MLS Talking Points: Lodeiro carries Seattle

• by Paul Kennedy  @pkedit, Aug 15, 2016

Uruguayan Nicolas Lodeiro may be the biggest pickup of the season, good enough he might lead the Seattle Sounders back from dead and into the playoffs for an eighth straight season.

The Sounders were 10 points below the red line when Lodeiro was signed, a day after Sigi Schmid, was fired, and they're now just four points out of the top six with two games in hand after a 2-1 win over Real Salt Lake and can cut that down to one with a win over Portland next Sunday at CenturyLink Field.



Lodeiro has one goal and three assists in three games. The Sounders have scored seven goals in those three games after tallying just 20 goals in their first 20 games.

“He’s come and turned things around,” Sounders interim coach Brian Schmetzer said. “The whole team has had a hand in that. It’s not just been one person. If I’m still a little bit hesitant to make him like a Jesus Christ or something like that … it’s a team game. It’s a team sport."

Schmetzer says the Sounders have raised their game with Lodeiro.

“That could be his biggest contribution aside from a goal and an assist tonight," he said. "He makes everybody else around him better. I’m not going to put too much pressure on his shoulders. The attention he is getting is deserving. That’s how I want to put it.”