Sounders grind out clean sheet to get back on track

Sounders secure their eighth shutout.

SEATTLE — After the Seattle Sounders’ 1-0 victory against the New York Red Bulls, head coach Brian Schmetzer wasn’t particularly concerned about aesthetics.

After a run of form that had seen his side drop 3 of 4 matches — including two at Lumen Field — Schmetzer preferred to focus more on the result than on how the Sounders got it.

“Nobody is going to care at the end of the year how we won, why we won,” Schmetzer said. “It’s three points, and it’s three points at home after a couple of duds.”

That's not to say the Sounders didn’t look dangerous in attack, and the shutout victory was certainly a welcome return to defensive form, Schmetzer said.

“The team gutted it out tonight,” Schmetzer said.

The Sounders might have had more opportunities to close out the match if not for João Paulo’s ejection which left the team playing with 10 men for the last 15 minutes of the match. Given the Sounders' run of form, Schmetzer said that could have led to a letdown.

“They held firm and eight clean sheets for the group is a big, massive, massive stat, massive,” Schmetzer said.

Stefan Frei made a couple of big saves to keep the clean sheet. The most notable came on a shot from Elias Manoel, who got out on the break for a 1v1 chance.

“We’ve been working hard to try to get more balance so you can react and get something,” Frei said. “Fortunately he left it somewhat close to me so I was able to react and get a hand to it.”

Frei said these types of matches are important during the season, particularly when the team isn't playing as well as they'd like.

“At a time where things are frustrating, [it’s good] for us to really pull together and be really supportive of one another and coax some energy out of each other,” Frei said. “It’s a good feeling now that we were able to do so successfully, but we got to build on it.”

The Sounders were able to secure the win in no small part to the contributions of Léo Chú, who assisted on the Sounders' lone goal by Jordan Morris, and was dangerous throughout the match. Chú said he concentrated on staying wide and taking on defenders, as opposed to attacking through he middle of the pitch.

“The coach told me that the defense is going to give me space and I think that the last games I was trying to be inside, but now I’m back to doing what I’m do better,” Chu said.

The Sounders will have to rely on Chú to provide more in attack at least for a few weeks, as Morris pulled up injured after scoring, though the injury doesn't appear to be too serious. Fortunately for the Sounders, Raúl Ruidíaz was on the bench and likely would have featured had the red card not impacted the match.

“I would have loved to get him in the game tonight, but unfortunately the red card was a big factor as why we couldn’t.” Schmetzer said.