Embarrassed Seattle Sounders fall flat on their faces in Vancouver | OneFootball

Seattle went to Vancouver as the favorites, Vancouver was missing key starters, and they had to call up players from their second team. Many were recovering from food poisoning after their game in Mexico. With the exception of Jordan Morris and some of the younger players that were also called up for international duty, the Sounders failed to make good on a game that was initially in their favor against the top team in MLS.

To Vancouver's credit, they took advantage of a passive Sounders' defense, and outplayed the Sounders as they took advantage of the Sounders being down 2 players and scored 2 more goals. They played above expectations and deserve credit.

The Sounders had one of their worst performances of the season. The red cards and the penalty kick, while harsh, were valid calls and horrible decisions made by the Seattle defense. Nouhou made an uncharacteristically bad choice to foul a player that had gotten behind the defense and had a legitimate chance to score.

Bell's foul was due to a horrid defensive angle that led to feet getting tangled. It was unclear if this constituted a red card, but there is a good argument for it.

There may have been some play that was continued where the Sounders could have benefitted from some calls, like fouls or a handball that would have meant penalty shots for the Sounders, but in the end, they didn't deserve any breaks from the officials—they just didn't play well enough to compete while facing a lesser foe. Once one wheel fell off the wagon, the others followed.

The goal before half-time was the initial wheel falling off. Passive defense led to an easy finish. The Sounders showed some life putting on pressure to start the second half, then two more wheels came off in the way of red cards.

The final wheel came after the Sounders had found some success playing 2 men down, before J.P.'s ill-advised slide tackle in the box led to a penalty kick. Questions have been raised linking the Sounders' poor performances over the last 2 weeks and the dispute over pay for this weekend’s Club World Cup.

Distracted or not, if their performance and the excitement of playing the best teams in the world doesn't raise their performance level, this could be a brutal tournament for the Sounders. If the Vancouver backup squad can cause a collapse of this magnitude, what will happen when they face the top team, PSG, at the end of the group stage?

Anything positive result in the tournament is what the Sounders are hoping for, but they will need to step up their game. If the Vancouver back up squad can cause a collapse of this magnitude, what will happen when they face the top team, PSG, at the end of the group stage? Anything positive result in the tournament is what the Sounders are hoping for, but they will need to step up their game.