TORONTO -- Many people point to the acquisition of Nicolas Lodeiro as the turning point of the Seattle Sounders’ season, and rightly so, as the Uruguayan was named MLS Newcomer of the Year despite playing in just 13 games.
The Sounders went 8-2-4 in their last 14 games, on their way to climbing out of ninth place and claiming the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference. In those 14 games Seattle averaged 1.71 goals per game, tied for the fifth-highest average in the league over that span. But it wasn’t all about the Lodeiro, Jordan Morris and the attack.
The Sounders' defense conceded just 1.14 goals per game in their last 14, tied for the second-lowest total in MLS after July 31. Much of that success can be credited to the work of Osvaldo Alonso, three-time MLS Defender of the Year Chad Marshall, Joevin Jones and Tyrone Mears. But a key figure was missing for more than half of it.
Roman Torres came back from an ACL injury to start the final eight games of the season for the Sounders, after just playing four games in 2015 due to the injury, and they conceded seven goals in those eight games. He and Marshall don’t seem like an obvious center back pairing but it’s clearly working out.
Both are mostly known for their size, with Torres coming in at 6-foot-2 and 195 pounds and Marshall sitting at 6-foot-4 and 195 pounds. Usually you don’t see players this similar in size together at the center back position but clearly the two have figured out how to make it work. In the 11 games they have started together including the playoffs, the Sounders have lost just once.
“It’s weird, even from the very beginning I think we had a good understanding of each other," Marshall told assembled reporters. "I think we see the game very similarly, we have the same attributes, big guys who hold the same lines [and] relatively the same speed. There wasn’t a huge adjustment period with him and even when he came back we remembered the four games we played [together] last year and it just kind of clicked right away.”
Both are very strong in the air with Marshall winning 68 percent of his aerials, the 13th-highest rate in MLS, and Torres sitting at 66 percent including the Audi 2016 MLS Cup Playoffs. This helps the Sounders when they are sitting back defensively, allowing the two to confidently clear away any danger.
The two, along with the rest of the Sounders defense, will have to be at their best again on Saturday night in the MLS Cup final (8 pm ET; FOX and UniMás | TSN and RDS in Canada), as they go up against the top attacking duo in the league in Sebastian Giovinco and Jozy Altidore.
Giovinco is coming off another MVP-caliber season, registering 17 goals and 15 assists, while adding four more goals in the playoffs. Altidore is in the best form of his career, scoring 15 goals in his last 19 games.
Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer knows this is one of the key battles in the game, and one in which the Sounders need to win if they are to hoist the Philip F. Anschutz trophy.
“I view it as one of the great storylines of this game. There’s a lot of great storylines but Chad and Roman against Jozy is certainly one to watch for,” Schmetzer said when talking about they physical play of Altidore. “We will try and slow Jozy down with our team. Denying service and making sure Chad and Roman get bodies on them and stuff like that but he’s a good player. Those matchups [and] different key moments of the game could decide the game.”
Marshall agreed with his coach about matching the physicality of Altidore, but keeping an eye on the dangerous Giovinco will also be key in his and Torres’ success.
“I think you have to be physical right back with him. He’s someone who uses his strength and speed, we need to mash him, we need to make sure he’s taking tough touches and not being able to link the rest of their team. Him and Giovinco love to move, the kind of swarming defense they play and Michael [Bradley] is pinging balls in behind you so you always have to know where they are at because all it takes is one long ball.”
