At least Michael Gspurning was on the job.
Otherwise, Seattle’s defense went on holiday in Utah last night. Yes, the Sounders back line did awake by the second half – but the damage had long been done. Only Gspurning’s heroic gloves in goal prevented greater carnage.
Real Salt Lake spun the Sounders defense like a top in last night’s 2-1 win. And even a better effort over the second 45 won’t totally quiet the worried, nor should it. Richard Farley began sounding the alarms last week – no reason to lay off the panic button after that dead duck of a performance at Rio Tinto.
The next step for a team that has lost two games in a row for the first time in almost two years? The old closed-door team meeting, of course. That happened last night, apparently.
Afterward, manager Sigi Schmid said his piece. From Joshua Mayers’ work in the Seattle Times, as Schmid rightfully cites the Sounders coaching staff as well as the player effort:Well there is going to have to be a lot of soul-searching from the guys in the locker room and from us as a staff, as well.”
“We’re picking and choosing what times in the game when we want to play. We have moments in the game where three or four guys are involved and some other guys aren’t involved, then some other guys get involved and others aren’t. We have yet to have a game where all 11 guys are involved for the whole 90 minutes. Players have to take hold of the game.”
Schmid also said he has “issues with certain players.” Hurtado surely must be top of the chart on that one, because he was flat out awful. As for who else?
It presumably wasn’t DeAndre Yedlin, the team’s promising young right back, among the Seattle men who managed to put in a good shift at Rio Tinto. And it certainly wasn’t Gspurning, who prevented the visitors from suffering some truly embarrassing score.
And perhaps it wasn’t Brad Evans, who looked like a big lineup upgrade over Andy Rose.
Otherwise … take your pick.
(MORE: Highlights as context as youngsters lead RSL past Seattle in Utah)
