Sounders still working to get over the one that got away last weekend

Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer bristled when asked Tuesday whether he’s gotten over Saturday’s 1-1 draw in San Jose, when the equalizer was notched by the home side in injury time.

Not that his team had played that technically perfect a game to begin with, missing several chances off set plays and in close. But when Nicolas Lodeiro scored a goal in the 84th minute, it appeared the Sounders were about to steal a critical game on the road.

Alas, the lead vanished in the closing minutes, when the Sounders appeared to be running around in disarray at times. Schmetzer said a lack of focus overall had plenty to do with it.

“It’s total concentration,” he said. “I mean, MLS games are so tight, so close, if you don’t focus for 90 minutes, or 94 minutes, it ends up costing you. Away from home, there’s a very small margin for error.”

Schmetzer wasn’t thrilled that a Marco Urena cross from the right side in the 90th minute found its way past four Sounders defenders in the box and onto the foot of Chris Wondolowski. The Earthquakes’ forward easily put the ball in the net for his 11th career goal against the Sounders – the most by any opposing player since the franchise’s MLS entry in 2009.

But Schmetzer was even more irked at how his team seemed to lose control of the game’s “tempo” toward the end.

“We were a little hurried at points,” he said. “We’re a senior team. We can go, ‘Hey, we can slow this down. We’ve got this. This is how we’re going to close it out.’ ”

Schmetzer said, in the end, the entire group – and the coaching staff – had to be more disciplined and focused and do a better job of controlling the game’s pace once they had the lead. Instead, the Earthquakes had chances to win the game in extra time, and only a Stefan Frei save late off a point-blank strike from Urena helped the Sounders emerge with a lone point.

Sounders midfielder Osvaldo Alonso, who had one of the strongest all-around games of any player from either side, said the draw was a bitter pill after Lodeiro’s go-ahead marker so late.

“It is what it is and we have to move forward,” he said.

The Sounders play Fredy Montero and the Vancouver Whitecaps on Friday at BC Place Stadium. And though the Vancouver side is off to just a 1-3-1 start, the Sounders know some exceptional occurrences — the distractions of CONCACAF Champions League play and a blizzard in Colorado during a loss there last weekend — have likely contributed.

Alonso said the Sounders, now 1-1-3, have to play a technically sound game in B.C. and not repeat some of what happened in San Jose.

“Our mentality is to play the same game, whether we play here or away.”