LUMEN FIELD – The Sounders 2023 season ends in a one-goal home defeat against LAFC in the Western Conference Semifinals. Head Coach Brian Schmetzer sent out the same lineup unchanged from the previous three games. Despite the Sounders having 16 shots, with eight of them on target, and 69% possession, LAFC were able to grind out the victory and eliminate Seattle for the first time. While Seattle carried the majority of the momentum, the second half was mostly Seattle pushing for a goal, maintaining 79% of the second-half possession. LAFC goalkeeper Maxime Creapeu had a plethora of quality saves, on top of adding to Seattle’s frustrations.
Missing significant opportunities was a crucial factor in the Sounders’ loss on Sunday, where, most notably, in the third minute, Jordan Morris found himself one-on-one against goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau. As Giorgio Chiellini was beat on pace, Morris attempted to chip Crepeau with his right foot, seemingly toward Crepeau’s stance. Crepeau closed off Morris quickly and was able to make the close-quarters save. Considering other options, a left-footed finish did appear to be an easier route for the shot, given Crepeau’s positioning during the one-on-one. Morris does, however, tend to favor his dominant right foot for finishing. Sounders close opportunities later in the second half came from Alex Roldan, João Paulo, and Albert Rusnák, almost finding goal but being denied by Crepeau.
LAFC found the opening goal in the 30th minute through Denis Bouanga, taking advantage of the Sounders defense switching off at the wrong time. Yeimar, who misjudged a through ball from Vela, stepped forward out of position. This misjudgment would prove fatal for the Sounders, in which Bouanga broke through to confidently slot the ball into Frei’s top-left corner. Ragen, trying to cover the center and not realizing Nouhou was present, did not step into Bouanga’s path and consequently left him a decent amount of space to make the finish.
Of course, it would not truly be the playoffs without any playoff drama. In the spotlight of controversy, arguably from the perspectives of both sides, is referee Ted Unkel, who made a series of calls that drove both the Sounders players and supporters mad. Around the 60th minute, a stadium-wide chant began that expressed the widespread disapproval of Ted Unkle’s decisions, echoing “ref you suck”—a type of stadium-wide chant that I had never witnessed at a Sounders home game until that night. While Ted Unkle’s calls objectively benefited both the Sounders and LAFC at some point, both teams and sets of supporters were complaining about the inconsistencies in the uncalled fouls. Brian Schmetzer clarified on record, after the loss, that the referee did not cost Seattle the game.
Ultimately, both sides accumulated 16 fouls and three yellow cards each. The timing of the bookings, however, raised many eyebrows around Lumen Field. Nouhou found himself on a yellow card for a late tackle in the 20th minute, followed by Atencio and João Paulo getting written up in the referee’s book in the 40th and 66th minutes, respectively. All three of LAFC’s yellow cards came in the final ten minutes, starting with Crepeau for time wasting.
Two notable officiating moments unfolded in the second half. Around the 60th minute, Cristian Roldan was chopped down, as he was about to be cut into the penalty area, by Giorgio Chiellini, who had been beaten by pace once again. While there was no call made by Unkel, Chiellini compensated by going full stretch into the slide tackle, and while the challenge looked dirty among those watching, the Italian defender managed to barely touch the ball out of Cristian’s reach before taking him down in the process. The other moment also involved a Roldan, this time Alex Roldan, at the 86th minute, where Alex took Palacios’ boot into his left hand, dangerously close to his head as a lofted ball from João Paulo was approaching. Though the foul was called by Unkel and Palacios became the second LAFC booked, many were left dumbfounded as to why VAR overlooked this potential red card for dangerous play to Alex’s safety.
In second-half stoppage time, Reed Baker-Whiting returned from his hamstring injury, an injury that he had sustained on Decision Day. After coming on, however, Reed unfortunately re-injured the same hamstring while dribbling and was forced to step onto the sidelines, talking to the trainer for a minute, as play had to resume. Since all the substitution windows were used, Reed pushed to finish the game on the pitch while battling through the injury. While Reed did finish the game on the field, it proved difficult to play with an active hamstring injury while trying to help the team find the desperately needed equalizing goal. Though it appeared Reed found it difficult to walk, he was still serving balls into the LAFC box. Earlier in the week, Reed was not in full-team training because of the injury and was instead training in injury protocol. Unfortunately, it is evident that Reed was forced into the picture too soon.
Ted Unkle signaled the end of regulation after eight minutes of stoppage time, and the Sounders could not find the equalizing goal in this single-elimination game. At that moment, the final whistle marked the end of Nicolás Lodeiro’s Sounders career, and he gave one final bow to Lumen Field. Nico Lodeiro, a club legend and icon of the club’s success, was saying after the game, “I feel sad too because this was my last game in front of the beautiful fans and beautiful city, but it’s life.” Regarding the next Sounder to don the number ten shirt, Lodeiro emphasized, “When the player comes to play for this franchise, they must know this is one of the best teams in MLS, the most successful team in the last ten years … when they decide to come to Seattle, they must know it is a big club.”
The Sounders will now begin the offseason and will begin focusing on the 2024 season after the new year. Roster decisions for the players with expiring contracts will also be announced, likely within the next few weeks.
All Photos by Dario Cruz / Area Sports Network