Seattle, Washington – The LA Galaxy fall to the Sounders, 0-3 at Lumen Field in front of 7,148 of Seattle’s spectators.
A dominant first half for Seattle
The Sounders, arguably the best team in the league with an unbeaten record thus far this season, have proven to be the dominant team against Greg Vanney’s newly built L.A. roster.
It didn’t take long for the home team to establish their dominance as Peruvian super-star, Raúl Ruidíaz opened the scoresheet with their first goal of the match coming in at the 20th minute. Brad Smith sent a fantastic cross, and the no. 9 fired a right-footed shot, beating Galaxy keeper, Jonathan Bond for the 1-0 advantage.
Only three minutes later, Cristian Roldan whipped in a low cross from the right flank, and Smith pocked it in after a rebound with a left footed shot.
L.A. came close in netting one at the 27th minute when Efrain Alvarez attempted to deliver a ball to former AS Monaco winger, Samuel Grandsir, off a fired left footed shot on a 1-on-1 attempt. But Stefan Frei was there at the right time producing a great save to keep his clean sheet.
Galaxy maintained persistence and had more goal scoring opportunities later in the stretch, but their attempts weren’t capitalized. Álvarez’s left footed shot in the 39th minute was blocked and that ended their chances in the first half.
Galaxy line-up changes not enough
In the second, opportunities presented themselves for both sides, but only Seattle was able to find their way into capitalizing. They added a third goal as Jimmy Medranda sent Ruidíaz a cross during stoppage time and with a left footed brace put them up 3-0.
In the end, the Galaxy ended with a 0-3 loss in Seattle’s home turf and go home empty handed.
The team will now face cross-town rival, LAFC in the latest installment of El Trafico this Saturday at 5 P.M.
Vanney spoke to reporters post-game about the struggles the team faced.
“I own a lot of how we set up in the game. I wanted us to get a hold of the ball a little bit more. We had guys in decent spots, but we didn’t keep the ball. We didn’t get the ball, we didn’t switch from one side to the other as quickly as we would have liked. We turned it over too much, and then we were exposed.
We were too far apart from each other defensively. Our backline wasn’t connected with our midfield.”
Vanney’s changes included Oneil Fisher getting the start as a right-back against his former team, with Julian Araujo shifted into the midfield on the right-wing.
Alvarez, who made his 11th MLS start in the last three years was in the center for Adam Saldaña, who had missed time with the team due an unknown injury.
Derrick Williams made his MLS debut at center back for Nick DePuy, but was subbed out at the half after picking up a knock.
In the end, the changes Vanney made to the lineup didn’t result in a win.
“The easy short answer is no; we are not where we want to be defensively,” Vanney said when asked about the progress of his defensive line.
“Again, not collectively, but defending is a lot of different things. Losing too many balls between the lines, not advancing our attacks deep enough into the opposition’s half … We have to get better about recognizing what is more dangerous than something else.
Sometimes, we go stepping out and trying to defend things that are less dangerous than the space that we are leaving and it exposes us.
I continue to learn about them every day and things that I would definitely not do again as we went through this experience.
This is a bit of a reality check for all of us, for myself, for everybody … they [Seattle] are still, for me, the standard of teams.
With this win, the Sounders jumped to the top spot of the Western Conference standings.
Match breakdown
Venue: Lumen Field
Referee: Jair Marrufo
Assistants: Frank Anderson, Jeff Hosking
Fourth Official: Michael Radchuk
VAR: Malik Badawi
Attendance: 7,148 (limited capacity)
Weather: 65 and clear
SCORING SUMMARY
SEA – Raúl Ruidíaz (Brad Smith) 20’
SEA – Brad Smith 23’
SEA – Raúl Ruidíaz (Jimmy Medranda) 90’+3’
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
None
LINEUPS & STATS
Seattle Sounders FC – Stefan Frei; Alex Roldan, Yeimar, Shane O’Neill, Nouhou, Brad Smith (Jimmy Medranda 79’); Cristian Roldan, Kelyn Rowe (Jordy Delem 89’), João Paulo (Danny Leyva 79’); Will Bruin (Nico Lodeiro 66’), Raúl Ruidíaz
Substitutes not used: Spencer Richey, Stefan Cleveland, Xavier Arreaga, Ethan Dobbelaere
Total shots: 17
Shots on goal: 9
Fouls: 6
Offside: 1
Corner-kicks: 7
Saves: 2
LA Galaxy – Jonathan Bond; Oniel Fisher (Ethan Zubak 46’), Daniel Steres, Derrick Williams (Nick DePuy 46’), Jorge Villafana; Efrain Alvarez (Sacha Kljestan 46’), Jonathan dos Santos, Julian Araujo, Victor Vazquez (Cameron Dunbar 65’), Samuel Grandsir (Jonathan Perez 83’); Chicarito
Substitutes not used: Jonathan Klinsmann, Danilo Acosta, Carlos Harvey, Adam Saldana
Total shots: 10
Shots on goal: 2
Fouls: 10
Offside: 3
Corner-kicks: 4
Saves: 6
