For the undermanned Seattle Sounders, a scoreless draw on the road against previously perfect FC Dallas was an acceptable result. But following a first-half red card that put them up a man for over 70 minutes, it was also something of a missed opportunity.
Sure, Clint Dempsey and Chad Marshall were each out with hamstring issues and Obafemi Martins didn’t travel with the team after tweaking his quad. Marco Pappa also missed the contest due to international duty for Guatemala and, to top it off, Osvaldo Alonso was held out once again with the groin injury he suffered in last year’s playoffs.
However, even with their missing stars and a lineup laced with inexperience, the Sounders seemed to be in prime position to snatch a victory after FC Dallas midfielder Kellyn Acosta was shown straight red by referee Kevin Stott for a cleat to the midsection of Seattle midfielder Andy Rose. But the Sounders couldn’t quite capitalize in a disjointed offensive affair in which neither side managed to put a single attempt on target.
Speaking with reporters after the game, Seattle head coach Sigi Schmid said that playing a man up against a team like FC Dallas actually isn’t as much of an advantage as one might think.
“A lot of people think with a man advantage, maybe you should get more out of the game,” Schmid said. “But the way Dallas plays, playing a man down really doesn’t impact their game because they play for free kicks and they play a lot of long passes through to [forward Fabian] Castillo and try and run. So having one less man doesn’t really affect how they play.”
The Sounders leaned heavily on their youth throughout, with a couple of players even making their MLS debuts. Right back Oniel Fisher and 18-year-old Homegrown product Victor Mansaray each played their first MLS games on Saturday, while midfielder Cristian Roldan got his first career start.
“It’s great to see guys getting their first professional starts,” goalkeeper Stefan Frei said. “You see why they’re here. They’re here for a reason. We don’t have guys on a squad just as fillers. I think that’s a positive that we can take home and that’s going to help us build for the rest of the season in case someone does go down.”
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After the game, Schmid and several Sounders players did point to another positive takeaway for Seattle: A clean sheet for the defense and Frei, even in the absence of Marshall, the reigning MLS Defender of the Year.
“We didn’t give up a goal and that’s the positive we can take away from this game,” Roldan said. “It was against the so-called best team in the league right now and to come into their home and tie is definitely a positive, but we had our chances and I thought we could have won the game.”
Ari Liljenwall covers the Seattle Sounders for MLSsoccer.com.
