Sounders break home goal drought but know there is work to do

Sounders snapped their 405-minute home goal-less streak.

SEATTLE — A singular — albeit well-worked — goal in the 67th minute of a midsummer’s MLS match wouldn’t usually elicit such excitement and more importantly, relief.

But such was the need for the Seattle Sounders to find the back of the net before the home faithful at Lumen Field.

The victory of course was more important in the grand scheme of things given the tightness at the top of the Western Conference table. But with a home scoreless streak that had surpassed 400 minutes — 405 if you’re counting — the Sounders needed that tally in the worst way.

While the relief was palpable, so too was the understanding that the Sounders’ scoring woes are far from solved, given the goal didn’t come until Houston was reduced to 10 players and the Sounders couldn’t capitalize beyond securing the game-winning tally.

“I thought we should have scored in the first half,” head coach Brian Schmetzer said. “My gut is telling me that I was somewhat okay with [chance creation]. The game became a little bit false when they went down a guy.”

Schmetzer said he thought that even though the Sounders were dangerous in spots, they didn’t really sustain pressure or take advantage of the return of Raul Ruidiaz, who missed the last match attending to family matters.

“Raul didn't get as much of the ball in the first have [and] we should have done a little bit better there,” Schmetzer said.

The goal itself was the result of some good buildup, and the Sounders were the benficiary of Leo Chu working to find an open Albert Rusnak, who clinically finished the pass.

“It was a good goal,” Schmezer said “We have worked with Léo Chú a lot. You guys have seen his improvement this year. He’s a better effective player, but it’s always about the vision and decision-making, that’s the last thing to come.

“[T]hose players have to make those decisions on the field and Léo made the right choice and we’re happy.”

Rusnak said the relief at seeing the ball hit the back of the net was clear to see by all.

“It was weighing on the whole team, I think you could see it with the celebration of the goal,” Rusnak said. “I feel like we created similar chances against Orlando last game, and we just couldn’t score. That builds up a little frustration that we couldn’t score. I think we have to find multiple ways to score but I think it was all about three points and how it went or who scored, I don't think it really matters.”

While the shutout victory was another positive, finishing their offensive chances remains a priority.

“We would like to score more goals for sure just to have that cushion in case we do concede some games [because] we won’t be able to keep a clean sheet every game,” Rusnak said.

Schmetzer echoed a similar sentiment after the match.

“It’s not enough, we need more,” Schmetzer said. “It’s one goal [and] we could have had more. I told them at halftime that if we scored one, it’s gonna break for us, but we only scored one, so well keep working on it.”