Following his team’s 3-1 US Open Cup final victory over the Philadelphia Union on Tuesday, Seattle Sounders head coach Sigi Schmid hinted he might start managing the minutes of his key players in an effort to preserve their health and energy leading up to the playoffs.
He kept his word Saturday night, against the New York Red Bulls and the result left the Sounders more than a bit short in the end.
Using a starting XI that didn’t include leading goal-scorers Clint Dempsey and Obafemi Martins, the Sounders couldn’t hang with Bradley Wright-Phillips and company, falling in a 4-1 rout at the hands of the Red Bulls.
Seattle trailed from the outset, never recovering after Wright-Phillips (who ended up tallying a hat trick) knocked a rebound goal past Sounders ‘keeper Stefan Frei just 30 seconds into the game. By the time Dempsey subbed on early in the second half, the Sounders were already facing a 3-0 deficit, rendering his goal in the 62nd minute a moot point.
“When we give them four goals, especially the first one from the first minute, I think that killed us,” defender Djimi Traore said. “I don’t think we ever came back from that first goal.”
Dempsey and Martins weren’t the only big names to take a hiatus from their usual starting positions. Brad Evans and Gonzalo Pineda were held out, while defenders DeAndre Yedlin, Zach Scott and Leo Gonzalez also didn’t see the field.
Seattle’s backline was exposed in their absence, with Traore and fellow fill-in Dylan Remick each committing mental mistakes that led to goals. Traore attempted a clearance that went directly to Tim Cahill, leading to the Australian's goal, while Remick fouled New York midfielder Lloyd Sam in the box, allowing Wright-Phillips to convert a penalty kick.
But Schmid maintained the rest was necessary in order to keep his team in good shape physically as the season moves forward.
“I needed to rest some guys today,” Schmid told reporters after the game. “There was no other option, there was no way around that.”
Schmid’s decision to go with the reserve-heavy line-up comes on the heels of a rigorous stretch for his team. Seattle needed 120 minutes to dispatch of the Union in the Open Cup final, and had a tough 90-minute battle in a home victory against Real Salt Lake the Friday before that.
Schmid also said his team’s fate was determined more by a lackluster start against New York than by any potential carry-over from the USOC final.
“It’s not an Open Cup hangover,” Schmid said. “Anytime you have a game like that you’re going to maybe start off flat, and we started off flat, but after 10-15 minutes I felt we were okay, but we just made too many individual mistakes.”
