Brian Schmetzer shoulders blame for Galaxy loss

RENTON – Given several days to reflect on the Seattle Sounders’ first home loss in nearly a year, head coach Brian Schmetzer said he must shoulder his share of the blame.

The Sounders made five changes to their starting lineup between Wednesday's 3–2 win over the San Jose Earthquakes and Saturday's 2–0 loss to the LA Galaxy. Although that's broadly in line with previous changes during multi-game weeks, Schmetzer is still second-guessing the decision to start two relatively inexperienced players — Peter Kingston at right back and Antino Lopez at right centerback — next to each other on defense. This was Kingston's second career MLS start and his first MLS start at right back.

"I’ll still take that one, that's on me," Schmetzer said.

The problem wasn’t that either player was bad individually, but that it was perhaps asking a bit too much of them to properly weigh the balance of attacking and defending when matched up against a veteran like Joseph Paintsill. Schmetzer praised Kingston for winning some of his 1v1 duels with Paintsill, but said the Sounders needed to find a way to get more numbers forward.

"The challenge with Peter was we’re at home and we didn’t have as much attacking punch down that right hand side because he was a little worried, he was a little tethered to Paintsill," Schmetzer said. "Maybe a more experienced guy would have said 'hey Peter, go. I’ve got your guy.'"

After Kingston picked up a yellow card in the 44th minute, Schmetzer felt like he needed to bring in Kalani Kossa-Rienzi for the second half. Perhaps predictably, the Sounders’ offense started to click more. Kossa-Rienzi finished with more touches (57–25), more touches in the penalty area (4–0) and more passes into the the final third (5–2) while also putting up similar defensive numbers as Kingston.

Schmetzer insisted none of this has shaken his belief that the Sounders’ have solid depth.

"My choices are my choices but I have faith in that group of players," he said. "I made my decisions, and I’ll learn from it. I’ll move forward."

Moose returns

Danny Musovski was back on the training pitch, only a few days after he had been knocked out of a game with a lost tooth. The striker will be available when the Sounders visit LAFC on Sunday.

Musovski lost the tooth when he collided with LA Galaxy left back John Nelson in the 6th minute of Saturday's match. Somewhat shockingly, the whole tooth popped out – roots and all – allowing it to be re-attached. The tooth required a root canal and a brace to keep it in place, and Musovski will have to play with a mouthguard for some period, but if all goes well his mouth will heal around the tooth and he should fully recover.

"The body is a beautiful thing," Schmetzer said while explaining the situation.

On the mend

Although it remains unclear if he’ll actually be able to play before the World Cup break, Yeimar Gomez Andrade (hamstring) has also resumed full training. Schmetzer had previously said that Yeimar would be out until after the break. Kim Kee-hee, Ryan Sailor and Stuart Hawkins have also resumed full training in recent weeks.

Still out

Alex Roldan (hamstring) was still training on the side and his availability for Sunday is, at best, questionable. Pedro de la Vega, meanwhile, is "still a ways off" but the Sounders are hoping to get him back for part of the "mini-preseason" they’ll be holding before they return from the World Cup break, with the aim of getting him on the field shortly after they start playing games again.