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New look Sounders FC tie LA Galaxy 1-1

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Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer

The Seattle Sounders unveiled recently signed Designated Player Nicolas Lodeiro in their match against Western Conference rival LA Galaxy. The former Boca Juniors player started in the middle of the field with Jordan Morris and Clint Dempsey who returned from their MLS All-Star week activities. Joining Dempsey and Morris up from where Nelson Valdez.

The new and improved Sounders line up started off fresh and lively as Lodeiro’s ability to run at defenders created immediate havoc for the Galaxy and the Uruguayan playmaker showed his skills when took his first shot seven minutes into the and the sequence served notice of the things to come

The Sounders continued their onslaught on the LA Galaxy goal but the LA defense was vigilante and stout. LA net minder Brian Rowe made a point blank range save on Lodeiro to Morris to Dempsey shot and Center back Jelle Van Damme cleared a shot off the line to help keep the sides scoreless at the halftime break.

The sounders break through goal came just under teammates into the second half when Nelson Valdez laid off a pass to Cristian Roldan inside the box who promptly left footed into the back of the LA goal for the 1-0 lead.
The Sounders had numerous chances to put the game away, Morris’s left footed shot was saved in the55th minute, Dempsey had back to back shot blocked in the 61st and 64th minute and Lodeiro had a left footed shot saved in the 65th minute.

As always in the game of the soccer the inability to slam the door shut on the opponent will come back to bite you. For the Sounders that moment came in the 78th minute when Sebastian Lletget righted footed home the equalizer after a communication breakdown between Brad Evans and Stefan Frei.

“I was in between two guys and thought I heard leave,” Evans said after the game. “In the end I should have just booted the ball out of the area.”

As for the newly signed Lodeiro, interim head coach Brian Schmetzer was pleased with his debut,

“He was very good. We just need to fine-tune to make sure that he and Clint [Dempsey] figure out the right spacing. I thought a couple of times we could have done a better job of keeping Clint a little higher, which would be my preference.”

“Get Clint closer to goal because we will need to rely on Clint to score some goals. Other than that little glitch, you saw his ability to cover ground at a high level, connect passes, run the team – there were a lot of positive out of that. I think together, Clint leads the front line, Nicolás leads through the middle, you’ve got experienced guys in the back – I was encouraged.”

While the Sounders gave up the late equalizer and where hoping for a win, the mood in the locker room was one of opportunity lost but the beginning of something big.

Optimism abound as Seattle Seahawks open training Camp

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Pete Carroll
Pete Carroll

The Seattle Seahawks opened their sixth training camp under head coach Pete Carroll at the Virginia Medical Center in Renton Saturday afternoon as 2,500 adoring fans showed up and showed out to welcome the players back home.

The atmosphere was tantilizing, energetic, and down right electrifying as all 90 Seahawks players made their way onto the VMac field and began their quest to return to the Superbowl after a one year absence that broke a streak of two consecutive trips to the big game.

After inking a three year contract extension, Carroll is more than ready to begin training camp and get the season under way, ” I have been talking about it, I have been more excited  about the approach to this camp than I can ever remember, Carroll said after the teams first practice.

Also attending training camp was Michael Bennett, the some what unhappy defensive end who has asked the team to renegotiate his contract after having a Pro Bowl year in which he had 10 sacks and 19 tackles for losses. Bennett has two years left on his contact.

“I just wanted to show up and be a great teammate,” he said. “No distractions for the team. I just want to be a Seahawk for the rest of my life. That’s the most important thing.”

Bennett wore a Black Lives Matters tee shirt, and talked about the importance of athletes being role models in the way they handle themselves on and off the field and the importance of tackling Social Justice issues to help the disadvantaged .

The Seahawks first Exhibition game will August 13th when they take on the Kansas City Chiefs  in Arrowhead Stadium.

Arsenal defeat MLS All-Stars 2-1

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MLS All-Star game openingChuba Akpom tapped in a Nacho Monreal pass in the 87th minute to give Arsenal a 2-1 win over the MLS-All-Stars Thursday night at Avaya Stadium in  San Jose.  Arsenal needed the heroics from the speedy winger after former Chelsea striker legend Didier Drogba tied the game just before halftime at 1-1. The Gunners took the lead 11 minutes into the match on a converted penalty by Joel Campbell. The Costan Rican forward was brought down by MLS All-Star defender Lauren Ciman after a miscommunication between Ciman and goal keeper  Andre Blake.

While the goal might have been unfortunate for MLS, it was well earned as Arsenal had been dominating the run of play by attacking the MLS center backs. The game lived up to its billing as both an exhibition match with both sides intent on winning the game.

