The Sounders knew they were in trouble 80 seconds into their debut match at Snapdragon Stadium. And it only got worse.
San Diego FC, the MLS’s newest club, pelted Seattle with three goals in the opening half to leave the Sounders bruised by a 3-0 loss on Saturday. It’s the first time the Sounders have lost the initial meeting with an expansion team since a 1-0 loss against Los Angeles FC in 2018.
LAFC swelled to become a problem for the Sounders and California may have birthed another. SDFC (4-1-2) is second in Western Conference standings to start its inaugural season. The Sounders (1-3-3) are 12th.
“This has to be rock bottom, so far this year,” Sounders winger Paul Rothrock said. “Things have got to change. Things have got to shift. The mindset has to be better.”
SDFC midfielder Jeppe Tverskov unleashed the scoring with a goal off a set piece in the 2nd minute. Mexican international Chucky Lozano had the assist on the left-footed shot in the box.
MLS newcomer Anders Dreyer helped push the lead to 2-0 in the 41st minute. The Danish winger received a pass from Lozano in transition and cut it back to Aníbal Godoy for the deft, left-footed goal in the box.
Saturday was Lozano’s first start since suffering a hamstring injury in early March. Although his new club didn’t struggle without him — San Diego pocketed three goals in a 3-2 win against LAFC on March 29 — he displayed his value against Seattle.
After overshooting an attempt one minute into stoppage time, Lozano slipped behind Seattle’s defense to beat Sounders keeper Stefan Frei for the score. As majority of the 28,228 in attendance at Snapdragon celebrated, heads dropped as the Sounders headed into the break down 3-0.
“Transition defending is a lot about effort,” Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer said of the final goal. “I don’t think Jackson [Ragen] saw Lozano run behind him. A 35-year-old guy makes a run from deep to score, those are things, we can’t give goals away like that. This league is too good, expansion team or not.”
Saturday marked the return of Sounders designated player Pedro de la Vega. He’s been out since March 8 with a quad injury.
The Argentine subbed on in the 61st minute along with forward Danny Musovski as Schmetzer scoured the bench for answers.
Two changes were forced in subbing off right back Alex Roldan for Kalani Kossa-Rienzi due to an apparent injury in the 34th minute. At the break, designated player Albert Rusnák was pulled for Danny Leyva due to injury.
Both Roldan and Rusnák will be evaluated when the team returns to Seattle.
But the in-game changes didn’t work. And neither did a new starting lineup.
Sounders winger Georgi Minoungou received his third nod of the season. He replaced defensive midfielder João Paulo and played the traditional forward role in effort to generate more offense with striker Jordan Morris out due to a hamstring injury.
Schmetzer intimated after the team’s draw against San Jose on March 29 that he wanted to start Musovski up top instead of Jesús Ferreira, who tends to drift into the pockets. But Musovski suffered a minor back injury against the Quakes and was limited at training until Friday.
“It was supposed to be fluid,” Schmetzer said of wanting Ferreira and Minoungou to ebb and flow up top. “I know Georgi is not a No. 9 [forward] but I don’t know if Jesús is a No. 9 in the vein of Jordan Morris and running in behind, so we thought Georgi could stretch the field and open the field up a little bit so we could extend our possessions … We were grasping at straws a little bit.”
De la Vega subbed on for Minoungou and Musovski replaced Ferreira.
Seattle has scored one goal since Morris suffered his injury during a CONCACAF Champions Cup loss on March 11. The Sounders have been shutout three times during the four-game winless streak.
“It wasn’t good enough from all of us,” Rothrock said. “A lot of technical mistakes and giveaways in costly areas … we still created chances but not good enough on the day.”
The Sounders will close out their three-game road stretch against FC Dallas next week. It’ll be a homecoming for Ferreira, who began his career through the club’s youth program and was traded from the first-team to Seattle in January.
“We’re going to win games,” Leyva said. “But we have to show that. It starts with concentration from the first minute to the last. That’s with and without the ball.”
