Coming out of Toronto and the fortress that is BMO Field with a 2-0 win and another three points illustrates more than the team’s two previous victories that the Seattle Sounders FC are “for real,” writes Goal.com’s Kyle McCarthy. Sure, Toronto FC might not have played all that well in its home opener, but Seattle “still looked well better than their opponents” even without young sparkplug Fredy Montero.
While most of the attention so far has been on Sounders offensive stars like the 21-year-old Montero and Swedish international Freddie Ljungberg, McCarthy suggests that their 3-0-0 record and instant MLS success “starts in the back” with a defense that’s “organized and prepared” and plays with both a “sense of purpose and sense of awareness.”
All-time great U.S. goalkeeper Kasey Keller, current owner of a 270-minute shutout streak, isn’t the only reason Seattle has held teams scoreless so far, with much credit going to a center back duo “that looked a little rickety on paper” and Cuban defector Osvaldo Alonso, who “runs his socks off in the defensive midfield and finds a way to destroy plays time and again.”