The MLS Reserve League is petering to a close. Tonight's match against the San Jose Earthquakes doesn't mean anything in any standings (Seattle has already won the MLS Western Reserve Division), but it does give Sigi Schmid an opportunity to see a few of his players on the deep bench. The Seattle Sounders have 6 available outfield players who have played in 4 or fewer MLS matches.
Tonight's opportunity for players like Sammy Ochoa, David Estrada, Michael Tetteh and Amadou Sanyang will help the decision making process for 2012 as well as give them chances to pop into the remaining MLS and CCL matches. For players that are regularly in the 18 but not often playing their opportunity is to show that the deserve minutes. Josh Ford and Bryan Meredith likely continue their eternal battle for supremacy. It would surprise no one if they each put in 45 minutes.
For San Jose Puget Sound locals Joey Gjersten and Ellis McLoughlin are in the lineups.
| Ochoa | Jaqua | |||
| Tetteh | Estrada | |||
| Seamon | ||||
| Scott | Carrasco | Levesque | ||
| Ianni | Graham | |||
| Ford |
San Jose Earthquakes – Andrew Webber, Tim Ward, Taylor Mueller, Chris Leitch, Jacob Peterson, Ellis McLoughlin, Brad Ring, Jake Nicholson, Joey Gjertsen, Max Griffin, Matt Luzanaris.
Substitutes Not Used: David Bingham, Milton Blanco.
And yes, that's 6 Academy players on the bench.
Seattle Sounders FC – Josh Ford, Roger Levesque, Taylor Graham, Patrick Ianni, Zach Scott, David Estrada, Servando Carrasco, Michael Seamon, Michael Tetteh, Sammy Ochoa, Nate Jaqua.
Substitutes Not Used: Bryan Meredith, Ike Crook, Aaron Kovar, Ian Lange, Dominique Dismuke, Jim Oganga, Austin Sweeney.