Struggling Sounders still looking for first MLS win

TUKWILA — The question posed to Sounders coach Sigi Schmid involved his team’s unfamiliar spot at the bottom of the standings. And before that question was finished, Schmid interjected, apparently not satisfied with the Sounders being referenced as a last-place team.

“Dead last,” Schmid interrupted.

So, hey, even if you can’t yet credit the Sounders with a win in Major League Soccer play, you can at least credit them for owning up to their struggles.

Yes, the Sounders (0-3-1), who came into the season talking about their championship goals, are the only winless MLS team. They are mired in last place, something that won’t change regardless of this afternoon’s outcome against the New England Revolution at CenturyLink Field.

“It doesn’t matter what we do this weekend, we’re still going to be in last place — I don’t want this to be earth-shattering to anybody here,” Schmid deadpanned. “We can win this weekend and we’ll still be the team with the least amount of points in this league. So ‘Sounders win, but they’re still last’ can be your headline.”

Don’t mistake Schmid’s sarcasm for him accepting his team’s place in the standings. But he and his Sounders realize it’s far too soon to panic. Just last season, the Los Angeles Galaxy lost eight of their first 13 games, then went on to win the MLS Cup. Is that kind of turnaround in the cards for Seattle? Maybe, maybe not, but the Sounders aren’t going to give up chasing that goal just four games into their season.

“Certainly pressure builds a little bit when you don’t get that win,” Schmid said. “… At the end of the day, the only thing that’s there is the standings, and as I said before, we can’t panic. I think L.A. at one point at the beginning of last year was (3-8-2) and obviously they won the MLS Cup. We don’t want to end up at (3-8-2), but the thing is we need to get the first win under our belt, and once we get that one, we need to go get the second one, and then we need to go get the third one. Right now, certainly a win will help our confidence.”

Sounders midfielder Shalrie Joseph, who spent 10 seasons with the Revolution, shares his coach’s sentiment that there is no reason to panic.

“We’ve got to keep our head up and we’ve got to stay positive,” Joseph said. “But on this team the expectations are so high — and not just with the fans, but inside the locker room — that we expect to win a game when we go out, and we expect a great performance. That’s the kind of potential this team is capable of. Once we start getting it together, we know what we can do.”

So just how did this team with title aspirations find itself at the bottom of the standings? Well, there are plenty of reasons, including late roster moves, injuries and national-team duties that have kept Seattle from having its entire team intact for more than a handful of practices. Both Schmid and his players also have acknowledged that the team has at times failed to work as hard as it should, hoping talent would take over. Whatever the reasons, the time for excuses is over.

“We feel like we’re a better team than that, but we have to show that on the field,” Schmid said. “We can talk about it, we can rant and rave in the locker room all we want, they can be upset about it at home and everything else, but at the end of the day, it’s all on the field. We have to give it on the field on Saturday.”

The Sounders hope their recent CONCACAF Champions League semifinal can be something of a springboard for a turnaround in MLS play. Yes, Seattle was eliminated by Santos Laguna by a 2-1 aggregate score, but in those two games, the Sounders showed signs of improvement while playing against one of the top teams in Mexico.

“We have to be proud of and also learn about everything we did (Tuesday night) and try to bring this mentality to the MLS,” midfielder Mauro Rosales said after Tuesday’s 1-1 tie in Torreon, Mexico. “Now we have to focus on this and try to start winning games. I think what we showed (Tuesday) is the same character we have to show … against New England.”

Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com.