Seattle Sounders: Brian Schmetzer deserves credit

On Sunday afternoon, the Seattle Sounders won their second MLS Cup with a 3-1 victory over Toronto FC. Head coach Brian Schmetzer deserves great credit for the gameplan he devised.

Throughout the season, the Seattle Sounders were written in and out of the potential challengers for MLS Cup. They started the season so brilliantly, the attack firing on all cylinders upon the return of Jordan Morris. Then, Chad Marshall retired, injuries hit, Raul Ruidiaz went off the boil and the doubts.

An undulating campaign then saw the Sounders supporters simultaneously ferociously believe that their team had the quality to rival the dominant Los Angeles FC and also doubt their elite ability.

At the heart of this was head coach Brian Schmetzer. Schmetzer is a frustrating coach for an elite MLS team. He does not have a brilliant tactician’s mind, he often makes poor substitutions, and his team can lack identity and focus at times, their talent winning out over their system.

Indeed, some Seattle Sounders fans have called for Schmetzer to be fired. That may sound a little ridiculous for a team that has been so consistently successful as the Sounders, but the argument that the team has been winning in spite of Schmetzer, not because of him, is not entirely outrageous. There are some reasons to think that might be true.

However, on this occasion, that was very much not the case. For all of the criticism that Schmetzer has received, for the way his team performed in MLS Cup, he deserves all of the praise. This note from Roger Gonzalez’s report of MLS Cup for CBS Sports caught my eye:

"“In talking to Sounders players, especially Cristian Roldan, they said the plan was to focus on the defensive side first. The Sounders invited Toronto to attack before going forward in numbers.”"

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While Toronto FC were the dominant team in Sunday’s MLS Cup, in control of the match for large portions, it seems as though Seattle reverted to their low-bunker, counter-attack approach that has served them so well in the past. Despite playing at home with a high-powered attacking unit and the onus on them to dictate the match, Scmetzer was comfortable in relying on the defensive solidity of his backline, alongside the excellently destructive presence of defensive midfielder Gustav Svensson.

It was a risky move. Toronto are superb with the ball. They have terrific movement off the ball, the quality of their passing in central midfield is consistently excellent, and Alejandro Pozuelo is one of the most creative players in the league, even when utilised as a false-nine. Schmetzer was playing into their hands. But he trusted his team to execute, and in the second half especially, they did precisely that.

Switching Jordan Morris and Joevin Jones helped create space for the opening goal as Morris drove inside as he typically likes to do when the ball is on the opposite flank. Then Seattle scored from just two passes after winning the ball back, excelling in transition once again. And the third, game-ending strike was a classic late-game counter-attack, Raul Ruidiaz darting in behind the Toronto defence.

Schmetzer got his tactics spot on, his substitutions and in-game adjustments were effective, and his Seattle Sounders team won their second MLS Cup in four years. There has been criticism for the Seattle head coach, but on this occasion, he delivered just as his team required. And for that, he deserves great credit.