Seattle "find a way to win" despite Brad Evans ejection, other "deviations"

VANCOUVER, B.C. – You could say that the Seattle Sounders’ 2-1 Cascadia Cup victory over the Vancouver Whitecaps at BC Place on Sunday was a mixed bag for Brad Evans.


After missing the club’s last four matches with back tightness, Seattle’s 31-year-old captain made his return to the field as a second-half substitute in dramatic fashion, scoring the game-deciding goal on an 84th-minute penalty kick.


But Evans will now be suspended for Seattle’s next game. The versatile veteran picked up a late red card for whipping his head at Whitecaps defender David Edgar after the two were jostling for position on a corner kick, a sequence that Evans expanded on in his postgame comments to reporters.


ā€œCorner kick comes in, Edgar’s pulling me back,ā€ Evans said. ā€œIt’s definitely a PK. So I get up, he says it’s not [a PK] and he leans in and puts his head on mine. Look at the replay. I mouth, ā€˜You can’t do that. [Expletive] off.’ I never made contact with him.


ā€œThen he turns around and asks for a red card and, sure enough, [referee Ricardo] Salazar brings the card out of his pocket and says ā€˜OK, here’s a red.’ No contact made. He makes contact with my face first. So not really much to say there.ā€


Evans wasn’t the only one Salazar handed an early exit. The Sounders played much of the second half a man up after Vancouver’s Pedro Morales was ejected in the 53rd minute for a high elbow on Seattle midfielder Cristian Roldan, in what turned into an all-around wild affair at BC Place.


Seattle were also playing without midfielders Nicolas Lodeiro (suspension) and Andreas Ivanschitz (neck strain), two of the team’s most relied-upon creative attackers.


ā€œThere were a lot of deviations [from the original plan],ā€ Sounders interim head coach Brian Schmetzer said. ā€œBut a win’s a win. The guys are in a good mood, good spirits and credit to them. They found a way to win after taking the first goal.ā€


Theatrics aside, Sunday’s victory continued Seattle’s remarkable late-season turnaround. They've skyrocketed from the Western Conference basement into playoff position with 44 points on the season, with a home matchup vs. the last-place Houston Dynamo next on the docket.


ā€œWe just need to keep that momentum going,ā€ said forward Herculez Gomez. ā€œI think everybody here knows what we’re fighting for. Nobody believed we were the worst team when we were in that slump, nobody thinks we’re the best team now. We’re even-keeled. We just want to do our job.ā€