goalkeeper Stefan Frei.
Donovan’s rebound goal in the 18th minute came after DeAndre Yedlin didn’t stick with him following a shot off the foot of Marcelo Sarvas.
Stefan Ishizaki was also wide open for the Galaxy’s final goal of the match in the 36th minute after he found himself all alone on the right side of the Seattle box off a feed from Sarvas, who was a handful for the Sounders defense the entire night.
“Once we turned the ball over,” Frei said, “they looked to counter us very quickly.”
Some of Seattle’s shortcomings on Monday could have to do with the loss of All-Star defender Chad Marshall, who was a pregame scratch after experiencing back spasms following a minor car accident that he was involved in last week.
“Losing [Marshall] at the beginning of the game was a huge blow,” said Seattle forward Chad Barrett, who came on as a second-half substitute. “He’s a huge part of the way we play, the commander of our backline.”
Seattle defender Dylan Remick was also making his first appearance back with the team after missing time with an adductor injury, meaning that he had to adjust to the fast-paced counters offered by the Galaxy on the fly.
Seattle couldn’t get much going offensively to offset the defensive miscues, struggling to put together many chances on LA goalkeeper Jaime Penedo. The normally dangerous forward combination of Obafemi Martins and Clint Dempsey was quiet for most of the night, unable to consistently put together sequences of the impressive combination play that Sounders fans have grown accustomed to.
“It was just one of those days at the office,” head coach Sigi Schmid said. “Better to forget about it and move on.”
