Homegrown heroics: Jordan Morris and Cristian Roldan score as Sounders punch postseason ticket
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – For the first time since perhaps the beginning of this 2023 campaign, the Seattle Sounders truly felt like the club that had pissed so many around Major League Soccer off. This felt like the Sounders that had mounted such an impressive streak of playoff appearances, with high energy on the offensive attack while shutting things down defensively with the club's great goalkeeper of all time, Stefan Frei, holding things down in the net. Despite this, the visiting LA Galaxy found their equalizer in the 54th minute to quell the positive momentum that Seattle had rolling. As the final minutes of extra time allotted by head referee Victor Rivas ticked away, the Sounders hero was none other than Cristian Roldan, busting through to help the club clinch a postseason berth.
“Grit, determination, never quit. They always seem to figure out ways to be competitive… they always put the effort in. They never quit. ”
The Seattle Sounders FC celebrate forward Jordan Morris’ 9th minute goal, as Morris holds up a “T” for his newborn son Theo. (Photos by Liz Wolter)
Dad strength
In case you weren’t aware, Seattle Sounders forward and Mercer Island native Jordan Morris became a father as he and his wife, Eliza, welcomed their son Theo into the world back on Tuesday. With fatherhood in the world of sports, comes the phenomena of “Dad strength,” a supposed extra boost in physical performance for that player that just became a father. Was Morris going to come out and make his mark on the match, scoring for the first time since late August? That question was answered quickly as Jordan found the back of the net in just the ninth minute of the match, connecting on a Joao Paulo cross with a rocket header to beat Galaxy goalkeeper Jonathan Bond and get the Lumen Field crowd on their feet. Paulo had to regain possession of the ball after a failed attempt of a ground pass, before whipping in a perfectly placed ball to the middle of the box, finding a leaping Morris who headed it perfectly past Bond to get the scoring started before we had even reached the ten-minute mark. To celebrate, Morris held up the letter T, for the name of his new son: Theo.
“JP, it sums up to him as a player. incredible work ethic to win the ball back and then puts in a great cross for me when I’m playing in front. I just try to be dangerous. ”
Seattle Sounders FC midfielder Joao Paulo recorded an assist on Jordan Morris’ goal (Photos by Liz Wolter)
“Stef was saying that it was for Taylor Swift with everything going on, but no the guys liked it a lot. ”
A defensive lapse
In so many of their matches over the course of this 2023 campaign, and in a solid amount of them in the second half of 2022, the goals that Seattle conceded largely ended up being situations where a defender had a lapse which resulted in a free runner into their box. The exact scenario happened to the Sounders in this matching, seeing the Galaxy draw level in just the 53rd minute. There was quality on display from Julian Aude on the pass into the box for Douglas Costa, as well as the first touch to maintain that possession into the box by Costa, but LA was given far too much room to operate. Nouhou had come into the center of the pitch to help and defend the current counter that was being run by the Galaxy, and he was largely caught watching as Costa ran right in from of him to collect the pass in by Aude and run unbothered into the Seattle box, where there was little that Sounders goalkeeper Stefan Frei could do in that one-on-one situation.
The Los Angeles Galaxy tied the match up in the 54th minute, as Julian Aude found Douglas Costa for the goal (Photos by Liz Wolter)
I need a hero: Sounders edition
With time ticking away at the end of this match, it was looking more and more like Seattle was going to back into a playoff berth as one of the clinching scenarios, LAFC beating Minnesota United, was well on its way to being decided. It seemed like this match was going to end just like so many had since the month of May when the Sounders were last really themselves: score first, concede a goal to equalize, and then eventually settle for a split of points to maintain the status quo. But that wasn’t what midfielder Cristian Roldan had in mind, despite how tough his year has been dealing with injuries off and on. A concussion had largely kept Cristian sidelined, frustrating himself as he watched his club continue to drop points, so when there was an opportunity to win this match and collect the win within his grasp, he took it.
“Stoked to be in the playoffs again. I mean, that’s what matters the most right? Unfortunately weren’t in the playoffs last year, to be able to clinch at home and give ourselves a really good chance of making a strong run is more important to me, but obviously, individually, like to be back and contribute and hopefully I can contribute some more.”
A beautiful sequence occurred for Seattle to score this goal, as late into extra time, Sounders defender Alex Roldan launched a long throw in towards the box. There, midfielder Josh Atencio flicked a header in the direction of Cristian Roldan, sitting within the club of Seattle and LA players just outside the six-yard box, with just enough room to get a shot off. Cristian volleyed to the near post, reacting quicker than Bond in goal and causing madness at Lumen Field. The Sounders had done something that we haven’t really seen from this in the past year: they found a way to get the dagger to put their opponent, and having that kind of energy in the building down the final stretch of the season and into the playoffs may just be the spark that gets this club going for a strong postseason run.
