MLS: Seattle Sounders 2-3 San Jose Earthquakes
Despite a goal from Clint Dempsey just 18 seconds into the match and an Obafemi Martins strike six minutes shy of fulltime, Sounders FC fell 3-2 to Western Conference rival San Jose on Saturday night in front of 39,175 fans on the Xbox Pitch at CenturyLink Field. With Sounders FC Head Coach Sigi Schmid absent due to a family commitment, Top Assistant Coach Brian Schmetzer managed the club for the third time since the team’s inaugural 2009 MLS campaign.
Seattle Brian Schmetzer:
“Sometimes when you score that early goal, it makes things difficult because the other team gets fired up and your team lets off the gas a little bit. But obviously it was a good start. If I had to ask, ‘Do I want to score early or do I not?’…I would take the goal. We just weren’t able to hold onto that lead for a long enough time to change the game in our favor.”
“[It was] hit and miss. I don’t really think we had a ton of clean chances until the [Obafemi Martins] goal. I think after that, everyone got a little more inspired. It’s always hard to play a match when you go up a man. Certainly [being] down a goal and up a man made things even more difficult.”
Chris Wondolowski – San Jose captain
“It’s been a while for us since we got a win. It’s really nice, especially up here. It gives us confidence to take on this year. If we start 0-2 after losing one late against Dallas, I think … you start second-guessing yourself a bit. I kind of feel that we’re on the front foot now. We get to open our new stadium. That’s another big test for us. Hopefully, we can keep that ball rolling.”
“At 1-0 after whatever it was, 20 seconds, you could definitely hang your head a little bit. I don’t think we showed fear tonight, which was good. We had a pretty young group out there, and I thought it was good for their confidence.”
