If there’s any mantra the Seattle Sounders have used to carry them through the last two weeks, it’s not a hard one to parcel out.
The season is long. Now’s no time to panic.
After beginning the competitive calendar year with a 2-2 draw against Club América, the Sounders have lost their last two, one in Mexico City and the MLS opener against Sporting Kansas City last weekend. Both came with caveats.
The first of course dealt with altitude, a fiercely competitive América side and the irascible atmosphere at the Estadio Azteca.
The second? A match played down a man for an hour. Seattle was dominated in Mexico. It perhaps felt it could’ve earned the point in Seattle. Such is soccer.
The hunt for points continues in Utah this weekend with a Saturday afternoon tilt against Real Salt Lake (1 p.m. PT; Joetv/KIRO 97.3 FM/El Rey 1360 AM), still patching their wounds from a brutal 2-2 draw in Orlando. The home side scored twice in the last 60 seconds to escape certain doom and send RSL packing with a point. They deserved all three. Again, such is soccer.
From that standpoint, both teams enter the arena on Saturday with a point to prove. Real Salt Lake played nearly a half hour down a man and managed to limit Orlando City’s danger until late, but there are pointed questions swirling around the competency of its back line. For one, Real Salt Lake are still leaning heavily on the production of Jamison Olave, who turns 35 next month and is clearly not the player he was five years ago. Back then, he was arguably the top center back in MLS. Now, he’s still quality but struggling to keep the pace.
That’s more or less the story for Real Salt Lake’s core. Kyle Beckerman turns 34 in April. Javier Morales is newly 36. Real Salt Lake coach Jeff Cassar can hide Morales higher upfield, but Beckerman is still tasked with covering scads of ground to bust up attacks. He’s still among the most efficient defensive midfielders in the league, but as far as his tracking is concerned, he’s been better.
All that to say, Real Salt Lake have a decent enough defense, but there are cracks in the foundation an enterprising attack can exploit. The question from Seattle’s perspective isn’t on that side of the field. It’s whether it can keep its own back line intact.
As of earlier this week, we already know Brad Evans is a scratch for this weekend. Evans landed awkwardly on his shoulder against Sporting Kansas City, and he won’t play on Saturday. That likely thrusts veteran Zach Scott into his space in central defense. No Román Torres. No Evans. No Oniel Fisher.
The key with Scott from Seattle’s perspective is to force him to avoid recovery work. Scott is still a fine heads-up, one-on-one defender, and if the play is to his front, Seattle has nothing to worry about. The trouble comes when Scott gets turned. The more Seattle can shield Scott from defending in space and from getting into foot races, the better.
What should help is the expected returns of right back Tyrone Mears and defensive midfielder Erik Friberg. Mears missed the Sporting Kansas City match with a quad tweak, and Friberg missed it after suffering a head injury in the second leg against América. Friberg cleared his league-mandated concussion protocol on Wednesday and could return Saturday. With Fisher suspended for his red card, Sounders coach Sigi Schmid is certainly hope Mears is ready to roll on the right, as well.
Seattle was hoping to avoid these injury woes so early. In 2015, Seattle didn’t start the same lineup in back-to-back games once after the opening week of the season, and it was clear in the early going in 2016 that Schmid had settled on a first choice lineup. It has already been shuffled by circumstance, mostly at the back. Not exactly where you want to be on your first road trip of 2016 needing your first points of 2016.
If there’s any silver lining - and there is - the attack is hungry. After scoring four goals in two games against América, the front line was shut out for the first time this year against Sporting Kansas City following Fisher’s red. Another week of fitness and a fully healthy cadre of forwards won’t hurt matters.
The broader question may be what Schmid opts to do with his most dangerous attacking weapon. Clint Dempsey has been marooned on the left so far this year in his 4-3-3. There’s an argument to be made that it’s helped the attack as a whole, but it certainly hasn’t put Dempsey in and around the box with any regularity. Both of his goals in the América series came off set pieces: one from his own foot and another off a header from a free kick. In the run of play, he’s been disconnected at times, and whether Schmid opts to swap him with center forward Nelson Valdez or switch the lineup entirely remains to be seen.
To that end, we’ll get to see Schmid’s 4-3-3 on the road in MLS for the first time. Does he stay the course or alter the pattern entirely? On such things do seasons rest. The good news is this one still has a long way to go.
