Match Report: 10-man Seattle clogs lanes, Beckerman fantastic in 0-0 draw

Match Report: 10-man Seattle clogs lanes, Beckerman fantastic in 0-0 draw

It feels good to win. It doesn't feel so good to lose. How, then, does it feel to draw?

Confusing. Disrupting. I'm not really sure how I feel anymore. Where am I? What are we doing?

Oh, never mind. It's not that bad. Alas, that draw was a fair bit frustrating, wasn't it? Not in the least because of that little red card Ricardo Salazar (remember: The enemy of our enemy is our friend) showed — justly, I might add. When your opponent can only play ten men, you'd expect your team to win 10 times out of 11.

This was that 9 percent: Seattle fought diligently for 60 minutes: They clogged lanes, they sat back, they did everything they could to get a draw. In the end, it worked.

We can take some things from the match, despite not ending with a win.

One. Kyle Beckerman is a beast. A fine-passing, tackle-making, distribution-controlling beast of a man. He completed 123 passes of 137 attempted. That's significant. Very significant. It's the first time this season that a player has completed 100 or more passes. It's fantastic. Good on you, captain.

Two. Sebastian Velasquez got some deserved time on the pitch and showed really well. He added some important impetus in attack, made things happen, and nearly scored a goal late in stoppage time. Oh, if only he had. Damn you, Gspurning!

Three. David Viana came on and did reasonably well, too. He looked a little shaky and he didn't have the connection with his teammates we need — he's only been here a few weeks, really, so it's no surprise. Still, it was a promising debut and something to build on. One thing we can definitely say: The kid's direct in his approach play. We needed that when he came on, and he provided it, even if it didn't entirely work out.

Four. Jamison Olave's broken. He's got a hamstring strain. Ugh. Thankfully, we have Schuler back in the side, and Watson-Siriboe is inching toward fitness. We'll need them both. It's a good thing that Schuler is fantastic.

Five. Emiliano Bonfigli's an enigma. He went from looking really, really good for the reserves to looking entirely lost for the first team. His finishing is immense, but he didn't really get a chance to show that, and part of that's down to him and his positioning. He certainly doesn't have an understanding with Espindola up top, and maybe that was the biggest problem.

Six. Nick Rimando. That is all.