Sounders claw their way back to salvage a point, will that be enough?

While both teams had shots that were deflected, the game came down to the official's interpretation of two back-to-back plays. On the Sounders' attacking end, it appeared as if Christian Roldan was tripped in the box that could have been called a penalty. The Galaxy took the ball and ran down the field and had one of their players drop in the box. The official pointed to the spot which led to the Galaxy's only goal as they failed to score in open play.

Since the introduction of instant replay nine years ago, I have never seen a series of events where the ball was taken off of one penalty spot and put on the other one on the opposite side of the field, which was a possibility in this match. However, the official was not asked to review the play (even though the first foul that was not called seemed to be more of a foul than the one that was awarded with a penalty kick).

Perhaps soccer fans were treated to too many good uses of replay during the World Cup since the Sounders also had a goal that was disallowed when the Sounder's all-time leading goal scorer, Jordan Morris was ruled to be offsides but the replay on television was inconclusive. It would have been nice to have the same tech as the World Cup when they could show the line and get the call correct. Instead, Sounders fans will have to take the linesman's word for it.

Dejan Joveljić subbed out in the second half when he started suffering from cramps, but Jordan Morris played the entire match and could not recall the last time that happened, guessing that it was sometime last season. Kalani Kossa-Rienzi was a surprise starter after leaving the last game early. Perhaps with all of the injuries this season, I was expecting him to miss several games.

The Sounders find themselves one spot from the bottom of the standings with eleven games to go; however, they are only two points away from the coveted playoff spot. While they still have time to make a run up the table, they need to start winning soon or they will find themselves home for the playoffs, watching it on TV for the second time in franchise history. Their next game will be on the road against Colorado on Saturday.

As Joveljić, Morris, and Albert Rusnák learn to gel together, the Sounders have a capable scoring threat, Paul Arriola benefitted from Morris being able to get behind the defense as he scored his first goal of the season assisted by a great pass from Morris.

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