The Seattle Sounders and Sporting Kansas City will square off for the third and, for now, final time of 2015, as both sides look to collect critical points as the season is quickly coming to a close and both sides are fighting hard for a playoff spot in the first MLS Soccer Sunday match.
Previous Matchups -
So far in the first two meetings this season it has been defensive stalemates with the two teams going scoreless in the first meeting in May in Seattle, just two weeks later the two squads met up again this time at Sporting Park where the score was 0-0 until a late controversial penalty call at the end of the game gave Sporting Kansas City the nod as Benny Feilhaber converted the spot kick.
Roster Additions -
Since that last meeting, Seattle has greatly bolstered its roster with several additions from the summer signing window who will take on Sporting for the first time. The signings include Erik Friberg, who is familiar as he is a returning player to the Sounders, Thomas, Nelson Valdez, who is the newest designated player on the squad, and Andreas Ivanschitz who scored his first career MLS goal in Vancouver on his first career start last week. Roman Torres was also added to the squad but had a season ending ACL injury in San Jose.
Recent Form -
Between the two squads Seattle has to be considered the better of the two teams at this point, as in the last five league games they have gone 3-1-1 including beating Vancouver on the road 3-Nil last Saturday night and drawing 1-1 in San Jose just the week before that.
Sporting in the last five is 1-3-1, taking just four total points and losing in Houston on Wednesday night to a final score of 1-Nil where both Matt Besler and Feilhaber received yellow cards. Due to yellow card accumulation, Besler and Feilhaber will miss the match against Seattle that leaves a hole in both defense, the attack and feed as Feilhaber has 10 goals and 14 assists up to now.
Who to watch on the Sounders –
#24 Stefan Frei – Frei is coming off back-to-back shutouts this week after recording his 10th shutout of the season last Saturday against Vancouver, and backed it up on Wednesday when he recorded another shutout against the Whitecaps in CONCACAF Champions league play as Seattle went on to win 3-Nil for the second time in a week against its CASCADIA rivals.
#9 Obafemi Martins – Martins has been on fire seemingly scoring at will on opponents since coming back from his injury and has a streak of six matches in a row with scoring, including in the last four consecutive league matches for Seattle. The goal in Vancouver was his 13th of the season which is the lead for the team and he also has five assists.
#2 Clint Dempsey – In Vancouver, Dempsey recorded his third multiple assist game of his career as he assisted both Martins and Gonzalo Pineda on the last two goals of the match. In total, Dempsey now has nine assists this season and eight goals so far on the season.
Who to watch on Sporting Kansas City –
#29 Tim Melia – This keeper will be looking to help steer Sporting back on track and record his eighth shutout of 2015 and bolster the squads total to eleven shutouts on the season, however, missing Besler in the back line, someone he relies on to help keep the opposing teams from getting close, may be the difference maker in his attempt to get the Nil on the board.
#14 Dom Dwyer – The Englishman will be hoping to take the team lead over Feilhaber this week for goals scored, as both sit at the top of the team sheet with 10. Dwyer missed the first two matches of this series earlier this season with his neck injury that caused him to leave during pregame warmups in Seattle. He has managed to score twice in the teams last five matches, but will he be able to find the back of the net Sunday is another question as he will be missing his strike partner.
Schedule Challenges -
This match presents an interesting challenge for Sporting as they will play on Wednesday in Philadelphia for the US Open Cup, which will be the team’s fourth match in two weeks and having to play next weekend once again in Portland. Will Peter Vermes choose to rest his main squad and go after the silverware on Wednesday but risk dropping critical points in the league playoff race?
For the Sounders they rested a majority of there starters on Wednesday against Vancouver in the CONCACAF Champions league and do not have a midweek match this week, so they should be going all out for these easy points against its depleted opponent as they need them to help climb up the table.
Starting XI -
Sporting KC Predicted Starting XI submitted by fellow VAVEL writer and Sporting KC Expert Blayne Riffle:
Tim Melia; Chance Myers, Kevin Ellis, Ike Opara, Seth Sinovic; Graham Zusi, Soni Mustivar, Paulo Nagamura; Krisztian Nemeth, Dom Dwyer, Jacob Peterson
Seattle Sounders Predicted Starting XI:
Stefan Frei; Tyrone Mears, Chad Marshall, Brad Evans, Oniel Fisher; Andreas Ivanschitz, Osvaldo Alonso, Erik Freiberg, Lamar Neagle; Clint Dempsey, Obafemi Martins
Predictions –
Seattle will score early and hold control of this match based on its recent form. Goals will come from Martins, Dempsey and Neagle, who scored twice on Wednesday and will be looking to add to his league total. The backline will be solid and Sporting will struggle to find the net without Feilhaber there to feed Dwyer, and Frei will record his 11th shutout of 2015.
Sporting KC 0; Seattle Sounders 3.