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CHESTER, Pa. – Playing their third game in eight days at 2,800 miles from their home in front of a packed house, the Seattle Sounders were the happiest team to leave the field after a scoreless draw against the Philadelphia Union on Saturday.
"If you look at this piece of paper, statistically, it was not a good game for us and you have to credit Jim [Curtin] and the Union, they controlled a lot of the game, "Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer said at the end of the match. "It's a monster performance. I do not think a league team takes seven points in a week. Whatever this piece of paper says, we are delighted. "
Flying across the country to face second place in the Eastern Conference after two days of rest, Schmetzer moved to a 5-3-2 formation with three central defenders to try to slow down the mighty attack of the Union. Jonathan Campbell made his debut with the Sounders on the left-back, with Román Torres in the center and Kim Kee-hee on the right.
Schmetzer said the idea was to have Campbell "carry some of the load" and that the outside backers, Nouhou and Saad Abdul-Salaam, do some of the work on the wings. There were five changes to Wednesday's team total that beat Orlando City 2-1.
"We dropped a bit deep, but the three center-backs allowed us not to stretch," said Campbell. "They have a combination of a big man but they also have some speed behind, so I think it allowed us to cover that pretty well and then frustrate them to find nothing really in the middle, of course. try to force it off and I think it's there that they had to break us a little better to have balls behind, I thought that's where we did a good job. "
The Union had nearly 68% possession of the ball and beat the visitors 20-6, but his biggest scoring chances were denied by the veteran goalkeeper of the Sounders, Stefan Frei, who managed a save from the 25th-minute goalkeeper on Brennen Aaronson In the second half, Haris Medunjanin gave a free-kick to the opposing goal and blocked Kacper Przybylko's head at close range. He finished with six stops in the night.
"I mean, obviously, he's proved, he's already done it many times," Campbell said of the backup on Przybylko. "I would not expect anything less from him, but it was unbelievable, a very fast reaction and that allowed us to stay in the game. It was huge and gave us the point there. "
Curtin went to his bench in the 57th minute and brought the player on Ilsinho, which was Philadelphia's biggest weapon in the second half of the season, but even with his spark on the bench, the Union was goal scoreless at home for the first time season.
"We dominated them, we created a lot of chances," Ilsinho said. "It's frustrating because we did not win."
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