Beginner's Luck, Or Can The Seattle Sounders Keep It Up?

Seattle Sounders FC coach Sigi Schmid mulled over making too much of his club's unbeaten streak, which has caught all of Major League Soccer by surprise.

“It’s two games,” he said. “We’re one-fifteenth of the way there in the regular season. We’re satisfied and we’re happy with what we done, but we know we still have a lot ahead of us.”

In his post game comments after defeating Real Salt Lake 2-0 last week, Schmid expressed disappointment with Seattle’s defensive effort in the second half. He subsequently viewed the game video and sounded more positive in his assessment.

“I thought defensively, tactically, we actually did all right,” Schmid said. “It was just that we gave the ball away at times when we shouldn’t have given it away. I felt when Freddie (Ljungberg) came on and Nate Sturgis came on we did a better job of holding on to the ball the last 15 minutes.”

Schmid indicated that Seattle’s fervent crowds, which average over 30,000, did have an impact on how the Sounders play. “Certainly the enthusiasm of our crowd has helped us in the first two games, and we’ve been very aggressive defensively early on in games.”

Schmid stated that in MLS, teams do not change their style of play regardless if they play at home or away. "It’s more important on the road in the first 15 minutes to 20 minutes…not give the ball away unnecessarily. Not to bring their crowd into the game by turning the ball over deep in our end of the field and give them momentum.”

The Sounders play Toronto FC, Canada's only MLS team, this Saturday. TFC’s passionate and vocal fans are recognized for creating one of the most hostile environments in MLS. How Seattle reacts will determine if they are the real thing.

“As a coach I always felt that there are two things that are fun to do,” Schmid mused. “One is to really get the home crowd excited, and the other thing is to quiet down an away crowd. Sometimes, in this case, silence is golden. If we can quiet an away crowd, that’ll be a good thing for us.”

He went on to the praise the ambiance at BMO Field, TFC's home ground. “Toronto is a good place to play from the standpoint of atmosphere. The crowd’s into it. It’s emotional. It’s sold out. It will be a fun thing.”

John Zielonka is the Goal.com correspondent in Seattle. He can be reached at zielojo@seattlesoccer.us.