Seven goals, 27 shots, 16 on-target, 13 corner kicks, and 32 fouls. Those are the combined statistics between the Seattle Sounders and Los Angeles Galaxy on Sunday afternoon at CenturyLink Field. But at the end of the day, the only number that matters is four.
4-3, to be specific.
A wild second half that featured six total goals, five in a 21-minute span, left the Sounders on top of Galaxy in the only category that matters: goals.
Cristian Roldan, playing his second consecutive match on the right wing with Victor Rodriguez still out injured, tallied two scores, including the game-winner in the 89th minute on a cross from Brad Smith. The crowd erupted in madness, and four minutes later, the final whistle sounded, elevating Seattle to second place in the Western Conference with 46 points.
LAFC still sits above the entire league with 62 points, but the Sounders now stand apart from the rest of the crowd, two points clear of third place San Jose at 44. In total, below Seattle, six teams are separated by just four points.
Sunday's thriller at CenturyLink may have ended with seven goals, but it remained scoreless for the first 47 minutes, before Raul Ruidiaz hit the game's opener in added time of the first half. Roldan doubled the lead in the 56th before two Los Angeles goals in the 66th and 75th minutes equalized the match. Seconds later, Jordan Morris broke away on a give-and-go with Ruidiaz to put the Sounders back up by one.
Four minutes after Morris' strike, Galaxy fullback Jorgen Skjelvik turned around Seattle fullback Saad Abdul-Salaam on a long pass and run, then beat Stefan Frei to the far post to once again tie the match at three. Back and forth we went.
Roldan's winner came eight minutes later, earning the midfielder Budweiser Man of the Match honors.
Long before the goal, in the first half, silence fell upon the near 47,000 in attendance when Sounders midfielder Jordy Delem and defender Xavier Arreaga collided in a head-to-head collision as both players went after an airborne ball in Seattle's box. Arreaga quickly rose to his feet, however, Delem stayed on the ground. Trainers spent a few minutes holding Delem's head and neck as he laid still on the ground.
Delem eventually rose and slowly walked off the field with multiple trainers, then sat down on the bench, presumably already in concussion protocol. New Argentine midfielder Emanuel Cecchini entered for Delem in the 40th minute.
Time will tell when Delem eventually returns to the field in Rave Green. Martinique called him up for International Duty during the upcoming week prior to Sunday's injury. Seattle faces the Colorado Rapids on the road next Saturday in a rescheduled match from earlier in the season due to a snow-storm at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.
Other players confirmed to miss the match in Colorado include Gustav Svensson, who boarded a flight for Sweden Sunday evening, Ruidiaz (Peru), Joevin Jones (Trinidad and Tobago), as well as Roldan and Morris (United States). Arreaga (Ecuador) could also be absent from the Sounders. Meanwhile, the Rapids will miss Kei Kamara with Sierra Leone and Diego Rubio with Chile, the club's two leading goal-scorers with 11 and nine, respectively.
That match will kick off at 6:00 p.m. PST with KJR's Pre-Match Show beginning at 5:30 next week. Below, you can check out highlights of, and interviews after, Seattle's 4-3 win over Los Angeles on Sunday, plus listen to KJR's Postgame Show breaking down all the action from the thriller at CenturyLink.