Dejan Joveljic tallied twice in his Seattle Sounders debut in a 2-2 draw with the visiting Chicago Fire on Saturday afternoon.
Maren Haile-Selassie and Robert Lewandowski each had a goal and an assist for Chicago (11-6-4, 37 points), which extended its MLS unbeaten run to five matches (4-0-1).
The Sounders (7-9-5, 26 points) have earned two straight ties after an eight-match losing streak.
Leading 2-1, the Sounders had a chance to put the match away in the 82nd minute on an odd-man rush, but Fire defender Jack Elliott made a sliding block to stop a shot by Albert Rusnak from 15 yards out.
The Fire tied it at 2-2 on the counterattack. Haile-Selassie fed Puso Dithejane for a run to the end line on the right wing. His cross found Lewandowski just outside the far post and he contorted his body in mid-air before putting a header just inside the near post as Seattle goalkeeper Andrew Thomas was only able to look on.
Joveljic, acquired Tuesday from Sporting Kansas City in a $6 million deal, opened the scoring in the 12th minute. Following a throw-in on the left side of the field, the Sounders switched and moved the ball down the right wing, with Kalani Kossa-Rienzi sending a pass to Sebastian Gomez deep in the corner. Gomez’s low cross found Joveljic just outside the top of the 6-yard box and his one-timer skirted through the legs of Elliott and turned goalie Chris Brady into a pretzel as he crumpled to the turf.
The Fire tied it at 1-all in the 38th minute. Lewandowski took a pass from Andrew Gutman at the top left of the penalty area and fed Haile-Selassie, whose 17-yard shot from just left of center found the lower far corner of the net.
Joveljic scored again in the 48th minute. He took a pass from Rusnak just outside the top of the 18-yard box and lofted a shot that Brady got his fingertips on but the ball went off the underside of the crossbar and into the net. Snyder Brunell was credited with a secondary assist.
Thomas made a diving save on a shot by Jonathan Bamba at the right post in the final seconds of second-half stoppage time to preserve the draw.
–Field Level Media
