TUKWILA, Wash. — The Seattle Sounders’ next challenge in the Audi 2016 MLS Cup Playoffs is vastly different than their last.
Seattle defeated an FC Dallas team in the conference semifinals that was second in the West in goals scored and posed multiple legitimate scoring threats. FCD played creatively and was dangerous off the dribble and in the air, and as talented offensively as any team in Major League Soccer this season.
It came as no surprise, then, that when head coach Oscar Pareja trotted his team out in an unusual 5-3-2 defensive-minded formation in the first leg on the road in Seattle, things did not go according to plan. FC Dallas did not know how to hunker down effectively and were burned for three goals — two came on counterattacks from midfield — in an eight-minute span that ultimately sunk them.
This Colorado Rapids team is wired differently.
The Sounders’ opponent in the Western Conference Championship is built for defense. Colorado allowed a league-low 32 goals in 34 matches this season and feature blue-collar midfielders ahead of a bullish back line all coached by bruising former U.S. national team and Rapids midfielder Pablo Mastroeni.
“Sam Cronin, Mike Azira, Jermaine Jones are three hardworking midfielders,” said Sounders midfielder Cristian Roldan. “They get into a lot of tackles, they create a lot of fouls. Their fitness levels are very high and their soccer IQs are even better.”
The Rapids won’t have a defensive breakdown like FC Dallas did. The Sounders scored just once in the teams’ two meetings this season – the Rapids won both of those – and they allowed more than one goal just seven times this season.
The Sounders will need to be far more tactical and precise with their execution in the final third to manufacture offense and test Colorado’s defensive mettle, even as it enters without goalkeeper Tim Howard, who will miss the rest of the playoffs after having surgery to repair a fractured right adductor longus.
But Seattle isn’t expecting Colorado to just pack it in entirely either.
“Colorado has gained some deserved notoriety for being the best defensive team in our league this year,” said Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer. “But they have some attacking weapons and we can’t forget about that.
“We like [Kevin] Doyle. He’s a good No. 9 for me.”
An Irish international now in his second season with the club, Doyle scored six goals and added two more assists in 26 matches this season, but he may need to shoulder the offensive load in the first leg on Tuesday, Nov. 22 (7 p.m. PT; FS1, KIRO Radio 97.3 FM, El Rey 1360AM). Fellow forward Shkelzen Gashi, who scored the equalizer for Colorado in the conference semifinals, is doubtful for the first leg against Seattle on Nov. 22 with an ankle injury.
Schmetzer mentioned on Tuesday that his team is going to come out attacking and stick to its identity that has gotten it this far. Replicating the result against FC Dallas in the first leg at CenturyLink Field would be a good start.
“The good thing is that our first game is home,” said Roldan. “After this week break, we’re able to play at home and not travel. For me, that’s a little more of an advantage, but at the same time if we don’t take care of business it’s not.”
