The Seattle Sounders held off a spirited second-half rally from the LA Galaxy to edge their Western Conference rivals 4-3 in a wild shootout at CenturyLink Field on Sunday, riding a Cristian Roldan brace, the second of which arrived as the game-winner in the 89th minute.
Twice the hosts took the lead, and twice they were pegged back by a dogged but defensively flawed Galaxy side. Raul Ruidiaz opened the scoring just before halftime and Roldan bagged his first early in the second stanza, only for Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Uriel Antuna to carve open the Rave Green backline with relative ease to level matters.
Jordan Morris, who held Antuna onside just before LA's second, finished a breakaway to restore Seattle's lead, but Jorgen Skjelvik roamed forward to equalize with his first Galaxy goal. With the Sounders in danger of throwing away so much of their hard work, Roldan tapped home at the back post to cap a wild afternoon under the Cascadia sunshine.
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Goals
- 45+2' – SEA – Raul Ruidiaz | WATCH
- 55' – SEA – Cristian Roldan | WATCH
- 66' – LA – Zlatan Ibrahimovic | WATCH
- 75' – LA – Uriel Antuna | WATCH
- 77' – SEA – Jordan Morris | WATCH
- 81' – LA – Jorgen Skjelvik | WATCH
- 89' – SEA – Cristian Roldan | WATCH
Three Things
- THE BIG PICTURE: Seattle took the three points, pushing LA's road winless skid to six games, but neither side will move forward feeling great about their defensive fragility, especially as the postseason beckons. Control of the tempo was fleeting in this end-to-end encounter and that leaves questions about both combatants.
- MOMENT OF THE MATCH: In an affair chock-full of striking moments, Roldan's winner was the parting shot that decided things...
- MAN OF THE MATCH: Morris and Ruidiaz have decent claims to this title, but we'll give Roldan the nod for his all-around contributions.
Next Up
- SEA: Saturday, Sept. 7 at Colorado Rapids (9 pm ET | MLS LIVE on ESPN+ in US; MLS LIVE on DAZN in Canada)
- LA: Wednesday, Sept. 11 at Colorado Rapids (9 pm ET | MLS LIVE on ESPN+ in US; TSN5 in Canada)
