Sounders Face Massive Balancing Act In Coming Weeks

There's a rather big game coming up tomorrow. The Seattle Sounders wil, of course, be hosting the LA Galaxy in a midweek affair that won't get the attention it probably deserves. The unfortunate reality is that this rather huge game, at least from a psyche standpoint, is smack dab in the middle of the busiest part of the Sounders' MLS schedule.

As we all know, the Sounders' only wins over the Galaxy in the past two seasons have come in U.S. Open Cup play. While those certainly count, it's an unavoidable reality that the Sounders have managed just a single point against the Galaxy in their past six matches during MLS play (0-5-1, including playoffs) and have been outscored 11-1. In fact, the Galaxy are the only MLS team the Sounders haven't beaten at least once in MLS play during the past two seasons. They are also just one of two against whom the Sounders have a losing record the past two years (coincidentally, the other team is the Philadelphia Union who the Sounders play on Saturday).

I bring this all up because this is really when the Sounders will have to start making some hard decisions about roster rotation.

Here's how I see it going down this week:

vs. LA Galaxy: From the sound of it, the Sounders are approaching this as the big game of the week. I have a feeling we'll see Mauro Rosales start, at least. Eddie Johnson and Adam Johansson probably out, though, after both essentially played the entire game on Saturday. I'm guessing Alvaro Fernandez is available off the bench.

Projected lineup: Gspurning; Gonzalez, Parke, JKH, Scott; Estrada, Alonso, Evans, Rosales; Montero, Ochoa.

vs. Union: There's no way Rosales plays in this game if he plays on Wednesday, which is probably for the best. Johansson should be back, though, as should Johnson and Patrick Ianni.

Projected lineup: Gspurning; Burch, Parke, Ianni, Johansson; Fernandez, Alonso, Evans, Estrada; Montero, Johnson.

What do you think?