The Seattle Sounders traveled to British Columbia to face the Vancouver Whitecaps in the Cascadia Cup during the week. After Wednesday’s 3-0 win at BC Place, they will head home to Customs to announce three points, three goals and another clean sheet. The victory was secured thanks to a penalty won by Paul Rothrock, which Albert Rusnák saved with goals from Georgi Minoungou and Rothrock. Combined with other results, the Sounders moved into third place in the Western Conference.

Seattle was on top of Vancouver from the start, scoring Georgi Minoungou’s first shot of the game in the 6th minute, something of a harbinger of things to come. Minoungou’s shot went over the ball but came about thanks to some excellent interaction on the left between Nouhou and Paul Rothrock. Obed Vargas was involved in the 12th minute and shot from just outside the penalty area after a short corner, but his shot went wide.

Then, in the 14th minute, Minoungou opened his MLS account and put Seattle on the board. Albert Rusnák sent a fantastic corner that hit the head of Jordan Morris in the middle of the penalty area and Morris sent the ball to the back post where Minoungou ran onto it and made sure he pushed the ball over the goal line. From there, the Sounders continued to pass the ball to Minoungou, who was isolated against a defender on Seattle’s right side. They created a number of chances as they dominated possession throughout the half, but were unable to score their second goal.

Vancouver had chances of its own and forced a big save from Stefan Frei, especially in the 19th minute. A shot from Sebastian Berhalter was deflected off Nouhou and Frei dived to the right and palmed the ball to prevent the ball from reaching the side netting at the back post. Sam Adekugbe was in good form a few minutes later when he had a header at the back post in the 25th minute, but he hit his header into the turf and the rebound sent the ball up and over the crossbar.

The Sounders kept the pressure on in the second half and ensured the Whitecaps were in near-constant danger to open the half. Vancouver almost equalized in the 58th minute after Frei made an odd decision to appear to try to drive a ball out of bounds rather than pick it up or clear it, and the ball was played back toward the penalty spot. Pedro Vite fired a shot that seemed destined for the goal, but Nouhou cleared the ball over the goal line and towards the corner.

Paul Rothrock scored a penalty for the Sounders in the 64th minute off a pass from Minoungou, fighting his way through a tackle in which he was brought down by two defenders in the penalty area. Albert Rusnák stepped up and fired his shot into the bottom corner, just out of the reach of Vancouver goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka, making it 2-0 in the 65th minute. Rothrock got on the scoresheet just two minutes later. Rusnák was once again the provider, but the game started with a long ball from Stefan Frei to Jordan Morris, who jumped and passed the ball on to Rusnák. Rusnák considered his options and when Minoungou made a run on his right, he played a through ball to his left to Rothrock, who made a few dribbles into the box and fired his shot into the side netting at the back post for the Really reach the game to decide.

Seattle continued to try to extend their lead and Vancouver continued to try to score a consolation goal, but the real excitement after Rothrock made it 3-0 came just before stoppage time when Fafa Picault received a second yellow card. The attacker tried to help his team’s faltering defense as he tried to repel a Seattle attack, but as the Sounder crossed the midfield line he got nothing but Rusnák. The Whitecaps played the remainder of the game with 10 players while the Sounders rose to 3rd place in the West and secured another shutout.

Seattle returns home before hitting the road again this weekend to play the Colorado Rapids on Saturday night.

Key moments

6 – Shot! Georgi Minoungou has Seattle’s first shot on goal and, after some good play on the left between Nouhou and Paul Rothrock, gets the finishing touch from a pass from Nouhou. However, the shot comes under pressure and goes well over the crossbar.

12 – Shot! Obed Vargas shoots from the top of the box after the Sounders take a short corner. He keeps his attempt low but it goes wide of the goal.

14 – GOAL! Minoungou is at the back post to give the Sounders the lead! Albert Rusnák sends a corner that Jordan Morris gets up and heads to the back post where Minoungou makes sure it hits the goal. 1:0 sounder

19 – SAVE! Stefan Frei makes an incredible save, diving to his right to block a deflected shot from Sebastian Berhalter. The rebound falls to Fafa Picault, but his shot is blocked by Alex Roldan and lands on the way out of bounds where it touches Picault, giving Seattle a goal kick.

