There were questionable moments.
Was that a hard shove by Sounders center back Yeimar? What about Inter Miami defender Maximiliano Falcón’s aggressiveness? And did Herons captain Lionel Messi have anything offensive to say to Sounders midfielder Obed Vargas as the adversaries walked side-by-side off the field at halftime?
Everything was scrutinized in Seattle’s rematch against Miami on Tuesday. A given since the last time the teams played each other on Aug. 31, there was a massive brawl after the Sounders beat the Herons 3-0 to win their first Leagues Cup championship.
“The first tackle that (Miami midfielder Rodrigo) De Paul put on Obed, that was the message they were sending, but Obed played through it,” Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer said. “(He) didn’t take the bait.”
Surrounded by fans draped in pink, the fight was Seattle trying to claw their way back into a match they trailed at the break. It didn’t happen, the Sounders leaving their first trip to Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., with a 3-1 loss.
Seattle (12-8-9) remains fourth in the Western Conference standings because Tuesday was the only league match. Los Angeles FC is a point behind the Sounders and plays Real Salt Lake in Utah on Wednesday.
The top four teams in each conference earn home-field advantage in the opening round of the playoffs.
“It’s good to have moments like this where you kind of have to reset your focus,” said Sounders forward Jordan Morris of the team suffering its second loss since exiting the FIFA men’s Club World Cup in June (10-2-5, through all competitions). “We have really important games coming up to try to secure top four and host those playoff games. We know how important that is.”
Player-wise, MLS only punished Miami forward Luis Suárez for his actions during the Leagues Cup brawl. He served the second of a three-match suspension Tuesday for spitting on Seattle’s head of security.
Suárez has 10 assists for Miami in league matches. Messi had to help handle the attack against the Sounders. And that magic was unlocked in the 12th minute.
Herons defender Yannick Bright picked off Sounders midfielder Cristian Roldan and got a quick pass to Messi. The soccer legend timed the perfect pass to a racing Jordi Alba, who stared down Stefan Frei for the left-footed goal.
After hitting the post on an open look in the 28th minute, Messi took on Frei himself in the 41st minute. Bright bullied Sounders forward Paul Rothrock to get possession of the ball to Alba, who provided the cross into the box for a sliding Messi to score with this left foot.
The Herons (14-6-7) took a 2-0 lead into the break that could’ve been bigger. Frei had four saves in the opening half, five in the match overall.
“We were going against the current the rest of the game,” Vargas said. “It’s tough. And it’s tough playing away from home, especially when you give easy goals away.”
Schmetzer made four lineup changes after a 2-2 draw against the LA Galaxy on Saturday — five from the Leagues Cup match — and then made another two changes to open the second half.
It didn’t make much of a difference. Miami defender Ian Fray towered over midfielder Kalani Kossa-Rienzi to head a goal past Frei in the 52nd minute. Sounders center back Kim Kee-hee wasn’t on the field during the corner kick due to getting his hand inadvertently stepped on after a sliding tackle.
Down 3-0, Schmetzer subbed on Morris for Osaze De Rosario and Snyder Brunell for Roldan. Morris helped craft Seattle’s goal with a cutback pass in the box to Vargas, who angled a left-footed shot past Miami keeper Óscar Ustari in the 69th minute.
“It’s been a rough season for me personally, dealing with all these injuries,” said Morris, who’s been limited to 12 league matches due to shoulder surgery and two hamstring injuries. “It’s been a long time, a lot of starting and stopping this year. I need to get that sharpness back, a lot of that comes from training, but progressing from the last game (LA) to this one, I felt better and more confident.”
De Rosario started up top in place of Danny Musovski. The former started and scored in the Leagues Cup win.
Sounders defender Nouhou was suspended for the tournament match due to a red card shown in the semifinal and didn’t start Saturday against LA due to a recent return from international duty. He started against Miami in place of Reed Baker-Whiting while Georgi Minoungou manned the left wing with Rothrock switching to the right. Kossa-Rienzi moved back a line to replace Alex Roldan at right fullback.
Kim slotted in for Jackson Ragen and Frei remained in at keeper, a change from the Leagues Cup match where Andrew Thomas was in goal. Ragen entered the match at halftime for Yeimar.
The Sounders will travel to Texas for their next match against Austin FC on Sunday.
“It wasn’t a step back, this was going to be a tough game as soon as we saw the schedule earlier this year,” said Schmetzer, who said Miami co-owner Jorge Mas congratulated him on the Leagues Cup win and Herons coach Javier Mascherano was pleasant. “It was a little bit of rough game for the entire squad.”