Carrying momentum from last weekend’s 3-0 win over the New England Revolution, Sounders FC got a perfect start to its second match of the year. Clint Dempsey scored 18 seconds into Saturday night’s game, the fastest goal in team history.
The next hour and a half, though, was about the opposite of what the 39,175 fans at CenturyLink Field could foresee after Dempsey’s header. San Jose scored three straight goals – two by Chris Wondolowski – to earn its first victory in the club’s past 17 MLS matches. Obafemi Martins added a second goal for the home side in the 84th minute, but the Rave Green were unable to score again in the waning moments, and Seattle fell 3-2 in its first defeat of the season.
San Jose played with 10 men for the final 38 minutes after Victor Bernardez was shown a red card early in the second half. Sounders FC was without Head Coach Sigi Schmid, who attended his son’s wedding Saturday evening. Top Assistant Coach Brian Schmetzer took over in his absence.
Below you can find what Schmetzer and a couple of players said to the media after the game.
Brian Schmetzer:
“Sometimes when you score that early goal, it makes things difficult because the other team gets fired up and your team lets off the gas a little bit. But obviously it was a good start. If I had to ask, ‘Do I want to score early or do I not?’…I would take the goal. We just weren’t able to hold onto that lead for a long enough time to change the game in our favor.”
“[It was] hit and miss. I don’t really think we had a ton of clean chances until the [Obafemi Martins] goal. I think after that, everyone got a little more inspired. It’s always hard to play a match when you go up a man. Certainly [being] down a goal and up a man made things even more difficult.”
Gonzalo Pineda:
“It was ideal trying to put pressure on them, but after that we made a few mistakes. I think after the first goal you have to keep more possession and still get pressure on them. But we didn’t do that after the first goal, so those are the consequences.”
“They did a good job reading our style, and they put pressure on, and it was a little bit harder than usual. They are a more defensive team than offensive, and I think they were trying to break our good moves with fouls. And I think that’s a problem because it can break your rhythm.”
Tyrone Mears:
“I think we battled until the end, and the game was really lost in the first half. When we go a goal up, we are all experienced enough to know how to win games. But being second to the ball and losing our battles all over the pitch, I don’t think you can put it down to any individual players. The team performance wasn’t good enough. We take that as a positive now because it is a wake-up call. We have to do better.”
“I don’t think you can just put it down on the defense. Obviously we conceded too many goals today. But I think from being one goal up and then they get one back, we really crumbled, which is unlike us. We have really dominant players and we should be finishing the games up.”
