Surging past St. Louis: Sounders continue upward climb with 2-0 victory at home
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – Returning home to Lumen Field coming off road wins in the U.S. Open Cup against Sacramento Republic FC and in MLS regular season play against Austin FC, the Seattle Sounders FC continued their upward surge in the Western Conference standings of MLS by shutting out a banged-up St. Louis City SC squad by a score of 2-0. An odd trend continued for the Sounders when playing St. Louis, as an own goal in the first half got Seattle on the board, before an unlikely face scored a header in the second half to double the home sides advantage and essentially put this game to bed. It’s a big result for many reasons for the Sounders, whether it’s the multiple achievements earned in this win, continuing their strong momentum in recent play, or the fact that they were able to keep some players fresh ahead of a big Western Conference matchup on Saturday against LAFC.
An odd trend continues against St. Louis
The first half started out positively for the Sounders, as they had a few instances of strong attacking possession against St. Louis, but nothing really to show for it against star goalkeeper Roman Bürki. With set pieces, the Sounders were doing what they could to apply early pressure against their opponent to establish early dominance amidst their strong run of form that’s seen them surge up the MLS Western Conference standings. Albert Rusnák was able to play a few dangerous balls in, one in the second minute towards the center of the box that was hastily cleared and the other a free kick to a heading Jackson Ragen, whose bouncing attempt somehow stayed parallel to the goal mouth, providing consistent attacking presence as he has for most of this run of form that has seen Seattle become so successful yet again. That consistent attack and press did end up netting them the first goal of the match to break things open, but not quite in the way that they’d have planned for it to happen.
The Seattle Sounders FC celebrate their goal in the first half, an own goal against Tim Parker, during their win over St. Louis City SC on Wednesday, July 17th, at Lumen Field. (Photos by Maddy Grassy / Sounders FC Communications)
The Sounders were attempting to build things out of the back, as defender Jackson Ragen brought the ball up the right side of the field before sending a pass that led Alex Roldan through two St. Louis players and in perfect position for a cross, the only problem being that Tim Parker was in the right spot to clear that ball from danger and prevent the intended target of Jordan Morris to receive it. Parker tried to flick the ball away with his body instead of really kicking it, to have it go out of bounds for a corner kick, but he missed, and it connected with his other leg. The ball didn’t go wide enough and instead nestled itself perfectly into the far corner. That goal marked the fourth consecutive time that St. Louis has tallied an own goal against Seattle, an MLS record for own goals by one club against a singular opponent now, after already being a record coming into this match.
Another for good measure
For much of this 2024 campaign with the Seattle Sounders FC, largely outside of the current run they’re on that is, an issue for the club has been not doing enough to secure victory or otherwise ensure a poor result. Whether it was keeping their opponents in the match due to a lack of finishing or attacking effort, or a mistake defensively that rendered any offensive intent useless, the Sounders were finding ways to drop points in the first part of their season. It’s been the total opposite of that lately, as Seattle has been on the right side of a little luck and that first goal was an instance of that. The second goal wasn’t luck, rather some better execution on corners and set pieces in general, an area that the Sounders have struggled in for a while now.
Nouhou and Albert Rusnak celebrate Jon Bell’s goal in the 49th minute, doubling the Seattle Sounders FC advantage in their Wednesday, July 18th win over St. Louis City SC at Lumen Field. (Photo by Jane Gershovich / Sounders FC Communications)
Seattle had drawn another free kick just to the side of the St. Louis box, like a situation early into the first half where Jackson Ragen’s header was cleared off the line, and again Albert Rusnák was lined up in position to whip the cross into the box. Again, a Sounders player was able to lose his assigned defender and elevate to connect with the Rusnák cross, but this time there was going to be no denial or clearance as Jonathan Bell’s effort firmly found its way past Roman Bürki, who hardly moved. Bell’s score, coming against his former club, was his first with Seattle and doubled the Sounders advantage, effectively giving the Rave Green a lead that their injured opponents couldn’t handle. As they did in the first half, St. Louis played well enough to get some opportunities against Stefan Frei in goal for Seattle, but the play of Frei in goal and the effort of the backline in front of him secured the clean sheet and victory to keep the club ascending the standings in the Western Conference of MLS.
