Top takeaways from the Seattle Sounders FC home win over FC Dallas, June 22nd, 2024
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – From largely dominating this home match against FC Dallas, whether that was statistically, based on chances, or just the eye test, then being down by two goals in the blink of an eye, to then a dramatic and somewhat emotional comeback: the Seattle Sounders FC put their fanbase through a rollercoaster of feelings and emotions with their victory tonight, and the same could really be said for the past week as the Rave Green convincingly defeated Minnesota, had to come back to draw with Houston, and then this miraculous result tonight. The Sounders have worked at themselves to improve upon the near historically poor form that they had to begin the 2024 campaign, and while it hasn’t resulted in some massive winning streak that has them way up in the Western Conference standings of MLS, it does have Seattle trending in the right direction and a result like the one seen at Lumen Field inspires hope that they will be able to get something sustainable pushing forward that can get them into the postseason this year. There’s still work yet to be done, but the wheels of progress are churning for the Sounders and tonight is evidence of such movement, dare I say momentum.
Jordan Morris is finding his stride
Tonight was big for Jordan Morris, a player that largely looked lost for the majority of the beginning of this 2024 campaign much like the club itself. It could’ve been considered a big night for Morris had he just netted the equalizer in this match, an absolute cannon of a header that went perfectly off the crossbar and in to not give FC Dallas goalkeeper Maarten Paes a chance to save it, but getting the breakaway goal to secure the victory and do so in front of the home fans that you’ve essentially grown up in front of? That’s big, and while it may not necessarily be his biggest moment as a Sounder, it was historic as those two goals pushed him into second place all-time in club history for goals scored during the regular season. It puts Morris now with six goals in his past seven matches, which isn’t necessarily world breaking form but is a vast improvement from the shell of himself that seemed lost on the pitch in the early weeks of the season. These two goals raise Morris’ total to seven on the season, pushing his goal contribution number to eight, and there’s legitimate reason to believe that Jordan has found some sort of stride or form for the club. The Sounders will certainly welcome it, given the struggles to put matches away or even get on the board at times, and considering what we’ve seen from Morris in the past compared to what has been reality over the past few campaigns, getting someone that’s paid to be a goal scoring actually doing that said action is just nice to see. Here’s to seeing that continue, and creating some healthy competition...
There’s some healthy competition at the forward position
Perhaps one of the more interesting storylines from this match was the sort of “drama” between Jordan Morris and Raúl Ruidíaz, as there was reportedly an argument between the two players at a point in the match. One of the most interesting aspects of this is that Ruidíaz scored the first goal of the match for Seattle by leaping in front of a cross that was seemingly headed towards Jordan Morris and scoring that header. Whether or not the cross would’ve made it to him, we’ll never know, but the other thing to note on that goal is that after Seattle picked up the ball to hurry back to begin play once again is that Raúl turned his back and pointed at his name on his jersey towards the Sounders bench, seemingly saying that he shouldn’t be forgotten considering that he’s come off the bench the last few matches. While Morris has been getting the starts up top for Seattle, it is tough to have the clubs all-time leading scorer coming off the bench, even if there isn’t a real spot for him to play in the current formation that the Sounders are playing in. It is good to have some healthy competition to push both Ruidíaz and Morris, giving them some edge to try and prove themselves and why they deserve more minutes, just as long as it stays healthy and doesn’t become personal.
“I’m sure you can ask him that, Jeremiah, and he will give you an answer. If you want my answer. He was just saying, ‘Don’t forget about me.’ And I’ve never forgotten about Raul. He is our leading goal scorer. He’s been here a long time. Some people might not think about that, but this is Raul’s longest tenure at one team and we’re lucky to have him.”
Seattle continues to make defensive blunders
The two goals that the Sounders allowed tonight to FC Dallas were just poor play and passive defense from a Seattle side that has historically been a strong team along the backline and in denying goals. The first score for the team from Texas was an instance of another turnover from a defender, as Jackson Ragen was trying to play a ball out of a back before it was intercepted and then whipped into the box, where Yeimar’s coverage of a Dallas player around the penalty area was far too soft and gave up too much space which really allowed any sort of shot in the first place. The second goal at least had some real run of play and perhaps a “build up” but this was another instance of a defender not playing tight enough defensively and therefor leaving open room for a Dallas player to get in behind and get a free shot off on goalkeeper Stefan Frei. Those lapses will hurt you and have hurt Seattle often this season, and they could be what stand between the Sounders barely making the playoffs or being a higher seed. While the offense has notably had it’s own struggles this season, defensive blunders that are uncharacteristic of this team aren’t helping either and must be fixed if the Rave Green are to make any real noise.
“Those were individual mistakes that we shouldn’t give up. I’ll look at them again, I don’t want to disrespect Dallas by any stretch of the imagination, but we could have done better on those plays. ”
What’s next?
Following tonight’s dramatic victory over FC Dallas at home as they hosted their Pride Match, the Seattle Sounders FC will have a full week ahead of their next match, the second of three consecutive contests at home for the Rave Green. Coming off this win, that actually keeps Dallas below them in the Western Conference standings, the Sounders next match comes on Saturday, June 29th with a kickoff time of 7:30PM PDT against the Chicago Fire FC, which will be broadcast on Apple TV – MLS Season Pass. The Sounders will being a strong form into this match, having tallied at least a point in four of their last five matches and have failed to tally at least a point in only three of their past nine matches in MLS play, but they won’t be alone in that strong recent form as the Fire have also tallied at least a point in four of their past five matches. Chicago has won their past two matches played against Seattle, but they will be without a star as Xherdan Shaqiri is with Switzerland in the Euro’s. Given their strong recent play and especially the nature in which tonight’s victory came, don’t be surprised to see the Sounders start to find some strong form and that’s been done without the performance of young DP Pedro de La Vega.