In playoffs, Sounders FC needs to shore up defensive lapses

The shot, or perhaps pass, was easily clearable by a defender, and if not then certainly stoppable by goalkeeper Kasey Keller. Just a low dribbler into the middle of the defense moving to the left of Keller.

But no one from Sounders FC stopped the ball off the foot of the Kansas City Wizards' Michael Harrington. It found its way through three Seattle players who looked confused as to how to play the ball, right to Wizards teammate Zoltan Hercegfalvi, who'd gotten ahead of Seattle's defense. All he had to do was kick the ball hard enough for it to get past Keller, and he did.

Not 40 seconds later and still early in the second half of Seattle's 3-2 win over the Wizards, Josh Wolff received a cross that two Sounders FC players, Tyrone Marshall and midfielder Peter Vagenas, fanned on. Two other Seattle defenders, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado and Brad Evans, appeared to let Wolff into an open space in front of the goal and could only watch as Wolff gave his team a 2-1 lead.

Sounders FC rallied to win and clinch a playoff spot. But its defensive lapses that coughed up a 1-0 lead on Saturday must be corrected before its home finale against FC Dallas on Saturday, and absolutely before its first playoff game, if Sounders FC hopes to make a good run in the postseason.

"I think we think it is going wide. I think Kasey [Keller] thought it was just going to roll wide, too, and probably called Leo [Gonzalez] off of it," Sounders FC coach Sigi Schmid said of the first K.C. goal. "Leo didn't react properly. The second one, Tyrone missed the ball and it ends up going through the box. Obviously that is something we want to make sure does not happen in the future. They did well by finishing those opportunities.

"We just have to make sure we don't give away those."

Especially with a hot team like FC Dallas coming in. Striker Jeff Cunningham leads Major League Soccer in goals with 17.

Dallas, which started this season with seven losses in its first nine games, has won four straight and is alive for a playoff spot.

No MLS team has scored more than Dallas (49 goals), and Sounders FC — despite being one of the better defensive teams in the league — has had games in which it lost after leading in the second half, most recently at New England.

"In the first half, the game should have been over," Evans said, referring to missed scoring chances for Sounders FC. "The first goal [for Kansas City] I don't know if someone said, 'Leave it.' These things happen, maybe he was offside. The second one, the ball comes through on a cross, it gets a bad hop and we're anticipating the clearance."

Seattle has allowed two goals in two of its past three matches.

José Miguel Romero: 206-464-2409 or jromero@seattletimes.com