Sounders hope to have Obafemi Martins back next week

Obafemi Martins was a somewhat surprising scratch from Saturday's lineup against FC Dallas, but the Seattle Sounders are at least hopeful that the quadriceps injury won't be a longterm concern.

"We're hoping he should be back next week," Sounders head coach Sigi Schmid said after the 0-0 tie. "He took a knock in the game against Tijuana (on Tuesday). We were hoping it would respond -- that's why we only had 17 out here because we were hoping to get him out here for the game -- but it didn't respond in time."

Including Martins, the Sounders were forced to use a lineup missing arguably their five most important players. Marco Pappa was on international duty while Clint Dempsey, Osvaldo Alonso and Chad Marshall all stayed in Seattle to receive treatment for various injuries. All five may be back for next Saturday's home match against the Houston Dynamo.

In Martins' place, the Sounders started Chad Barrett as a lone forward. Barrett had at least two outstanding looks on goal, but he flashed an open header wide and then put a one-on-one chance wide as well.