VANCOUVER — All week leading into the first leg of the Seattle Sounders’ Western Conference Semifinals, even before the team found out its opponent after the Knockout Round on Wednesday, Head Coach Brian Schmetzer preached the same messaging for the upcoming away leg: Win the game.
The Sounders aren’t heading back to the United States with an aggregate lead, but they’ll take a scoreless away draw in one of their gutsiest performances of the entire season. Fielding a starting lineup without a suspended Clint Dempsey and injured Ozzie Alonso, Gustav Svensson, Víctor Rodríguez and Jordan Morris, Seattle held its own. The Sounders kept a Vancouver side that just shellacked the San Jose Earthquakes 5-0 on Wednesday off the score sheet at home and now head to CenturyLink Field with a favorable scenario.
Win the second leg on Thursday (7:30 p.m. PT; FS1, FOX Deportes) and advance to the Western Conference Championship for the second straight year.
“The guys who are in that locker room from last year knew when we took over that every game was a must-win game,” said Schmetzer. “I think that group is resilient, I think they understand, I think they’re proud of the effort they put out on the field, they withstood a hostile crowd and a good team, and they’re ready.”
Sunday’s match was yet another example of Schmetzer’s next-man up mentality he has instilled in the team. Rodriguez out? Harry Shipp, you’re up. Dempsey out? Jordy Delem, you’re up. Each player on the field at BC Place did his respective job and flashed a resilient attitude so synonymous with the way Schmetzer goes about his business.
“I actually wish we would have pressed the issue a little bit more,” said Schmetzer. “I thought there were opportunities in the second half, and even the one opportunity we had in the first half where we were able to get behind their defence and actually create some problems. Vancouver’s too good of a team for us to just sit in and defend.”
The character the Sounders demonstrated despite the adversity they faced may very well be the difference in this series. As the lower-seeded team in both the conference semifinals and championship last season, they won 3-0 and 2-1, respectively, setting themselves up for a positive outcome in the away leg. The Sounders didn’t allow the Whitecaps to build an early aggregate lead. Seattle mitigated any semblance of a Vancouver counterattack, a strategic identity by which the Whitecaps have lived and died all season, and only allowed two corner kicks to a team that scored on three set pieces midweek.
And by earning their 14th clean sheet of the season — they limited Vancouver to just four shots, none of which were on target — the Sounders hold the upper hand as they return to Seattle with everything to play for in a venue where they’ve only lost once in a year and a half.
“It’s not that easy,” Schmetzer cautioned of needing to win at home. “[Head Coach Carl Robinson] is going to get his guys ready, we’re obviously going to benefit from getting some guys back in the fold, so it should be a tough match. We’ll be in front of our home crowd so hopefully we’ll carry that advantage through.”
