Who You’ll Watch

The Seattle Sounders will return to from their brief, cross-country trip to host Orlando City SC for a mid-week clash. The game is scheduled to kickoff at 7:30 PM (another late night start) and will be the only meeting between the two teams during the regular season.

Orlando is currently fourth place of the Eastern Conference (25 points on 16 games played; 1.56 ppg) while the Sounders are currently in eighth place of the Western Conference (19 points on 16 games played; 1.19 ppg).

This will be the third all-time meeting between the clubs. Last season, Seattle went into Orlando and won 3-1 behind a hat-trick from Clint Dempsey after falling behind early. The year prior, Seattle hosted Orlando and won 4-0.

The Sounders are coming off a 2-1 loss to New York City while Orlando drew 3-3 against the Montreal Impact.

Orlando will be without Cyle Larin after he was arrested on a DUI charge last week. Larin leads the team with eight goals and nobody else is within five goals of him.

Orlando notable roster changes:

Out: Luke Boden, Kevin Molino, Brek Shea

In: Donny Toia, Will Johnson, Josh Saunders, Giles Barnes, Luis Gil

Current Form:

Orlando: L-L-W-D-D with five goals scored and seven conceded.

Top Scorer: Larin, eight goals

Assist Leader: Carlos Rivas, five assists

Seattle: W-W-L-W-L with four goals scored and five conceded.

Injuries:

Orlando: They have nobody listed for this game.

Seattle: Both Tony Alfaro (left knee arthroscopy) and Brad Evans (left calf strain) are listed as questionable.

What You’ll Watch

The Lions come to Seattle this week with a bit of baggage—both good and bad. Leading scorer (and one of the best forwards in the league) Cyle Larin was arrested on DUI charges, leaving his team scrambling to produce goals. But they showed that they were not only capable of scoring in their game against Montreal last weekend, but that they also had the resilience to make a late comeback and seal a draw at home.

Orlando hadn’t really been raking in the goals before Larin’s arrest (prior to the Montreal match, they had failed to score in three of their previous four matches). Against Montreal, they found goals from new and unlikely places - such as prodigal defender Jonathan Spector - but they had a hard time keeping the goal out of their own net. A series of deflections and bounces gave the Lions a bit of extra luck against Montreal, but it did little to hide their defensive frailties.

They’ll likely look to Carlos Rivas and Giles Barnes for goals up top, but, considering their away form, the Lions are more likely to bunker down in the hopes of nabbing something off a set piece. Aside from Larin’s eight goals, Kaka and Rivas are tied with three apiece; two of Kaka’s three are from set piece situations. He might not be an assist machine this season so far, but the Brazilian is still one of the best in the league when taking a direct free kick. And his technique - well, it’s still pretty damn good.

Force them to defend - Even though Orlando faced one of the most terrifying attackers in MLS in Ignacio Piatti last weekend, their defenders looked pretty inept on more than one occasion. The Lions have played shockingly few away matches so far this season (6), but they’ve only managed four points from the lot. Orlando have conceded 11 goals on the road so far, while only scoring four of their own. With Clint Dempsey and Jordan Morris back in the lineup, the Sounders can’t be afraid to attack the Lions defense as much as possible. Morris can’t be timid in front of goal, because even the slimmest of chances might be able to crack Orlando’s defense.

How to Watch

Date/Time: Wednesday, June 21 7:30 PM

Venue: CenturyLink Field

Television: JOEtv

Radio: KIRO 97.3 FM (English), El Rey 1360 AM (Spanish)