Tall order for Sounders

SEATTLE — The Sounders FC could really use a victory today.

Seattle comfortably won its season opener, but ever since that game, despite showing signs of improvement in its play, Sounders FC is 1-2-3 after falling victim to a lack of goal scoring and, in the case of all three ties, crushing stoppage-time goals.

“It definitely would help with our morale a little bit seeing as we’ve given away a lot of points on the road,” defender Tyrone Marshall said. “And against Columbus we played well enough to get three points, but it’s just those little lapses in concentration that we’ve got to get better on.”

So, yeah, a win would go a long way for a team struggling to get results that match the quality of its play. Unfortunately for Seattle, however, getting that much-needed victory this afternoon requires knocking off the league’s top team, the Los Angeles Galaxy.

L.A., last year’s Major League Soccer runner-up, is off to a 6-0-1 start, has scored more goals (11) and conceded fewer (two) than any team in the league. And all of that is without English star David Beckham, who is out with a torn Achilles’ tendon. The Galaxy may be missing their most recognizable player, but they are more than making up for his absence with the likes of Landon Donovan, last season’s league MVP, and forward Edson Buddle, who with nine goals this season may be on his way to an MVP award.

“Obviously right now they are the top dog in the league,” Sounders FC coach Sigi Schmid said. “They are the premier team. They are the ones who have gotten all of the points so far. So it’s going to be a great challenge for us. We are obviously a little bit the underdogs going in so it’s a chance for our fans to see how we respond to that and how we measure ourselves up against the best team in the league right now.”

Until L.A.’s win over Colorado on Wednesday, Buddle had scored every goal but one for the Galaxy — he had the assist on the other — so he is obviously the player Seattle most needs to contain in order to win. Slowing Buddle, however, needs to start before he gets the ball.

“Obviously he is hot and he is on form. The key for Buddle right now is he doesn’t need many chances to get his goals,” Schmid said. “But obviously any forward lives off service and so we have got to make sure we cut those service lines and keep the ball from getting into him. A lot of the service comes from Landon Donovan, so we have got to contain Donovan.”

Marshall, who played for L.A. until he was traded, oddly enough, for Buddle in 2007, is looking forward to facing his old team, and to the challenge of stopping Buddle. Even if Buddle is on a hot streak right now, Marshall said Seattle can’t make drastic changes just to slow him down.

“You just have to play your game, make sure you keep a body on him, know where he’s at at all times,” Marshall said. “Watching the games over the past couple of matches he’s played, he seems to be peeling off of defenders, getting free. If you look at a lot of his goals that he’s scored, he peels away from the defender. It’s just a matter of us being aware of where he’s at at all times, even if the ball is out wide. You can’t give him a free opportunity on goal. Whoever is closest has to be challenging him.”

Fucito on injured reserve

Sounders FC placed midfielder/forward Michael Fucito on injured reserve Friday because of a right knee contusion. Fucito, a second-year player from Harvard, must sit out at least six games, meaning he is eligible to return for Seattle’s June 27 game in Philadelphia. Fucito has appeared in two games this season, both times coming on as a second-half sub. He scored the game-winning goal in stoppage time in a 1-0 victory over Kansas City last month.

Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com.