WASHINGTON—Seattle Sounders FC head coach Sigi Schmid kept his pre-game pep talk on Wednesday night very short.
Losers of three straight, and without a road win all year, Seattle came into their encounter at D.C. United hovering near the bottom of the Western Conference, in dire need of a result heading into the the international break. There just wasn’t much to say.
“The message was simple,” Schmid said, after the match. “I said there’s no better feeling than working together, working hard and coming away with success. That was the whole pre-game talk.”
Seattle did just that, riding a pair of second-half goals from USMNT forward Jordan Morris and Trinidad & Tobago international Joevin Jones to a 2-0 victory at RFK Staidum.
“Obviously we’re happy with the result,” Schmid said. “I thought we started off the game fairly well, but then there was a period of time in the first half where D.C. took the game to us for 15 or 20 minutes. But then we got a hold of the game again towards the end of the (first) half.
“[In the] second half, I thought we had more of the game overall, we did a good job of possessing the ball, and getting forward and getting chances. Obviously Joevin Jones came on as a sub and made a difference.”
It’s a much-needed win for a Seattle side that has frequently been competitive yet come away empty-handed, something Schmidt was quick to acknowledge.
“What’s important about the win, for our guys – there’s been games where we played really well and came away with nothing,” Schmid said. “So it’s important for our guys to understand and to believe in what we’re doing, so getting a win like that for them tonight substantiates that what we’re doing is right and the way we’re playing is right, it’s just a matter of the chances going into the net for us.”
“This was a total team effort defensively,” Morris said. “And [Seattle goalkeeper] Stef [Frei] locked down some really good players up front for them. And then through our midfield and up front everybody did a great job.
The outside backs were getting forward, the midfielders were getting forward and supporting – that was the message, to come together as a team and work hard and grind out this win. That’s what we did.”
