Sounders Rap

The Sounders’ 3-0 win over New England was easily the best game they’ve played so far this season. The Sounders’ first half performance – short of a couple of briefs occasions and a couple of near misses, was arguably a perfect game. Of course given that Leo Gonzales bagged the “man of the match” honors, one would also have to assume that he had an extraordinary outing on a day when the team played outstandingly in what turned out to also be a gorgeous evening for soccer.

Actually, Gonzales played a near perfect game. Mind you, this compliment is coming from someone who has not been a big fan of Gonzales. One could easily invoke all the usual clichés to describe his performance and had it not been for one late tackle that got him booked, he played as if he was in a zone. All his passes was spot on, his seemed to anticipate the ball and read New England’s passes perfectly, he seamlessly covered the left flank, and made his runs into the opponent’s half look graceful and well-timed, not to mention menacing.

Now this is not to distract from the fact that all our boys out there looked focused, determined, and keen on taking the game to New England. I couldn’t help but find myself even impressed by Montaro as he chased down balls and on several occasions surprised us with his willingness to trot back and actually help with some defending.

Though Gonzales had a memorable game, practically everyone out there on the pitch played with passion and they looked like they’ve never looked in a long while – that is, playing as a team. When you have a game such as this where everyone took his respective performance to the next level, it does indeed feel good.

Maybe it might be too much to ask for everyone to be hitting their stride and to be in harmony with each other as they were Saturday evening. But just seeing the sheer desire and focus in their eyes, coupled with confidence in their execution on both ends of the pitch was a treat.

Dare I say it brought flashbacks to some of the euphoria from last season.

Mark Fields

Now that I’ve had a few hours to let the pain of the loss to San Jose seep into my system and actually start to gradually dissipate, I feel composed enough to share the following thoughts.

I have to admit, as I walked to my car after the game, I had some definitive concerns about how our boys played in this 1-0 loss at home. Then I turned on the radio and heard the post-game show, which really bothered me. I was rather amazed and puzzled, really, by the comments of the post-game commentators and analysts. Simply put, they seemed to be covering up the cracks in the Sounders’ performance. They seemed to be practically falling over each other in making excuses for the kind of game we had. It struck me as odd that they went on and on about this being one of those games where we played well but just couldn’t find the back of the net. Most surprisingly, they seemed unable to find any weaknesses in certain individual performances and especially in tactical execution.

Then, Sigi comes on the radio with his post-game press conference. Oh boy, was that a refreshing change of substance – not to mention tone – in the post-game analysis. Sigi just said it like he saw it. And for my money, he saw it pretty clearly. He questioned the players’ concentration on the field, he questioned some choices that certain players made on the field, and he made it abundantly clear that what we saw needed fixing. In other words, it was a far cry from what Matt Johnson and his mates had been going on about in the minutes before. Frankly, the two segments of the show couldn’t have been more different.

Hearing Sigi’s post-game press conference at least assured me that I wasn’t losing it because I just did not share any of the sentiments I was hearing on the radio before Sigi came on. Frankly, I felt as if the hosts of the program, much like a lot of the refereeing we see in this league, left much to be desired.

I’m grateful to Sigi for being candid with us. Without quite referring to him by name Sigi called-out Ljungberg for his incessant quibbling with the referee. In this day of excessive coddling of superstars, Sigi, in no uncertain terms, was frustrated with this leader on the pitch for creating more of a distraction than was necessary. Not to dwell on this, but I clearly see where Sigi was coming from on this. While it’s fine to let the referee have a piece of your mind, Ljungberg often gets too wrapped up in his tiff with officials and becomes distracted. Sigi is correct that Ljungberg might be much more valuable and effective if he’d cut back on his on-field complaining.

While Matt Johnson and friends seemed oblivious, Sigi, on the contrary, was also firm and blunt about the lapses in concentration during the game, and not just when San Jose scored early in first half. Kudos to Sigi for making that point. While Sigi cited situations in the game when players could have been more attentive to their teammates, I was also especially struck by the lack of concentration – especially in much of the first half – that showed up in various ways, but especially so in many of the sloppy passes in the midfield area, which often transpired in botched build-ups to the attack. No doubt we piled on the pressure and seemed to pick up the pace a lot more in the second half – but then we had to; we were badly chasing the game by that point. Sigi’s point, including his observation that we need to start the game with a lot more urgency, which we again did not do today, and stay focused is right on the money.

What a refreshing post-game analysis indeed from the coach.

Mark Fields