SEATTLE, WASHINGTON (March 31, 2018) — Despite the return of Nicolás Lodeiro and Will Bruin to the starting lineup, the Seattle Sounders fell to the Montreal Impact Saturday night.
Absent from the loss was Clint Dempsey, who was serving a one-game suspension. However, despite the loss of Dempsey, Lodeiro returned after missing the last two matches with a right midfoot sprain.
Bruin returned after suffering a concussion two weeks ago against C.D. Guadalajara.
Early Kelvin Leerdam Ejection Leads to Seattle Sounders Downfall Against Montreal Impact
The downfall for Seattle began after Kelvin Leerdam was shown a straight red card for putting his hands in referee Daniel Lovitz’ face.
This is the second MLS match where Seattle was forced to play with 10 men.
Leerdam was shown the red card in the 40th minute.
After, the game “really changed,” according to Lodeiro.
“That gave them the upper hand the rest of the game,” Lodeiro said. “We know what we need to do. We need to train harder, we need to practice better. We’ve been in situations like this before, and we know what we need to actually do to get out of this. We’re going to do it.”
“There are still a lot of games ahead of us that we can correct and fix these mistakes.”
Montreal took advantage of Seattle’s loss of Leerdam. In the 60th minute, Jeisson Vargas scored off an assist from Ignacio Piatti.
Montreal finished the match with a 1-0 victory. Seattle has not won a match in MLS play this season.
There's no beating @Stefan24Frei so far. #SEAvMTL pic.twitter.com/fCnKs9EEcD
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) April 1, 2018
Three Takeaways
- Where’s the discipline? Two matches have plagued the Sounders with red cards. It doesn’t seem that Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer is losing his team, but he needs to tighten the reins. Dempsey’s suspension for this match hurt. Now, Leerdam will miss next week’s tilt.
- Chad Marshall climbing his way to the top: With his start against Montreal, Chad Marshall has officially made 120 appearances for the Sounders, putting him above Freddy Montero. Marshall sits in the sixth slot for all-time Sounders appearances. Right above him is Lamar Neagle with 126 appearances.
- The much-needed break: With the upcoming bye-week, the Sounders have next weekend off. They don’t return to action until April 15 against Sporting Kansas City. With Osvaldo Alonso and Víctor Rodríguez still recovering from injury, the break comes at a much-needed time for Schmetzer and company.
