Except for a Cristian Roldan goal inside the first five minutes of play, the Seattle Sounders 1-0 win over the Houston Dynamo Saturday night at CenturyLink Field was hardly a breathtaking effort by the Rave Green or the Dynamo for that matter.
What Saturday represented for the Sounders was a much-needed win after three consecutive draws. A successful season is filled with many highs and lows, the key to finishing on top of the mountain when the season ends is having the ability to win the must-win games.
MATCH NOTES
- With Saturday night’s result, Sounders FC is now third in the Western Conference with 22 points (6-1-4), level with second-place LA Galaxy but behind on the total-wins tiebreaker (Seattle has six victories to LA’s seven, but the Rave Green have a game in-hand).
- Sounders FC is 9-4-6 all-time against Houston in MLS regular season action, including an unbeaten 8-0-2 record at home. In all, road teams have won just once in 19 meetings in the regular season between the two sides.
- Sounders FC currently has a 10-match (8-0-2) home unbeaten streak dating back to September 29 of last season. The club record for consecutive games unbeaten at CenturyLink Field is 14 (10-0-4) from March 16-September 29, 2013. Sounders FC can match the third-highest home unbeaten streak on Wednesday against Orlando City.
- With 22 points this season, this year’s Sounders FC squad is tied for the third-best start through 11 games in club history. The Rave Green earned 23 points (7-2-2) through their first 11 games in 2012, and 22 points in 2014 (7-3-1). With a record of 6-1-4, this year marks the first time Sounders FC has only lost once in its first 11 contests.
- Cristian Roldan scored for the second consecutive match after converting the lone strike in last weekend’s 1-1 draw at Minnesota. Roldan previously scored in back-to-back fixtures on July 19 and July 23, 2017 against D.C. United and San Jose, respectively, the latter of which was a brace. Roldan is now tied with Raúl Ruidíaz and Kelvin Leerdam for second on the team with three goals this season, giving him 17 in his MLS career.
- Stefan Frei recorded one save in his fourth shutout of the season, giving him 70 in his MLS career, good for seventh all-time in league history.
MATCH SUMMARY
Seattle Sounders FC 1 – Houston Dynamo 0
Saturday, May 11, 2019
Venue: CenturyLink Field
Referee: Alex Chilowicz
Assistants: Eduardo Mariscal, Chris Elliott
Fourth Official: Elvis Osmanovic
VAR: Alejandro Mariscal
Attendance: 39,232
Weather: 76 degrees and mostly sunny
SCORING SUMMARY
SEA – Cristian Roldan 5′
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
HOU – Darwin Ceren (caution) 28′
HOU – A.J. DeLaGarza (caution) 59′
SEA – Will Bruin (caution) 78′
HOU – Alejandro Fuenmayor (caution) 90’+2′
LINEUPS & STATS
Seattle Sounders FC – Stefan Frei; Kelvin Leerdam, Román Torres, Kim Kee-hee, Brad Smith; Jordy Delem, Cristian Roldan, Jordan Morris (Nouhou 85′), Nicolás Lodeiro – captain, Víctor Rodríguez (Harry Shipp 15′); Raúl Ruidíaz (Will Bruin 73′)
Substitutes not used: Bryan Meredith, Jonathan Campbell, Saad Abdul-Salaam, Handwalla Bwana
Total shots: 16 (Morris/Ruidíaz, 4)
Shots on goal: 4 (Four players, 1)
Fouls: 14 (Bruin/Leerdam, 3)
Offside: 0
Corner-kicks: 8 (Lodeiro, 8)
Saves: 1 (Frei, 1)
Houston Dynamo – Joe Willis; A.J. DeLaGarza, Alejandro Fuenmayor, Maynor Figueroa, Adam Lundkvist; Matias Vera, Darwin Ceren (Boniek Garcia 86′), Tomas Martinez (Tommy McNamara 72′); Alberth Elis, Mauro Manotas, Memo Rodriguez (Romell Quioto 80′)
Substitutes not used: Tyler Deric, Juan David Cabezas, Chris Duvall, Kevin Garcia
Total shots: 11 (Elis/Manotas, 3)
Shots on goal: 1 (Elis, 1)
Fouls: 14 (Ceren, 3)
Offside: 3 (Three players, 1)
Corner-kicks: 4 (Rodriguez, 2)
Saves: 3 (Willis, 3)
