Seattle Sounders at Austin FC: Player ratings
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Many people thought Seattle was in for a tough match against Austin on Thursday night. Missing 10 first team players, starting (literal) teenagers by the handful. With maybe any other coach, I’d have thought this was a rout in the making. But something about the way this team plays for
THIS coach, the way they have pulled out improbable results prior, the system that promotes a culture of winning, and a group that doesn’t leak goals, gave me actual hope pre-match. When Seattle left the building with my predicted 1-0 win, they had played a fantastic match in an unorthodox but effective manner. Conceding 75 percent of the ball didn’t matter. Allowing 737 passes with nearly 90 percent accuracy against didn’t matter. What mattered was the better team did the important stuff to fulfill their win conditions. The duels, the tackles, the run-through-wallness, the mentality to step up when it counted — Seattle had that. The win is huge for the Shield lead, but much more importantly, the growth shown by so many of the young players was absolutely incredible to see.