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The Sounders will be much closer to full strength against the Whitecaps, with coach Sigi Schmid announcing that Clint Dempsey, Djimi Traore and Obafemi Martins will all be available, Joshua Mayers of the Seattle Times reported on Tuesday.
The lingering nature of Dempsey's hamstring injury almost was a boon for the Sounders, as the injury kept Jurgen Klinsman from calling up Dempsey for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers. The Sounders should enjoy his presence on the attack with both Eddie Johnson and Brad Evans receiving national call ups.
According to Mayers, it looks like it will be a glass half full scenario as the Sounders try and erase the nasty Colorado loss with a Cascadia win over the Whitecaps. Dempsey looks close to a sure thing for Wednesday night, and both Martins and Traore felt fine on Monday and trained on Tuesday.
"Djimi (Traore) came through yesterday all right and trained today, so we think he's available for tomorrow," Schmid said. "(Obafemi Martins), same thing: he came through and he's available for us. Clint (Dempsey) will be in the 18 for us, as well."
It isn't all good news on the injury front for the Sounders. There was no update on the status of defender Leo Gonzalez, although Mayers acknowledged that a passing thunderstorm didn't allow for a whole lot of questions. The Sounders will also be missing defender Zach Scott after his red card last Saturday.