After resting a slew of starters during Saturday’s 4-1 loss to the New York Red Bulls, a return to the norm appeared to be in order for the Seattle Sounders for Wednesday night’s match-up against FC Dallas, with Clint Dempsey, Obafemi Martins, DeAndre Yedlin, Zach Scott and Leo Gonzalez all returning to the team’s starting XI.
But in the end, it would make little difference. The Sounders fell 3-1 at Toyota Stadium, dropping their second straight game and missing an opportunity to retake sole possession of the Supporters’ Shield lead from the LA Galaxy.
Once again, conceding an early goal to the opposition was an issue for Seattle. After giving one up to New York’s Bradley Wright-Phillips just 30 seconds into their game Saturday night, Dallas needed just eight minutes to get on the scoreboard against Seattle on Wednesday, jumping out to a quick 1-0 lead on a tally from forward David Texeira. In all, the Sounders have fallen behind in the first half of their last four consecutive matches.
“We’ve been down in our last three or four games,” Seattle head coach Sigi Schmid told reporters after the game. “I think we’ve taken the first goal. So that’s not a good habit to be into.”
The Sounders were dealt a blow in the 32nd minute after Scott, who was making his milestone 300th career appearance with the club, went down with an ankle injury after landing awkwardly while trying to win a contested header. The status of Scott’s ankle was still undetermined following the game, but losing the veteran center back for any extended period of time would certainly be a blow to the depth of Seattle’s backline.
“I think losing Zach Scott hurt us,” Schmid said. “Zach’s been a very important part of our defense…The [ankle] is locked up so we don’t know if there’s something broken or it’s just jammed up. We don’t know.”
After falling behind on Texeira’s goal, Seattle seemed primed to grab the momentum after Lamar Neagle blasted a long-distance attempt in the 58th-minute past Dallas goalkeeper Raul Fernandez to tie the game at one. It was Neagle’s second highlight-reel screamer from over 20-yards out in three matches, with the first coming during Seattle’s 3-2 home triumph over Real Salt Lake on Sept. 12.
But the Sounders were unable to channel Neagle’s heroics into a go-ahead score, instead giving up another goal to Texeira in the 78th minute and an insurance dagger to Blas Perez off a header in the 88th.
“I thought we had some good looks and some good possession,” Schmid said. “I think we had more possession overall than they did in the game. But, again, [we made] individual mistakes.”
Perhaps a return to home cooking will revive the Sounders after a long 12-day road trip. Seattle will try to get back on track at CenturyLink Field Saturday, with an afternoon match-up against Chivas USA.
