The San Jose Earthquakes and Seattle Sounders both played to draws Wednesday in MLS play.
And neither were happy about it.
The teams, who are scheduled to meet Saturday in Seattle, both felt they could have done better.
The Earthquakes (7-8-8, 29 points) tied FC Dallas 2-2, with San Jose’s Josef Martinez scoring the tying goal in the 86th minute, just one minute after the visitors had taken the lead. Martinez also assisted on Ian Harkes’ first-half goal.
“It was a sloppy performance at the end of both halves,” said Earthquakes coach Bruce Arena, whose team is winless in its past four league matches (0-1-3).
“The first goal they scored, we could have done better on that play. … The second goal they scored, we have three guys that just fell asleep, did a really poor job. I give our guys a lot of credit getting a point out of this game. In a game where we’re a little bit better, maybe we win by a couple of goals.”
The Sounders (9-6-7, 34 points) squandered a three-goal lead in a 3-3 draw with visiting Colorado, despite two goals and an assist from Albert Rusnak.
For the second consecutive match, the Sounders built a 3-0 lead only to concede a pair of second-half penalty kicks.
“I’m more frustrated about our team and us being able to close out games when we go up 3-nothing, especially at home,” said Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer, whose team is unbeaten in its past four matches (2-0-2). “That scoreline should’ve been game over.”
The Rapids tied the score in the 75th minute, as substitute Darren Yapi dribbled past Cristian Roldan and Jackson Ragen, both on yellow cards, before putting a shot into the lower left corner of the net.
“There’s always a point in the season that there is a little bit of a lull,” Roldan said. “Whether it’s individually or as a team. We’re seeing it right now in the second half after conceding PKs and those are things we can fix. It’s not that we’re declining or anything.”
Ragen will miss Saturday’s match due to a suspension for yellow-card accumulation, while fellow defender Nouhou Tolo will serve the finale of his two-game ban for throwing a ball into the stands at Kansas City.
The Sounders and Earthquakes played to a 1-1 tie March 29 at San Jose, with Rusnak scoring the tying goal in the 80th minute after Beau Leroux tallied in the first half for the hosts.
–Field Level Media
