The Seattle Sounders and Columbus Crew each began their season among the usual suspects of Major League Soccer contenders, but both broke from the gate badly.
Seven games in, Columbus hopes it has righted itself, while the Sounders are still searching.
The Crew arrives at CenturyLink Field on Saturday afternoon with confidence from back-to-back wins, while Seattle is coming off of a 3-1 loss at Colorado last weekend. Coach Sigi Schmid said it was his team’s worst performance of the season. It stopped a three-game unbeaten run, but several Sounders were unimpressed with their play even during that positive streak.
“I think if you look at those past three or four games we’ve not been very good,” defender Tyrone Mears said. “We got results, but we’ve not been very good. I think at the start of the season we were playing very well, but not getting the results. It’s finding that balance now.”
Combining the good and the bad, the fair and the unfair, the Sounders come into this match 2-4-1 and in ninth place in the 10-team Western Conference.
Eastern Conference defending champion Columbus is 2-3-2 and just below the playoff red line in seventh place. However, while the Sounders are still seeking their spark, the Crew believe they might have found something in back-to-back home wins against New York City and Houston.
“In the beginning of the year we may not have won the games, but the important thing is that now everything is going well,” defender Waylon Francis told ColumbusCrewSC.com. “We are doing a great job switching the ball from side to side. I think that is going to be very important in Seattle is we want to play and win that type of game.”
Schmid, who coached Columbus to the MLS Cup in 2008, agrees.
“They’re a good team,” he said. “They’ve gotten off to a slow start, but they’re a team that likes to possess the ball, likes to spread the field, and likes to put their players in. They rely a lot on their pace up front with (Justin) Meram and (Ethan) Finlay and (Kei) Kamara. They look for (Federico) Higuain to knock those guys in.”
For whatever else has gone wrong this season, these teams arrive as the top two teams in the league in terms of passing accuracy: Columbus first, and Seattle right behind.
Schmid is happy about that, but cautions that possession is only a means to an end.
“Obviously keeping the ball and holding onto the ball is something that we always try and do,” Schmid said. “At the end of the day, we’ve got to be dangerous as well. I think over the last few games we’ve increased that part of it. I think we’ve let ourselves down at the other end of the field.”
Seattle’s attack should get a boost from the expected return of forwards Clint Dempsey and Nelson Valdez, who each missed the Colorado match with injuries.
“They’re both very good players,” said homegrown rookie Jordan Morris, who has moved to the top of Seattle’s scoring race with goals in each of the last two matches. “So when they’re not there you’re going to notice that. They’re both two good players going forward, and when Clint’s in there, he helps create.”
However, the Sounders will be without captain and central defender Brad Evans, who will serve a one-game suspension after picking up two yellow cards late against the Rapids.
Veteran Zach Scott is expected to step in.
“Over the years (Scott has) done a lot of work in terms of improving his passing, improving his technical play,” Schmid said. “He’s a much better player with the ball than he’s ever been. He’s an experienced player. But he’s a guy that you know you can rely upon, and he’s always been that from day one. He’s still a competitor.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
