This has not been a good season for Seattle Sounders 2, but last week their misfortune reached a new level. They lost twice while playing against 10 men and two of their leaders, on and off the field, were injured, one for the rest of the season. Now they are set to face off against the Western Conference’s top side, Real Monarchs SLC, in Sandy Utah. The Monarchs have not lost at Rio Tinto this season and have only drawn once and S2 are 2-4-1 -4 all time against them. S2 will be hoping to pull off a huge upset in Utah, but ultimately this match will be a measure of S2’s mental toughness and (hopefully growing) maturity and the result will be somewhat irrelevant.

The question is whether there is a player on S2 who can fill the on field leadership void left by the injuries to Francisco Narbón and Ray Saari. The obvious player to watch would be Sam Rogers, who has held the position of Co-Captiain (with Saari) since the beginning of the season but he is currently with the US U20s so it will be a couple of weeks before it is seen if he can start to take up the mantle. The other candidate is David Estrada, but he has indicated that S2 is a team that belongs to the younger players. It will be interesting to see if another of the younger players steps out of the shadows to galvanize the struggling side.

Regardless of leader it will be imperative for S2 to be defensively organized against a dangerous Monarchs offense. Their most dangerous goal scorer is former MLS player Chandler Hoffman nut the task will not be as simple as stopping him. The Monarchs have 9 players with 2 or more G+A so S2 will have to have their eyes on the entire field if they hope to put together the solid defensive performance they will need to stay competitive with the Monarchs.

nos audietis in somniis | nos audietis in altum

you will hear us in your sleep | you will hear us from the deep

this is our Sound

Keys to the Game

• Someone needs to step up to be the on field leader
• Get Ulysse the ball
• Keep heads on a swivel when Monarchs have possession

Lineup

How to Watch

Match date/time: 7:00 PM PT, Saturday, July 14, 2018.

Venue: Mining Conglomerate (Rio Tinto) Stadium, Jordan River Watershed, Wasatch and Uinta Montane Forests, North America

Streaming: ESPN+

How I'm watching

Outfit: An outfit made for three points.

Where: South of Seattle, south of Renton, south of Kent.