Seattle Sounders Fall to Philadelphia Union; Win Streak Ends at Nine

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Seattle Sounders Fall to Philadelphia Union

SEATTLE, Washington (Sept. 20, 2018) — Right through the legs.

That’s how the Philadelphia Union scored the game-winning goal, ending the Seattle Sounders FC win streak to nine games. Three minutes into second-half stoppage time,  Fabrice-Jean Picault slipped a shot through the legs of Sounders goalkeeper Stefan Frei.

Seattle Sounders Fall to Philadelphia Union; Nine-Game Win Streak Comes to an End

The loss wasn’t blamed on Frei.

Instead, Sounders teammates rallied around the goalkeeper. Head coach Brian Schmetzer even went as far to point how many times “Stef has saved our a– a bunch of times.”

“Goalkeepers have a very tenuous position in the sense that if they make a mistake, it usually costs a goal,” Schmetzer explained. 

Midfielder Cristian Roldan, who totaled only shot the entire match, said that it “wasn’t his fault by any means.”

“I put this game on players like myself, who can’t finish opportunities,” Roldan said. “We put Stef in that situation. We’re not chasing the game if I score that goal. We’re not chasing the game if we put two goals away in the first 20 minutes. It’s a team sport. Mistakes happen.”

Seattle took a total of 16 shots, registering four on goal. Gustav Svensson, Víctor Rodríguez, Raúl Ruidíaz, and Harry Shipp had their shots saved by Union goalkeeper Andre Blake.

Despite the loss, Schmetzer said he’s “proud” of what the team accomplished, running away with a record-breaking nine-game winning streak.

“We put ourselves in a massive hole, and we’ve climbed out of it,” Schmetzer said. “There’s still work to do, but winning nine games in a row is an accomplishment that was a big one. We all knew it was going to end at some point, we all knew.”

“The fashion it ended in is what makes it sting.”

Three Takeaways

  1. Still primed for a playoff spot: Schmetzer wasn’t kidding when he mentioned the team climbing out of a hole. After battling with the San Jose Earthquakes to not be in last place, Seattle continued a trend of winning and drawing matches, bringing them up to sixth place. Right now, the team sits in sixth with 44 points. There’s still plenty of games left, but right now the team seems primed for a playoff spot.
  2. Frei’s confidence shouldn’t be shaken: Frei said that he’ll get back to work and figure out what happened. However, his confidence shouldn’t waver. Frei is one of the best goalkeepers in the league. He’s a champion with the Sounders and Schmetzer was on point when he said how much Frei has saved Seattle’s bacon this year.
  3. Marshall exits with injury: The combination of Kim Kee-Hee and Chad Marshall has been working favorably for Seattle. Despite the fact that Kim hardly knows any English — he’s from South Korea — he and Marshall have found success at centerback. However, Marshall exited the match at halftime with an undisclosed injury. There is no timetable for his return. He was replaced by Panama centerback Román Torres.

 

PHOTO: Stefan Frei finds one of his teammates with a pass in the Seattle Sounders FC loss to the Philadelphia Union on Wednesday, Sept. 19, at CenturyLink Field. Photo courtesy of Mike Fiechtner/Seattle Sounders FC.


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