SEATTLE – The Seattle Sounders just can’t quite seem to figure out the San Jose Earthquakes.
With Saturday afternoon’s 2-0 defeat at the hands of San Jose, Seattle are now 0-2 against the ‘Quakes this season, with both losses coming in the friendly confines of CenturyLink Field.
San Jose are the only team to top the Sounders at CenturyLink this year, and now sport a 10-6-2 all-time record against Seattle, including eight victories in the last 11 matches between the two sides.
“I wish I could explain it,” Sounders head coach Sigi Schmid said after the game. “We’d do a lot better against them if I could explain it. Today, I think they caught us on a good day for them from a standpoint of where our team was. But obviously they’re a team that has had success against us and we’ve got to figure out a way to turn that around.”
Of course, having a roster ravaged by a Clint Dempsey suspension, several injuries and general fatigue certainly didn’t do the Sounders any favors on Saturday.
Already playing without all three of their Designated Players (Dempsey, Obafemi Martins and Osvaldo Alonso) the Sounders were also coming off an emotionally and physically draining marathon 120-minute US Open Cup loss to the Portland Timbers on Tuesday that saw them play the last stretch of the game with seven players.
“I think for us, you need a full gas tank to play well sometimes,” Schmid said. “When you’re playing on half a gas tank, it’ll make it a little bit tougher.”
But even with the difficulties presented by the shorthanded roster, Schmid and the Sounders say there weren’t necessarily outplayed to the degree the final scoreline may suggest and could have pulled out a result with some better execution.
The Sounders possessed the ball for 57.7 percent of the contest and certainly had their chances with 12 attempts on goal, but just could never quite manage to convert any of their opportunities in the final third.
“At the end of the day, I thought the guys put in a good effort,” Schmid said. “I thought we got around the goal but our quality at the final finish wasn’t as good as it needed to be. …I’m disappointed but at the same token, I’m proud of the effort the guys put it in.”
Sounders midfielder Micheal Azira said that quick and demanding turnaround was indeed an added obstacle, but agreed that it was nothing his team shouldn’t have been able to handle on Saturday.
“It’s been a long week, playing Open Cup on Tuesday and playing Saturday, it takes a lot out of you,” Azira said. “But this is a team, you know? A team will always move on without [missing players]. We’re unlucky, we miss them, but we can’t do anything about it. It’s out of our control.”
