9/4/22

Sounders 2, Dynamo FC, 0

(Seattle, WA) – It wasn’t easy, but the Seattle Sounders earned 3 massive points at home at Lumen Field on Sunday in a 2-1 comeback victory over Houston Dynamo FC. Houston struck first in the 26th minute on a long strike from Daniel Steres, and the Dynamo took a 1-0 lead at the half despite the Sounders having a large lead in shots.

Seattle attacked the goal consistently and took control of the match in the 2nd half, and their persistence paid off when Cameroonian international defender Nouhou scored his first goal as a Sounder in the 59th minute. Nouhou was in the right place at the right time, as Raul Ruidiaz had a shot that was deflected by a Houston defender right to Nouhou, who calmly beat Dynamo FC goalkeeper Steve Clark to the bottom right corner to tie the match.

The Sounders continued to get into the attack and create chances, and the emergence of forward Fredy Montero off of the bench, changed the game with his pace and creative offensive ability. Montero got fouled in the box to get a penalty, Nicolas Lodeiro had his shot saved by Clark, the first penalty miss of Lodeiro’s Sounders career.

If you thought that would have brought down the Sounders, you were wrong as Seattle kept the pressure on Houston and scored the game winner about 90 seconds later on a Nouhou cross from the left wing to Montero, whose header in the box was low and to the right corner to beat Clark.

Seattle finished the game with 20 shots compared to just four for Dynamo FC. The Sounders remained unbeaten against the Dynamo in 14 home contests at Lumen Field, improving to 11-0-3.

The Sounders snapped their 5 game winless streak and improved to 11-15-3 and at 36 points are in 9th place in the Western Conference, 6 points away from rival Portland for the final playoff spot. Seattle next takes on Austin FC at home at Lumen Field next Saturday.

Takeaways

It has been a rough month or so for the Sounders, so to get a win in any fashion feels really good for the Sounders and their fans. It also gives the team and their faithful hope that the season is not lost, at least not yet. While the road to the playoffs is still not easy because of the hole team dug themselves into, but as Head Coach Brian Schmetzer said in the post-game press conference, this is a resilient group and it showed on Sunday. Obviously, Nouhou stood out on Sunday with his goal and his assist, and all of Lumen Field erupted when he scored his first MLS goal. Fredy Montero might not be the every day starter that he was when he first started his career in Seattle in 2009, but he showed on Sunday why he is one of the greatest goal scorers in franchise history, and if the Sounders make the playoffs, Sounders fans should look at the game winning goal against Houston as a catalyst to the turnaround.

Seattle has another tough test against one of the top teams in the League in Austin FC, and while the margin for error for the Sounders is very low moving forward, 3 of the final 5 matches of the season are at home, and positive results in those matches could give the Sounders a chance at the MLS playoffs.