By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Oct 16, 2013) US Soccer Players – There was a moment on Sunday night, when the whole thing had unraveled into a frothing, spewing, rage-filled exercise in berating any symbol of authority available, that the Seattle Sounders loss to the Portland Timbers moved beyond that particular game or even the Cascadia rivalry. After consecutive thrashings at the hands of Western Conference opponents and falling behind the Timbers in a game when nothing… nothing would go right for them, Osvaldo Alonso’s petulant elbow to the chirping trap of Will Johnson and the subsequent fit thrown by nearly every Sounder player and coach on the field seemed very much like frustration boiling over.

Frustration over those blowouts. Frustration over losing their grip on not only the Supporters’ Shield race, but also first place in the Western Conference. Frustration over Clint Dempsey’s inability to create the goals he was signed to bring, the Sounders inability to get all of their talent on the field at once, and the ball’s frustrating habit of bouncing off the frame of the goal and away from, not into, the JELD-WEN Field net.

In the aftermath, the perception was that the Sounders played poorly against the Timbers. While that’s mostly true, it fails to capture the heaps of misfortune poured upon Sigi Schmid’s in the 1-0 loss. Aside from the injury to Clint Dempsey that required the forward to play the rest of the game favoring his left arm, the Sounders nearly scored on several occasions. A combination of good goalkeeping by Donovan Ricketts and the woodwork was all that stood between Seattle and a momentum-restoring result.

There’s no question that the Sounders would have happily accepted a draw in Portland after their distressing performances against the Rapids (a 5-1 loss on the road) and the Whitecaps (a 4-1 defeat that included a hat trick for Vancouver forward Kekuta Manneh). Head coach Sigi Schmid thought enough of the slide and its potential long-term impacts on the Sounders that he made notable changes for Sunday night.

Schmid chose to start Marcus Hahnemann in goal over Michael Gspurning, the Sounders’ clear number one keeper and a one of the league’s best over the course of last two seasons. At the time, and certainly in retrospect, it presented as a showy move meant to send a message or change flagging defensive chemistry. While Gspurning wasn’t directly responsible for all nine goals conceded to Colorado and Vancouver, he did look bad on Nigel Reo-Coker’s capper against Vancouver. As chief communicator and traffic director of the Sounders defense, Gspurning also deserved some of the blame for the blowout losses. Still, benching him for one of the biggest games of the year against Seattle’s chief rival smacked of desperation.

Rather than double-down on a player he knows is capable of getting the job done, and perhaps working to restore any confidence Gspurning had lost, Schmid sent the message that even at this stage in the season he’s willing to upset the natural order of his team in light of bad results. If the Sounders had beaten the Timbers on Sunday, we might be lauding Schmid’s leadership. As it is, with the loss and the ugliness displayed by so many of his players on the field, Schmid’s gamble backfired. Maybe benching Gspurning didn’t directly lead to the frustration boiling over, but it does exacerbate an already troubling situation.

Alonso’s meltdown, and the resulting furor caused by Sounders players and coaches rushing to protest to officials, aren’t the actions of a quietly confident team just going through a rough patch. The intensity of the Cascadia rivalry surely played a role in the outburst, but it doesn’t explain it. The players, more than one, lost control. That reflects poorly on the man pulling the strings from the sideline.

Has Sigi “lost” his team? It’s an odd thing to consider in light of Schmid’s impressive coaching history, but we have to ask. The Sounders have not lived up to their promise in any postseason in their MLS history. Here they are, imploding at exactly the wrong time with a team more talented than any they’ve had before. This was supposed to be the Sounders’ year. With two games left in the regular season it feels like the stage is set for another disappointment.

Capturing the Supporters’ Shield might be out of their hands, but Seattle still has two games left to turn things around before the playoffs begin. A three-game losing streak doesn’t necessarily mean the Sounders aren’t championship material. As MLs history shows, it’s possible to catch fire in time to make a run through the playoffs even when the regular season ends on a down note. There are few precedents for how poorly this three game stretch in Sounders’ camp, but it would hardly be a surprise to see Seattle lifting the trophy come December. Again, the talent is there.

Seattle’s final two games are against the already eliminated FC Dallas and the two-time defending champion LA Galaxy. The Dallas game this weekend appears crucial to the Sounders’ season. A chance to wash away the bad taste of the losses to Colorado and Vancouver and the tantrum thrown in Portland against a team with nothing to play for but pride is just what Seattle needs. By the time Seattle takes the field, they’ll know Alonso’s disciplinary fate and should have a better idea of the injuries affecting their final matches. Dealing with the fallout won’t be easy, but the vagaries of team dynamics allow for them to come together just as easily at things could continue to unravel.

Sunday night’s display in Portland shouldn’t fill anyone with confidence that the ultra-talented Seattle Sounders are ready for the playoffs. Should they fail again, Sigi Schmid will deserve some of the blame. But if he’s as good a coach as he’s shown in the past, Schmid will figure out a way to stop the bleeding and salvage something positive before a loss might mean the end of their season.

The alternative, a continued slide deeper into the abyss, sets the Sounders up to be one of the biggest disappointments in MLS history.

Jason Davis is the founder of MatchFitUSA.com and the co-host of The Best Soccer Show. Contact him:matchfitusa@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter:http://twitter.com/davisjsn.

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