We get to play a team that 1) is lower in the standings than us, 2) has as many or more injuries than us, and 3) has fewer points per game than us. Easy win!
Seattle Sounders v Real Salt Lake CenturyLink Field (3PM MT) REF: BALDOMERO TOLEDO AR1: APOLINAR MARISCAL AR2: JEFF HOSKING 4TH: MALIK BADAWI VAR: SILVIU PETRESCU I don't remember to good of a history with him as the center, but I also remember that Seattle fans don't think to much of him either. I would like to see a Dempsey flip out in person, That is where I have regulated my hopes for this game.
Future Headline Sounders Bounce Back against Woeful RSL. To add insult to injury Royals’ trainer tears hamstring while attending to his duties.
Toledo has improved over the years. He still likes to make it all about himself though. If the Sounders fans start giving him a bad time it could be good for us. The potential is there for that PK or 11v10 occurance that we seem to need to garner a result.
Matt Doyle's preview of the week includes this blurb: It's becoming more and more apparent by the week that Kyle Beckerman and Damir Kreilach can not play together without getting carved up because neither has any kind of footspeed. If this was circa 2013 RSL – a team that kept the game small and tight, that constantly used the ball to create angles and meaningful possession – they could probably pull it off. But that's not how they play. They're a "spread the field and run at 'em" team when they have the ball, which means any turnover is an existential crisis. And while it's undeniably true that RSL aren't 2013 RSL, it's undeniably-er true that MLS isn't 2013 MLS. Teams are better and smarter and even the bottom of the barrel can go HAM if you don't track through the midfield. So I'm thinking keep an eye on Magnus Wolff Eikrem or Cristian Roldan bursting out of midfield and into space for Seattle. So basically what we've all been saying - that it's baffling that Petke keeps starting these two every week, despite it very obviously not working. That said, I fully expect that they'll be starting again tomorrow.
Kreilach was brought in to support the attack, which he does, so Petke isn’t going to sit him. The real question is why not sit KB? There are only 2 feasible answers that I can think of: 1) Petke thinks no one else, including Sunny, can do better. 2) Petke has been strongly discouraged by someone high up to not bench KB.
Until otherwise indicated by the team I expect nothing less than a proper beat down by the Sounders today. As much as I hate to say it and as much as I hate the Sounders expecting anything else is just crazy talk.
I'll be there to watch in-person, but I'd be surprised by a beat-down by the Flounders. They are about as pathetic as RSL and (sadly) Dempsey is over-the-hill like KB. Hopefully the match will be a better result than the Vancouver beat-down I sent to was...
Holy crap, some lineup changes! Acosta, Sunny, and Saucedo into the XI in place of Ruiz, Kreilach, and the injured Plata.
So we get to go from watching the UEFA final to this? Should be interesting. So what did we learn from watching the UEFA final? Have a player on your team, like say a Sergio Ramos, take out the best player on the other team "accidentally". Should work out just fine.
Just finished watching Champions League with a coworker, and hoping I'm buzzed enough to stomach the drop in quality. #embratsu #rsltid
That wasn't the first near-catastrophe of our passing in and around the back, as before Kyle's bad touch there was one from Sunny, both times with no cover at all.
Several minutes against a ten-man Sounders team sees us (happily) under no pressure and (unhappily) unable to make any sort of approach into Seattle's half.
This game feels so much like the last few in which the opponent keeps knocking on the door. Eventually, they will bust through.