Now it feels like the Seattle Sounders are getting into the higher gears. Seattle’s home opener was an affair with plenty of celebration beforehand, almost turning it into a ‘trap game’, according to Head Coach Brian Schmetzer. But rather than be distracted by the banners, trophy and tifo, the Sounders delivered a focused, mostly comfortable home victory over the New York Red Bulls.
New York’s narrow, crowded midfield disrupted the Sounders at times and moved quickly forward in attack, but Cristian Roldan, Osvaldo Alonso and the altered backline were up to the task. Meanwhile, Joevin Jones, Nicolas Lodeiro, and others gladly exploited the yacht-sized spaces left on the wings and created chance after chance.