It was a copy-and-paste story on a muggy night in Texas.
The Wednesday night tale was the Sounders getting a 90th minute goal to grab a win at Austin FC. It’s the third straight match the Verde & Black have lost in the waning minutes.
The Sounders don’t care. The 2-1 win at Q2 Stadium ends a six-match winless run through all competitions. They remain third in Western Conference standings.
“It’s difficult when you try and try and try and never get rewarded,” Sounders keeper Stefan Frei said of the recent skid. “It’s demoralizing at times, but you’ve got to keep going. That’s why (Wednesday) is such a good result.
“It was a hard-fought battle. Which is kind of what we’ve been doing throughout the year — fighting and fighting and fighting. For us to finally get to reward ourselves feels really, really good. It feels good for the confidence. It feels good for the unit, for the team.”
Albert Rusnak had the game-winner for the Sounders (11-9-7). Teammate Obed Vargas had the first swipe off a Nico Lodeiro cross into the box that was blocked. Rusnak picked up the rebound and sent the ball back toward goal with vigor.
Once the final whistle blew, the crowd of 20,738 booed the home side. Austin (9-12-5) is winless in its past five matches.
“I felt even more relief, not just because of the three points but to make up for that mistake,” Rusnak said of his poor defending on Austin’s equalizer. “Two road games in (four) days, to get four points is pretty good.”
The way this Sounders season has gone, it wouldn’t have been surprising if VAR snatched a moment of glory from the team — twice.
Jordan Morris stood near referee Drew Fischer for the grueling wait on the field as video of his goal — a toe poke off a Lodeiro free kick in the 48th minute — was reviewed in the video booth to see if he was offside on his run in the box.
Nope. Fischer signaled the goal would stand, Morris flexing and yelling in celebration of the opening score. It’s the forward’s first goal since May 27, a 1-0 win against the New York Red Bulls.
Lodeiro’s service marked his 10th assist of the season. Since signing in 2016, Lodeiro has finished six seasons with 10 assists or more. He’s one of five players in league history to do so. The list includes Sounders assistant coach Preki, who played in MLS from 1996-2005.
“There’s been news articles written about the team and Nico and what’s going to happen,” Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer said of criticism during the winless streak. “Players age out and their careers come to an end, but what I would say about Nico Lodeiro is you cannot, even as he gets a little older and maybe guys are catching him, you can’t fault his effort and his desire to win.”
Eight minutes after Morris’ goal, the team paced nervously again. This time it was whether Frei adequately used his left hand to muscle the ball away from goal before it crossed the plane.
Nope. VAR didn’t contest the save. Frei had five overall against Austin.
“They review every goal, at least that’s what they tell us,” Frei said. “The question is what kind of angles do they have? Maybe it’s time to actually install some goal-line technology, so we can be 100% sure which ball is in and which ball is not. I’d like to remind the fans, for the ball to be considered a goal, the whole ball has to cross the line. I’m pretty sure that one didn’t.”
In their own familiar story line, the Sounders eventually conceded off another set piece.
Austin midfielder Sebastian Driussi had a powerful equalizer off a header in the 72nd minute. Teammate Gyasi Zardes had the assist off a corner kick, Rusnak getting beat on the play.
“It was my fault,” Rusnak said. “I was marking Driussi and I fell asleep on the back wall and he scored. But I’d like to see the review, because I felt Stef’s foot was on the line. I don’t know that it was crystal clear that the ball crossed the line.”
The midweek match brought significant changes to the starting lineup after Sunday’s draw against Minnesota, but not a return for midfielder Cristian Roldan. He remains questionable because of the concussion protocol.
Among the five changes to the starters were Morris moving up top in place of Raul Ruidiaz. Along the backline, center back Xavier Arreaga and right fullback Reed Baker-Whiting each made their third start of the season, while Josh Atencio played alongside Joao Paulo in the middle. It marked Atencio’s sixth start of the season.
Schmetzer subbed off Joao Paulo at the break for Rusnak.
The Sounders return to host Portland at Lumen Field on Saturday.
“There’s no better game,” Rusnak said of the Cascadia derby.
Note
Sounders defender Alex Roldan was called up by his El Salvador national team for the upcoming CONCACAF Nations League tournament. La Salecta plays Guatemala (Sept. 7) and Trinidad and Tobago (Sept. 10) during the FIFA men’s international window.
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