Gustav Svensson will likely miss one more game

Gustav Svensson will almost certainly miss Friday’s scheduled match against Los Angeles FC, Seattle Sounders GM and President of Soccer Garth Lagerwey said on Tuesday. Svensson has already missed the Sounders’ past three games after joining Sweden for their recent UEFA Nations League games. Although Svensson only played a total of 44 minutes and returned to the United States on Sept. 8, he is currently under a mandated 10-day quarantine.

Theoretically, that quarantine will end on Friday, but since Svensson has not been able to train with the team in the meantime, it’s highly unlikely he’d feature in the match.

“We knew when he left he might not be available for the next game,” Lagerwey said during his appearance on Sounders Weekly.

The Sounders have gone 2-1-1 in the four matches Svensson has missed this year, but went just 3-6-4 in matches he didn’t start in 2019. Their most recent 7-1 win over the San Jose Earthquakes was probably the most dominating in club history. If Svensson is out, we will likely see a reprise of the João Paulo-Cristian Roldan pairing in the defensive midfield.

In the Earthquakes game, João Paulo was the more attack-oriented player while Roldan sat a bit deeper. Roldan seemed to enjoy moving back to a position in which he’s a bit more comfortable.

“It’s something that we didn’t train all year just because of availability,” Roldan said during Sounders Weekly. “In the end, I thought João and myself were a pretty good pair.

“I had to hold my ground, we had a good rhythm and understood each other well. I’m looking forward to playing alongside him. He’s just a pleasure to watch and see first hand.”