Coach wants Sounders to be ‘more aggressive attitude’ around the goal

When Seattle Sounders FC kicked off its inaugural season, there was plenty for fans to be excited about.

Goals were plentiful and the wins were piling up early this spring as Seattle raced out to a 3-0 start.

But since that point, Seattle is 1-3-5, is scoring at a much less frequent rate, and is suddenly one of the most frequently disciplined teams in the league. After ending a streak of five straight ties with a loss last weekend, Seattle is now in a tie for third place in the West, 10 points behind first-place Chivas USA.

So what happened?

To a degree, it’s just a matter of things balancing out. Soccer teams at this level can rarely maintain the offensive pace Seattle started the season with, scoring seven goals in those first three games.

But the lack of goals recently — Seattle has just eight goals in nine games since its 3-0 start — is something Sounders coach Sigi Schmid hopes gets fixed soon, preferably on Saturday when last-place San Jose comes to Qwest Field.

“Sometimes it’s just confidence, and it’s just making sure you get that goal,” Schmid said. “If I knew what the magic words were I’d pull them out, and make everybody’s life a lot easier, including mine.”

Schmid may not know the magic words, but he certainly had some stern ones for the team following practice Tuesday. He said the message there was for his team to have a more aggressive attitude around the goal.

“What we talked about at the end is that scoring goals is an attitude,” Schmid said. “I could sit here and we could draw up a run to make it into the box right now, and how to combine and everything, but it’s all about an attitude in the box. It’s about an attitude that I want to get to that ball ahead of you. That means I’ve got to fight, I’ve got to scratch, I’ve got to crawl. … It’s an (attitude) thing, and I want us to be a little more, I don’t know if focused is the right word, I want us to have a more aggressive attitude towards the goal and in and around the 18-yard line.”

The players feel like a couple of goals Saturday could open the scoring flood gates once again.

“Sometimes it just takes one going in, and then once you get one in the goal it becomes easier,” said midfielder Steve Zakuani, who has two goals and three assists. “Sometimes it can be more mental than anything when you haven’t scored in a while. So when one goes in that can build some confidence. In training we’re really focused on being ruthless and deadly in front of the goal, we have to want to score. I think it’s just a case of getting one in, and once we do that I think we’ll be fine.”

One of the team’s best offensive weapons won’t be able to help Seattle break out of a funk this weekend thanks to a suspension. Forward Nate Jaqua, who has three goals and four assists this season, picked up two yellow cards in last week’s loss, leading to his ejection and a subsequent one-game suspension.

Which brings us to another problem faced by Sounders FC since the feel-good start.

Seattle doesn’t rank particularly high in fouls committed, but the team has received the third-most yellow cards in the league (28) and the most reds (five). And while players and Schmid have publicly disagreed with some of those cards, at some point something needs to change whether players agree with the calls or not.

“No question about it, we do need to change it,” said goalkeeper Kasey Keller, who was red-carded early in the season for playing a ball with his hands outside of the box. “There are a few of those that comfortably could have gone the other way or should have gone the other way… But the same time, the players have to understand that and they have to take some responsibility as well and say, ‘OK, I can’t do these things’ because even though it’s maybe something that in the rest of the world wouldn’t be an issue, for some reason it is in our league and you have to adjust accordingly.”

Schmid says that if officials are going to hand out cards like they have, his team simply has to adjust.

“Certainly we can’t be taking red cards all the time,” he said. “So I guess we’ve got to put on our angel wings, or put on our clear white clothing, and let them think that we’re pure and angelic in our play. It’s one of those things. I’m disappointed. I think the guys are disappointed. I’ve never had a team take so many red cards, and it’s something that has to change.”

BARCA TICKETS ON SALE MONDAY

Tickets for Seattle’s upcoming friendly against FC Barcelona go on sale Monday at 10 a.m. Barcelona recently won the UEFA Champions League crown to claim the title of Europe’s top club.

Seating at Qwest Field for the Aug. 5 game will be expanded to 67,000, and ticket prices start at $40. Tickets are available at www.soundersfc.com or by calling 1-800-745-3000.

SOUNDERS FC ADDS NEAGLE TO ROSTER

Lamar Neagle, a midfielder from Federal Way, was added to Seattle’s roster as a Senior Developmental player on Wednesday.

Neagle, who recently graduated from UNLV, trained with Seattle before the season, then began training with the team again last month after he finished school.

Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com.