Midway through a dreary Saturday night postgame press conference, Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer was asked whether “leadership’’ factored in to the team’s winless and goal-less start.
Schmetzer gave the expected reply about how he still believed the team’s leadership was strong, as evidenced by numerous scoring chances late in a 1-0 loss to Montreal. But the question about leadership was fair; foremost due to right back Kelvin Leerdam being sent off 40 minutes in for a face slap just one game after veteran forward Clint Dempsey was red-carded after 37 minutes for an elbow to an opponent’s groin.