SANDY, Utah – It’s 1 vs. 2 in the Western Conference at Rio Tinto Stadium as Sounders FC travels to meet Real Salt Lake on Saturday afternoon. Despite missing Obafemi Martins to suspension and Marco Pappa with a slight hamstring strain, Seattle will field a dangerous lineup against second-place RSL.
In place of Martins will be Kenny Cooper, who is fresh off a stellar performance in the U.S. Open Cup semifinal when he notched two goals and two assists in a 6-0 win over the Chicago Fire on Wednesday. Cooper has three goals and four assists on the season and is making his first league start since July 5. He will pair with Clint Dempsey at forward.
In the midfield, Brad Evans remains in the starting lineup on the right side of midfield with Lamar Neagle on the left and a central pair of Osvaldo Alonso and Gonzalo Pineda.
On the back line, Zach Scott and Chad Marshall will start in the middle with DeAndre Yedlin on the right and Leo Gonzalez on the left. Stefan Frei, who has two shutouts this week in league and Open Cup play, will start in goal.
Kickoff is scheduled for 11:30 am PT on NBC Sports Network.
Sounders FC XI – Stefan Frei, DeAndre Yedlin, Chad Marshall, Zach Scott, Leo Gonzalez, Brad Evans, Osvaldo Alonso, Gonzalo Pineda, Lamar Neagle, Clint Dempsey, Kenny Cooper.
