In Major League Soccer’s forgiving playoff structure, there’s almost always a way back into the mix.
When your team has a talent like Nicolas Lodeiro, your chances get magnified quite a bit.
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Lodeiro scored twice, once from the spot, and Seattle debuted its new Designated Player in a 2-0 Cascadia Cup win over Vancouver on Saturday.
Seattle is now eight points back of the West’s final playoff spot with 15 to play in its season. And the Sounders join Portland on three Cascadia Cup points, with the Timbers beating Seattle in the other cup match of the season.
Raul Ruidiaz came off the bench for the Sounders, and showed early glimpses of why Seattle wanted the World Cup participant from Peru.
The ‘Caps finished the match with 10 men thanks to a red card on Efrain Juarez, who saw yellow and then made contact with the referee.
The second goal took a vicious turn on its way to making goalkeeper Stefan Marinovic look capital-A awkward.
Have a hit, @NicolasLodeiro! 😵
— Seattle Sounders FC (@SoundersFC) July 21, 2018
SEA 2 | VAN 0#SEAvVAN pic.twitter.com/1fn7AqYF54
