Brilliant Chucky Lozano shows Seattle Sounders exactly what they're missing | OneFootball

For all the Seattle Sounders' unfortunate early season injuries, this much is clear: Even if manager Brian Schmetzer had Pedro de la Vega, Paul Arriola and Jordan Morris all healthy to insert into Saturday's starting XI, none could've taken over the match quite in the manner of Chucky Lozano's first-half masterclass in San Diego FC's 3-0 victory.

In only his third MLS start thanks to a hamstring issue, Lozano was everywhere on the Snapdragon Stadium pitch for San Diego through his 67-minute shift, and especially before the break. He created one goal with his incisive dribbling, one with his visionary, long-range passing, and then scored a third with his pace and composure.

It was a performance befitting of a "first-ever signing in club history," and one reminiscent of those another Mexican star used to give about two hours North on I-5, in an eerily similar role.

And yet it was also a window into why many Seattle Sounders fans were so skeptical of their own team's roster overhaul this winter, even while it generally earned plaudits from the outside.

That effort brought a lot of talent onto Schmetzer's squad -- Arriola, Jesus Ferreira, and more recently Ryan Kent. But not one of them all that close to Lozano's league.

The Sounders used to have those guys, beginning with the transformational move to bring USMNT star Clint Dempsey back from Tottenham Hotspur. Nicolas Lodeiro in his prime, Raul Ruidiaz in his, those men could single-handedly take over a match when the moment called for it, even when their teams didn't deserve it.

The more contemporary Seattle approach seems to be assembling a group of very good, but not necessarily great, MLS players and hoping the sum will always be the total of their parts.

But generally, the teams that win major silverware also have that Alpha whom everyone else knows is the one to turn to in case of emergency.

It was not only true of the best Sounders teams, but also their biggest challengers for titles over their best stretches. Toronto FC had Sebastian Giovinco. Atlanta United had Josef Martinez. Then there's that other Mexican star we talked about.

Lozano has been that player on the international stage with Mexico. And although he was more of a supporting cast member at Napoli, for two seasons early in his career he was the big name on the marquee at PSV Eindhoven.

With Saturday night's performance, he proved that pedigree is still there for San Diego, the club for which he is quite literally the roster foundation. And just maybe, he showed the Sounders why they haven't been meeting their own lofty standards the last couple of years.