Sounders FC finished up a short week of training in Seattle on Wednesday afternoon. The team is preparing for its second match on the road in just as many weeks as the Rave Green goes to Columbus for its third Eastern Conference matchup of the season. Seattle is currently undefeated against Eastern opponents, but the team will meet a Columbus Crew SC side that is looking to redeem itself after suffering its first loss since March.
To preview this week’s match, SoundersFC.com spoke with Neil Sika of Columbus’ Time Warner Cable SportsChannel broadcast team. Sika served as the play-by-play announcer for the club’s radio broadcasts for the last eight seasons before joining Dwight Burgess in front of the camera for 2015. Sika has worked nationally for Time Warner Cable, the Big Ten Network, ESPN3 and Sirius XM’s coverage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Dangerman
Federico Higuain is always at the top of that list. Kei Kamara has also had an excellent start in his reintroduction to a Crew career. Higuain is always the guy that makes the engine run, though. He makes the midfielders better and now he has a guy up top [Kamara] that can move and is as fluid as he is. Kamara can go out in the channels, get into the penalty area and really hold the ball up. It’s a threat that they just didn’t have last season.
Teams game plan around Higuain and rightly so, but Kamara adds another element. They had hard workers last season, but Kamara is a big personality that adds to their locker room. He’s been at the top of his game since he came back.
Who To Keep An Eye On
Justin Meram and Ethan Finlay had breakout seasons last year and they’re just starting to get back into the groove of their good play. Finlay had player of the week two weeks ago and Meram has picked-up 13 games with the Iraqi National Team. He’s been great both offensively and defensively.
Mohammed Saeid has been very good adapting to a new role while Wil Trapp is out injured. He’s had to adjust on the fly to play a more defensively midfield position that he wasn’t as familiar with. He’s solid in that role despite not being as tall as others on the team.
Favorite Stat of the Season
This team’s hallmark is ball possession and passing efficiency. They’re right at the top of the league in those categories. They’re extremely effective in the opponent’s final third. The Crew runs off the ability to be able to keep possession of the ball, pass it well and unlock defenses. They are doing that if you look at the numbers. The team can see that their system is being effective right now.
They have had a few losses where they played good teams and were punished for small mistakes. Overall, they have been playing well.
Quality Over Quantity?
With Seattle’s attacking players up top, Saeid needs to communicate well with his centerbacks as they deal with where Martins goes. The best way for them to deal with Seattle’s attack is to just keep possession of the ball.
Over the last few years when these teams have met, they have been very entertaining. Columbus has actually played its best in Seattle. They have never beaten the Sounders at home so this weekend they’ll be looking to do that. After their performance in D.C., they’ll want a win. They had an undefeated April. It should be a great match.
CLBvSEA Matchups to Watch
Saeid and the defensive midfield have to keep an eye on Dempsey and Martins. The centerbacks need to contain them.
Besides that, I’m interested to see how much space does Higuan get to roam with [Osvaldo] Alonso and [Gonzalo] Pineda watching him. That might force Kamara to come back and help him in the midfield.
Both sides of the midfield are vital and that’s what I’m going to be watching for the most this weekend.
