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| Like this, only shoved into a dam. |
More games should end like this one did. The Seattle Sounder
pushed against the Vancouver Whitecaps’ defense with what looked like the
pressure of water pouring through a crack in a dam, but the defense held using
the familiar tactic of stuffing body after body after body into the crack (again,
soccer shows the way; we can only pray that hydro-engineers will listen) and the ‘Caps held on to beat the Sounders 2-1. When it wasn’t David Ousted (who’s doing
better, even if he’s still shaky by his former standards), it was Tim Parker
and Kendall Waston. Or even Sheanon Williams.
From the Seattle Sounders standpoint, though, they need to ask
themselves why they held back for as long as they did. Seattle can answer that however
they like, but I’d like to nominate a one-word answer: complacency. Vancouver
started as the visibly weaker team; Seattle, meanwhile, looked fluid and
comfortable, their players moving the ball easily in a way that showed a shared
understanding of where the other players should be and where they want the
ball. As Vancouver eased into the game – aka, once they stopped just passing
the ball to the touchline or even the nearest Sounder – they started to take it
over. What’s more, ‘Caps players started picking off Seattle’s passes – and that’s
how Seattle’s strength – i.e., knowing where to find their players – became a
weakness. It got to where Vancouver’s players knew where to find them too.
Seattle took too long to adjust; their late dominance might
have been an illusion, the product of Vancouver bunkering to defend their lead
(and was that the right choice? Did weary legs dictate the choice?). And I
think that’s what I mean by complacency: it’s the theory that Seattle (perhaps like
the Portland Timbers in 2016) came into the season sticking with the overall approach
that won them MLS Cup. That ties into the cliché about championship teams having
targets on their backs, a concept I’ve never really attached any meaning to till
now. Maybe opposing teams do study the champs a little more carefully. And that obliges
the champs to keep things fresh. Or to see that crown get knocked off their
heads.
Anyway, that’s just a theory. This was a good win for
Vancouver, an unlikely team that now has two big “on-paper” wins under the belt
in this young season (Seattle this week, and the Los Angeles Galaxy a couple
weeks back). As for Seattle, look, I could be writing an entirely different
post if either of Clint Dempsey’s shots off the woodwork went in, or if Ousted
didn’t make two back-to-back saves early in the second. None of that came off: Dempsey
was the only positive in the Sounders attack for too long, and that’s how you
lose games.
OK, let’s close this out with some notes on both teams.