The Sounders are rumbling right now, and they can still get better
There’s a lot to be happy about, both in the actuality of what happened and in possibilities moving forward, but I’m just going to say: I’m not totally satisfied with tonight’s victory. The Sounders came out early and had chances to swing first but couldn’t and had chances later to further hammer home the result but couldn’t do that either. Even while acknowledging that Seattle had a few key players coming off the bench in an attempt to save them for this Saturday’s match against LAFC, you must also note that St. Louis was injured and not totally up to their full strength either. The Sounders really should’ve had a few more goals, at least one more, and could’ve played cleaner as a whole. Despite my negative tone, that’s a good thing. Having clear areas to improve upon is good.
All-in-all, this is a positive result and the fan base plus club itself should feel good coming out of this match. The Sounders continue to trend in the right direction, they’re just a few matches away from playing for a fifth U.S. Open Cup, and they’ve got the Leagues Cup approaching. All of that, plus the fact that the summer transfer window is still in play, and you’d have to imagine that the club won’t just sit things out with the opportunity to push themselves further by bettering their roster. Things are starting to feel normal for Seattle, and by normal I mean the winning, but there is still work to be done and a massive opportunity to keep pushing up the standings (with potential playoff seeding down the line in play) arrives on Saturday, so it’s back to work ahead of this weekend.
Quick Sounders notes
30,032 was the announced paid attendance at Lumen Field for this contest between St. Louis City SC and our Seattle Sounders FC
That’s 43% of full capacity at Lumen Field (68,740).
The “Green” elevator was tonight’s winner of the Sounders “Space Needle Race.”
2024 Leaderboard, so far
Green elevator: 5 wins
Blue elevator: 4 wins
Aqua elevator: 3 wins
Division two 2024 leaderboard, so far
Gold elevator: 10 wins
Red elevator: 0 wins
Black elevator: 0 wins
Sounders FC sits in sixth place in the Western Conference with 37 points (10-7-7), just one point shy of fourth-place Vancouver.
Stefan Frei recorded his seventh shutout of the season and 112th of his MLS career (regular season), tying Kevin Hartman for second all-time in league history.
With his next clean sheet, he would move into sole possession of second, trailing only Nick Rimando (154)
Seattle is now 4-0-0 all-time against St. Louis since CITY SC joined MLS prior to last season.
The Rave Green extend their winning streak to six games and are now unbeaten in seven (6-0-1). Sounders FC has lost just twice in its last 18 matches across all competitions (11-2-5).
Seattle has won its last five matches at Lumen Field dating back to June 15.
St. Louis's own goal in the 27th minute marked the fourth consecutive match CITY SC has recorded an own goal against Seattle, doing so in every contest between the two sides.
That number extends the MLS record for most consecutive matches with an own goal against a singular opponent.
Jonathan Bell scored his first Sounders FC goal in the second half, his third career strike in MLS regular season play.
The 26-year-old has started five of his six league appearances since signing with the Rave Green prior to the 2024 campaign.
Albert Rusnák recorded his team-leading 11th assist of the season on Bell’s goal, tied for sixth in MLS. The Slovakian international has six assists in his last seven regular-season games.
What’s next?
Following tonight’s home victory over St. Louis City SC, as the Seattle Sounders FC remains undefeated against the club in four head-to-head matchups, the Rave Green have a short turnaround to their next match which comes on Saturday, July 20th against LAFC with a kickoff time of 7:30PM PDT that will be broadcast live on Apple TV – MLS Season pass from Lumen Field. LAFC currently sits in second place in MLS Western Conference, just two points behind the other Los Angeles team as the Galaxy are atop the conference. The Sounders, with tonight’s victory, have moved into the sixth spot in the Western conference standings and have shown a strong run of form over the past eight matches, given that Seattle has collected at least a point in each of those and has won the past six matches across all competitions. This Saturday’s contest will be a big battle that will be the Sounders current form to the test, but as the old adage goes; to be the best, you must beat the best.
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Check out Circling Seattle Sports’ previous Seattle Sounders FC articles here.
Check out Circling Seattle Sports’ previous articles written by Charles Hamaker here.
Cover photo by Jane Gershovich / Sounders FC Communications.
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