The Seattle Sounders FC got the game winning goal in the 90+6 minute, as Cristian Roldan banged home a flick from Josh Atencio (Photos by Liz Wolter)
Where they sit now
Following the dramatics of the victory, the Sounders have put themselves into the second seed in the Western Conference, sitting seven points behind St. Louis and just one point ahead of LAFC. Now that they have officially punched their playoff ticket and are guaranteed to play those extra games in pursuit of a third MLS Cup, the work begins to have a high seed in order to host playoff matches at Lumen Field. Seattle faces two tough tests to close out the regular season, as their next matchup is against a Vancouver Whitecaps club that also guaranteed their playoff spot tonight, and then a battle with top seeded St. Louis City to wrap the 2023 campaign up. It isn’t going to be easy by any measure, with Vancouver securing Cascadia Cup earlier in the season and St. Louis having the sort of year that they are, but if the Sounders are able to capture the sort of energy that they had in this match, the club is fully back to the level of strength that they are used to being at.
“Fact of the matter is, this was a critical game, it sets us up for a crucial match against Vancouver… this match I’ll tell ya: the guys are gonna be ready.”
Pre and post match sights as the Seattle Sounders FC clinched a spot in 2023 MLS Playoffs, with a win over the LA Galaxy (Photos by Liz Wolter)
Quick notes
Tonight’s attendance at Lumen Field was 30,495
Tonight’s win clinches a berth in the Audi 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs for Sounders FC, returning the club to the postseason after missing last year’s tournament for the first time in club history. Previously the Rave Green qualified for the MLS Cup Playoffs from the team’s inaugural MLS season in 2009 through the 2021 campaign. Sounders FC has won two MLS Cups (2016, 2019), while reaching two other Finals as Western Conference champion (2017, 2020).
Following tonight’s result, Sounders FC moves back into sole possession of second place in the Western Conference with two matches remaining in the MLS regular season. With 49 points, Seattle sits one point ahead of third-place LAFC and seven points behind first-place St. Louis in the West. The top four teams in the West are assured home-field advantage to begin the postseason.
Since Leagues Cup play concluded in late July, Seattle has lost just one match out of eight contests (August 20 vs. Atlanta United). In its last seven, Sounders FC is unbeaten (3-0-4).
Sounders FC is currently riding an 11-match unbeaten run in MLS play against the Galaxy (7-0-4) dating back to the 2019 season, the longest such streak in MLS history of any opponent against the Galaxy.
In the all-time regular-season series, Seattle is now 14-10-13 against LA.
Including tonight’s victory, Seattle claims the season series against the Galaxy, winning 2-1 on both occasions (April 1 at Dignity Health Sports Park). Outside of MLS action, the Galaxy defeated Sounders FC in a Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Round of 32 matchup on May 10.
Scoring in the ninth minute of play, Seattle winger Jordan Morris bagged his team-leading 11th goal of the season, good for his 53rd regular-season strike dating back to 2016.
Morris’ goal was his first tally since August 30 at Austin, giving the Mercer Island native 64 goals in all competitions for the Rave Green, good for third in club history behind teammates Raúl Ruidíaz (78 goals) and Fredy Montero (79 goals).
João Paulo earned his fifth assist of the season on Morris’ goal.
Cristian Roldan’s match-winning goal in second-half stoppage time was his third strike of the season and his first since June 10 at Charlotte FC.
Wednesday’s match marked 150th starts for Nouhou across all competitions. Earlier this season, the Cameroonian became the most-tenured Sounders FC defender in the club’s MLS history, surpassing former centerback Chad Marshall in total appearances.
What’s next?
Following their thrilling victory over the LA Galaxy, pushing their unbeaten streak against that club to ten in MLS regular season play, the Seattle Sounders will have a few days before their next contest. On Saturday, October 7th, the Sounders will host Cascadia rivals, the Vancouver Whitecaps, in Seattle’s final regular season home match of 2023. With their playoff spot secured, it’s all about seeding now for the Sounders as they will host this year's Cascadia Cup champions, as the Whitecaps are looking to improve their current seed as well, sitting just three points behind the Sounders. Kickoff for this match is at 7:30PM PST, as Vancouver aims to build momentum off their 3-0 victory over St. Louis City, which took place today, after previously going winless in their last four matches.
