Seattle Sounders dominate Columbus Crew after bizarre red card in MLS

Soccer is unpredictable, right? Every now and then, the game throws us a story you wouldn't believe if you hadn't seen it yourself. Like when a top-tier team like Columbus Crew, flying high with a stacked roster, ends up playing almost half a game without a goalkeeper. But that's exactly what went down when Seattle Sounders faced off against the Crew. Columbus keeper Abraham Romero got sent off before halftime. And the result? A brutal 4-0 thrashing by the visiting Sounders.

Seattle didn’t waste a second capitalizing on the situation. You don’t see a defender like Sean Zawadzki putting on the gloves and trying (key word: trying) to defend the net every day. Honestly, you gotta give it to the Sounders for doing what any good team should: they went for the kill. They were sharp, ruthless, and didn’t give the Crew any breathing room. When your opponent doesn’t have a real goalie? You shoot. A lot. And Seattle sure did.

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But let's not ignore the elephant in the room—Romero’s red card flipped this game on its head. The Crew was doing just fine, playing at home and riding an eight-game winning streak. This was supposed to be a tight battle, maybe even leaning Columbus' way, considering how they'd been dominating the Eastern Conference. But then, one silly mistake—Romero stepping out of the box to stop a dangerous play—and bam, everything changed. With no backup keeper available (thanks to international duty taking both Patrick Schulte and Nicholas Hagen), Coach Wilfried Nancy had no choice but to stick Zawadzki between the posts.

You can’t blame Zawadzki, though. The guy’s a defender. He’s never trained for this. After the game, he even admitted he had no clue what he was doing out there. And who would? Nobody could’ve seen this coming. But as soon as he put those gloves on, you just knew Columbus was done for. Albert Rusnák, a guy who’d never scored a hat trick in his life, took full advantage.

Rusnák was the man of the match, no question. And, honestly, it didn’t matter whether he was shooting on an out-of-position defender or a pro keeper. He did what any high-level player does—he put the ball in the back of the net. First, a free kick that was right on the money. Then, two finishes that, to be fair, almost anyone could’ve stopped—or at least tried to. And don’t think Rusnák wasn’t feeling the pressure. He admitted later that he felt an "extra weight" knowing he was up against an emergency goalkeeper. But in the end, he got the job done.

How dominant was Seattle really? They’d struggled in recent matches, not scoring in their last two games, and then they come out and drop four goals? That’s a huge win, especially on the road against a red-hot team. But let’s be real—this win was heavily influenced by the circumstances. Head coach Brian Schmetzer said it plainly: “We played the team in front of us.” Simple as that. Their job was to win, and they did.

That said, Schmetzer was confident even before Romero's red card. Seattle looked organized, compact, and they had already created a few solid chances. Maybe without the ejection, things would’ve been different. But Seattle was already controlling the game. So, would the Sounders have still won if Romero hadn’t been sent off?

What’s clear is that Seattle, despite the favorable situation, was efficient. They didn’t waste time, didn’t give the Crew a chance to regroup, and pretty much put the game away early in the second half. Jordan Morris, who opened the scoring, also set up Rusnák’s second goal with a picture-perfect assist to complete his personal highlight reel.

The Sounders locked in three big points, climbed up the standings, and are now gearing up for the final stretch of the regular season. As for Columbus, well, they’re left wondering what could’ve been. One moment changed everything. The Supporters' Shield is a bit more out of reach now, but there’s still a lot left to fight for as the season winds down.