According to his teammates and coaches, Freddie Ljungberg has been doing it all season. This week, his contributions were finally recognized with the MLS Player of the Week Award. With two assists, the Seattle Sounders FC midfielder posted arguably his best game of the season this past weekend as the expansion team clinched its spot in the postseason.
Boxscore aficionados might have been underwhelmed by the Swede's contributions of late, as Ljungberg did not have an assist or goal to his name in league play since July 11 against Houston. However, with Fredy Montero struggling through a rare off-day, the other Freddie picked up the slack and instigated all three Seattle goals.
Ljungberg came away from the match with two official assists, but he also set up the first goal with a heads-up corner kick. Seeing Kansas City goalkeeper Kevin Hartman cheating off his line, Ljungberg swung in a low, curving ball that threatened to sneak in the near post. Hartman sprang back to parry the ball away, but Seattle's Tyrone Marshall was there to punch in the rebound.
He set up Roger Levesque for the second goal and his industry created the third and final goal, which turned out to be the game-winner. Ljungberg stripped the ball from K.C.'s Matt Besler and strolled in, finding Nate Jaqua in front of the empty net for the easy conversion.
"He's been doing it all season. He's the type of guy, when push comes to shove, he'll get the job done," said Levesque. "He brings that attitude to our team and it's infectious throughout the team -- seeing him go out there and work harder than anyone else on the field is pretty amazing. He pulls the rest of us along with him."
Ljungberg also provided the final pass for two more great chances which were nearly converted: a saved header from Montero and a chip off the crossbar from Steve Zakuani.
The assists are an indication of the growing comfort the designated player is developing with his teammates and his role on the team. Ljungberg has fallen into a nice groove the playmaker role that the Seattle front office brought him in to fill.
Seattle coach Sigi Schmid wishes the expansion team had 20 more games to continue develop cohesion amongst the group, as he believes the team is starting to more fully develop an understanding between individual players.
"It's like I have said all season, the more and more you play together and the more and more you play games as a unit with guys in certain positions it becomes better and better," Schmid said. "It becomes more understandable for the guys to know where guys are going to show up and on what parts of the field.
"I think the guys have a better feeling of where Freddie [Ljungberg] is going to show up. Freddie has a better feel of when he is going to get the ball and when he should appear at certain spots on the field. That's just something that comes with time."
Even after suffering from two migraines, a bout of hypoglycemia, and offseason hip surgery over the course of this season, Ljungberg is hitting his stride with the playoffs just around the corner. While Ljungberg's energy has never been questioned, his teammates are happy to see his work rewarded on the scoresheet.
"I think he's done extremely well all season long. He was very good in the Kansas City game," Jaqua said. "He can keep doing that, setting people up, being our playmaker, and being creative. I don't see any reason why he wouldn't keep doing that; he's been doing it all season."
Andrew Winner is a contributor to MLSnet.com
