Was the egg laid by the Sounders against LAFC intentional? | OneFootball

The Sounders utilised players who had not had much playing time to face one of MLS's more talented teams. Both teams went into the games with five-game unbeaten streaks. The Sounders have been improving game by game until their trip to LA.

A mid-week game, or a three-game week, usually requires some changes to the line-up to keep players fresh and healthy. That doesn't explain why there were so many changes. The Sounders reverted to their early-season form.

Their response to being pressed was to move the ball slowly around the back, taking too much time and delivering inaccurate passes that created one turnover after another and allowed LAFC to sustain their attack.

They were unable to set up passes to and through the midfield, so the attackers had no chance at scoring. They had a couple of moments when they threatened to score, but came up short of providing enough chances to be successful.

An argument could be made that they are saving their players for this weekend's game against their rivals in Portland. The gamble is that they lose the momentum that they have been building as a team as well as losing the momentum that they have built with their fans.

There were a lot of changes that raise questions if they should all have been tried out in the same game or over a stretch of games if the goal is to be competitive every game.

The Seattle Sounders starting 11

Andrew Thomas: Using the back-up goalie, they do make mistakes in the learning process.

Yeimar: Has difficulty passing quickly which is exasperated by unfamiliar teammates and pressure from the opposing team.

Jonathan Bell: a back-up defender for a solid back line that did not work together.

Nouhou: a regular, who was stretched thin. He had to make runs on the attack and cover for mistakes in the back.

Kalani Kossa-Rienzi: a back-up defender (one of the bright spots for the Sounders)

Danny Leyva: Took a couple of threatening direct kicks, but is a back-up midfielder

João Paulo: A talented player, but he hasn't been playing since recovering from injury and his touch was wanting.

Paul Rothrock: He tries so hard, but he does not have the skill to carry the attack and was limited in opportunities.

Pedro de la Vega: Has yet to show he is an efficient scorer and relies on dribbling more than passing.

Osaze De Rosario: Made his first start, and was involved very little.

Jesús Ferreira: Recovering from injury, he has struggled to match in increase in speed required for him to be successful so far.

Moving Forward

Most of these players are a more of a question at this point, they either have too little experience, are recovering from injuries, or simply were not part of the Sounders recent form of play. What is unclear is what kind of purpose was this game?

They missed out on points, and they exposed flaws that their more skilled players have been able to cover up. Is it that Brian Schmetzer is hoping to inspire the players for a commanding performance this weekend?

Chuck Daily did a similar thing when working with the original Dream Team for US basketball. He scrimmaged a bunch of talented college players, and benched Michael Jordan and restricted what the team could do. When they lost, he used it as fuel to inspire them to crush their competition, which they did on their way to win gold.

Was this a game when coaches just wanted to see what would happen, in hopes that these replacement players would also catch fire and they could win. Their game play suggests that those players were not up to the challenge. Was it to light their fire for the future.

Now that this game is in the past, what line-up will be used this weekend, and how will the team respond to being hammered by LAFC?

There are a couple of ways to find out, here's how:

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