25 – Shot. Vancouver looks great after the Sounders make a few individual errors as they try to stop or repel the Whitecaps attack, which ultimately leads to a chance for Sam Adekugbe at the back post, but he puts his shot into the ground and he jumps over the goal goal.

35 – Chance! Rusnák plays a beautiful through ball to Paul Rothrock, who sends in a low cross that Morris almost redirects, but it is deflected for a corner.

40 – Cross! Rusnák plays a free kick out to Minoungou, who beats a defender and sends a cross that reaches Morris, but it is just too high and bounces over his head.

51 – Cross! Rothrock has the ball at the elbow of the penalty area after a short corner and sends a cross towards the back post that goes just over Minoungou’s head.

57 – Chance! Seattle goes on the run against a struggling Whitecaps defense. Morris passes the ball to Minoungou, who tries to return the favor, but his pass just goes too far forward.

58 – DISTANCE! Frei leaves his goal and tries to send the ball out of bounds but loses and Vancouver shoots a shot that is intended for goal but Nouhou clears it off the line.

64 – Penalty! Rothrock dribbles into the penalty area after a pass from Minoungou, where he gets caught in a foul sandwich between Berhalter and Ranko Vesilinovic and gives Seattle a PK.

65 – GOAL! Rusnák steps to the penalty spot and although goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka rebounds in the right direction, Rusnák’s shot hits it into the bottom corner, doubling the lead. 2:0

67 – GOAL! Paul Rothrock makes it three! Frei sends the ball up to Morris, who passes the ball on to Rusnák. Rusnák has Minoungou on his right and Rothrock on his left and chooses to play him on his left. Rothrock drives into the penalty area and fires his shot into the opponent’s net! 3-0

75 – Chance! Rothrock plays a nice little through ball for Morris, but Takaoka slides out to stop it and saves to keep the score at 3-0.

77 – Save! The Whitecaps play through the Seattle defense to get the ball to Brian White in a dangerous spot, but Frei manages to keep the clean sheet.

89 – Red card! Picault fouls Rusnák as number one in Seattle. 11 crosses the midfield line during a break and receives his second yellow card of the evening. Vancouver is forced to play a man down for the rest of the game.

Short thoughts

The Season of Albert: Albert Rusnák is burning. His goal and two assists against the Whitecaps gave him 9 goals and 15 assists for the season, his highest single-season goal contributions of his MLS career and surpassing his career high of 14 assists, which he achieved in 2017. That’s not the case. It’s simply the best season of his career, it’s one of the best seasons a Sounders player has ever had in MLS. Nico Lodeiro scored 24 goals in 2018. Only Clint Dempsey (15 goals, 10 assists) and Obafemi Martins (17 goals, 13 assists) had more productive MLS seasons in Seattle in 2014. And some people wondered if he deserved to be a DP.

Make sure the goals come: Stefan Frei added another clean sheet to his tally, his 10th of the season – moving him one behind Hugo Lloris at the top of the league – and the 115th of his career. He joins Nick Rimando as only the second goalkeeper in MLS history with five seasons with at least ten shutouts. This shutout moved Seattle to the top of the group in goals allowed per game (GA/90). They are tied with the Columbus Crew in total goals allowed at 34, but after one more game their GA/90 is 1.06 while the Crew’s is 1.1. It may not end up having much significance when the year-end awards are voted on, but the Sounders’ defense is incredible and could well prove to be the deciding factor when the playoffs begin.

Delicious depth: Both Paul Rothrock and Georgi Minoungou scored in this game, which not only rewarded Brian Schmetzer’s faith, but also perhaps helped silence some of their critics and doubters. Minoungou’s goal was unspectacular, but it’s the type of play where players make mistakes all the time, and it fell because he was the focus of many of Seattle’s attacks. Rothrock scored a great goal, but also converted the penalty that Rusnák took and was generally just a throwaway in Vancouver’s team as he continued his breakout season. Seattle’s strength has come to the fore, and players who played minor roles in the spring are now making important contributions as the team returns to form at the perfect time.

Quote of the day

Players in the spotlight

Jordan Morris – Jordan Morris didn’t score, and other players will deservedly get most of the attention for this win, but he did have two assists – a primary assist on the opener and a secondary assist for his pass on Rusnák Rothrock’s goal – in addition to many things you expect from your 9 to help the team secure victory.