Sounders need forwards to get with it

The Seattle Sounders’ forwards are in something of a funk, and they’d love nothing more that to break out with a couple of goals tonight.

Fortunately for the likes of Fredy Montero, Michael Fucito and Nate Jaqua, tonight could be a good night for a breakthrough.

Seattle’s opponent, Tor

onto FC, has allowed more goals this season (25) than any team in Major League Soccer, including three to Sounders FC in the two teams’ April meeting. And while Seattle would gladly take goal scoring from any position, getting a goal or two from its forwards would be especially rewarding.

Sounders FC has played nearly seven full games since Montero’s seventh-minute goal against Columbus, and while Seattle scored six goals over those next six games, none came from the position that generally is supposed to do the scoring.

“It’s frustrating, for sure, because we want to score,” said Fucito, who has started four straight games after spending the early part of the season as a reserve. “Fredy’s used to scoring, I’m used to scoring. We’ve done well to get the chances, it’s just that last little bit of seeing that hit the net. It’s definitely frustrating, because we want to score more than anyone.”

Starting the year, forward looked like a position of strength and depth for Seattle. Montero, the team’s leading scorer over the first two seasons, was back, as was fellow designated player Blaise Nkufo, who was a big contributor to Seattle’s strong second half in 2010. Newly acquired O’Brian White figured to provide depth along with Jaqua and Fucito.

Nkufo surprisingly left just before the start of the season, but White appeared to be a strong replacement in the starting lineup, scoring two goals early in the season. However, a blood clot sidelined White in April and he’s still not back.

Montero was lost briefly with a broken wrist. More recently, he was held out of the starting lineup in back-to-back games after head coach Sigi Schmid was critical of his play in a loss to Dallas.

Montero returned to the lineup against Vancouver last weekend, but again, both he and Fucito were kept off the score sheet. Montero obviously didn’t enjoy his time off, but said that was Schmid’s right to sit him.

“The only person who can make the decision about who is going to be in the starting 11 is the coach,” he said through a translator. “So it’s our responsibility to train hard and do our best in practice, and be ready when the call comes.”

General manager Adrian Hanauer said his team could be looking when the summer transfer window opens July 15, and that forward could be a position of interest.

Even if help doesn’t come from the outside, the players currently on the roster believe it’s only a matter of time before their production picks up. Fucito, after all, has been dangerous at times and is unlucky not to have a goal or two, and Montero showed signs of improvement in his return from the benching. White should also return sometime this summer.

“We’ve done well to create chances, and if things bounce our way a little bit,” Fucito said. “… I think once one comes, then there are going to be a lot more. It will happen, I promise.”

Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com.