RENTON – The Seattle Sounders start the homestretch of their MLS season with a potentially treacherous run of three games in eight days, starting with a home match against the LA Galaxy. The Sounders are coming off of a very strong run in the Leagues Cup that included a pretty definitive 3-0 win over Inter Miami in the final, and have only lost once in their last 15 matches.
The meeting with the Galaxy is setting to be about as much of a potential trap game as any game can be. As Head Coach Brian Schmetzer put it after training, “the Galaxy's a dangerous team because they're going to have a bunch of young guys, they have nothing to lose.” The Sounders are going to do their best to avoid falling into that trap, though. The team recognizes the opportunity they have, and will make sure that they’re not caught overlooking an opponent. "If we have even one sniff of being complacent or, you know, not playing up to our level? Well, then that's shame on us,” Schmetzer said.
Seattle is well poised to make the most of this run to the playoffs. Not only have they been in fantastic form, but they’re going to be able to use a busy week to integrate important players returning from injury. Just about everyone was fully involved in training, with only Ryan Kent and Paul Arriola fully unavailable. Perhaps most surprising was Jordan Morris’s full participation in training. While Schmetzer had previously suggested that Morris was close to returning, but might not be available until the game on Tuesday against Miami, that timeline has moved up by a few days. “He's gonna be available for selection,” said Schmetzer, confirming that the DP striker could potentially make his return against a Galaxy team that he’s found lots of joy against over the course of his career.
Albert Rusnak and Joao Paulo were both full participants, which serves to both add more top-end talent to the group and make an already incredibly deep team even deeper. But that boost in talent and depth poses a difficult challenge for Schmetzer and the coaching staff.
Who starts, who comes off the bench, who they replace and when they replace them are all complicated decisions, but "it's a group discussion with the coaching staff,” explained Schmetzer. "We're going to review the film pretty heavily. We'll look at the next opponent, but the majority of the decision making now through the end of the season is going to be, you know, just the trust that I have in the guys, the comfort in the way we play, some of those things will really kind of narrow my focus.” The Sounders are getting back some of their best players, but those players will need to compete for their spots as the teammates who have stepped up in their absence have made strong cases to start of their own. "I think everybody has shown throughout the year, all the players have shown that they can participate and they can play the way we want. I just have to make some hard decisions as to who I think is, you know, going to be the guys that play down the stretch."
Back from abroad
Bolstering the confidence and atmosphere in the squad is the return of players from national team duty. Cristian Roldan, in particular, came back to Seattle having put in a strong showing with the USMNT.
"I feel like guys have come back from international duty sharper,” said Roldan following training. "You know, the speed of play's a little faster, right? The physicality, guys are far more athletic. So getting back into the team, you know, you're in rhythm, right? Like a lot of the guys had five days off, I was training, right.” That rhythm and increased sharpness should help to further bolster the squad as they push on to secure home field advantage in the playoffs. "So it's, you know, a beautiful thing where if you can stay in rhythm you feel good, you feel sharp on the ball, you bring the leadership skills that you saw in camp. You know, the different coaching styles, right? Like you see all those things and you absorb it as much as possible, you bring it back to Seattle, and you bring some of that different style into the club. And so I'm excited. Hopefully I can add a little bit of what I saw, the experiences that I had into the Sounders."
Injury update
While the injury news was largely positive, Schmetzer did elaborate on where Ryan Kent is in his return from injury. "Ryan Kent looks good, but don't be deceived,” said Schmetzer. "It was a tendon injury, so he can jog, but it's the full out sprinting that's gonna take him a little bit more. He's still a ways off, but he's looked good."