“We are in a very hard training program at the moment, so you never know how tired the players are when you go into the games. It was good to see that we were in good shape. We’ve had two hard days just before we played today in our training sessions and it was good to see that everybody did well,” Arsenal coach Arsen Wenger said after the game.

After going behind 1-nil MLS upped their tempo and pace with the ball and the result was Drogba’s goal just before halftime. While he was happy to score on his former Chelsea teammate Petr Cech, the Ivorian striker was disappointed with the loss,

“I hate losing. I will have fun with [former teammate] Petr [Cech] because I scored, but he already killed me, he said, ‘This time I gave you the goal.’ It means a lot. But apart from that, the result, no, I’m not happy with the result. So it won’t be a good memory.”

What will be good will be the memories for players and fans is the site of legendary players, Andrea Pirlo, Kaka, Drogba David Villa, Clint Dempsey and many others all on the same field trying to have and win a competitive match on warm sunny day in front of 18,000  appreciative fans.

 

Seattle Seahawks finalize deals for dynamic duo of Schneider and Carroll.

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Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll
Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll

The Seattle Seahawks organization put pen to paper and secured the services of General Manager John Schneider and head coach Pete Carroll on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.  Securing the services of the best head coach and general manager combo in football means the Seahawks can now focus on returning to the Super Bowl after playing in two consecutive years.

After thrashing the Denver Broncos  43 to 8 in Super Bowl XLVIII the Seahawks suffered a heart breaking 28 to 24 defeat to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLIX. The Seahawks attempt to return for a third time was denied by the Carolina Panthers who beat the Seahawks 31 to 24 in the Divisional Round of the 2016 NFC Playoffs.

To say the partnership between Carroll and Schneider has been a success would be an understatement. In addition to the two Super Bowl appearances, the Carroll and Schneider partnership has won 60 regular season games and has been to the playoffs in five of the last six year. Only the Green Bay Packers have won more games than the Seahawks since 2010.

2010 was the year that former CEO Tod Leiweke wanted to create a unique and unequalled partnership between a general manager and coach. Leiweke followed his gut instinct and hired Carroll and Schneider to ignite of the best partnerships in sports.

The Seahawks current core Russell Wilson, Ear Thomas, Bobby Wagner and Richard Sherman are all examples players who have benefited from the Schneider and Carroll partnership.

Schneider’s deal is for five years and is expected to make him among the highest-paid GMs in the NFL, while Carroll’s contract extension is good through the 2019 season

Sounders FC get their playmaker

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Ladeiro arrives at Sea Tac airportA day after parting ways with their coach, the Seattle Sounders FC announced Wednesday morning the signing of Uruguayan National Team player and midfielder Nicolás Lodeiro as the club’s newest Designated Player.

The skillful midfielder comes to Seattle from Argentine powerhouse Boca Juniors of the  Argentine Primera División . The club is one the top clubs in the league and well know in the soccer community world wide. Lodeiro has participated in two FIFA World Cup campaigns with the Uruguayan National Team and most recently represented his country during this summers Copa America Centenario tournament in the United States.

“We have doggedly pursued our top target, Nicolás Lodeiro, for the past several months and we are delighted our persistence finally paid off with his signing. We were willing to wait for Nico because we believe in his character off the field as well as his abilities on it,” said Sounders FC General Manager & President of Soccer Garth Lagerwey in the team press release.

Lodeiro has the potential to transform the morbid Sounder offense. Every highly proficient scoring offense in soccer is able to control the middle of the field with surgical like precision. Having the ball is one of the most important facets, but more importantly  its what you do with it. Having the ball and spinning your wheels in the middle of the field leads to winning the possession battle but not much of anything else. The forwards stand around waiting for the ball resulting in a stagnant offense defenders can easily defend.

Having the ball in the middle of the field with intent and purpose leads to goals and more times than not leads to wins. Defenders have to make intelligent decision on wether to stay with their man, follow him if he is running at them or guard the space in front of goal. Having a proficient ball handler like Lodeiro who can run at defenses in the middle of the field only adds to a defenders monstrous task.

” This is a posesssion based signing that will help us control the ball  and enable us to play  high level of soccer ,” Lagerwey said during the teams press conference introducing Lodeiro. “We needed some one in the middle of the who could help us achieve that goal.”

Notable players who have played for Boca Juniors include Diego Maradona, Carlos Tevez and Roman Riquelme.

After a three-match road swing across all competitions, Sounders FC concludes a packed month of July with its second full-stadium contest of the season at CenturyLink Field on Sunday, July 31. ESPN is broadcasting the match nationally at 1:00 p.m. PT, with KIRO Radio 97.3 FM and El Rey 1360 AM providing regional radio coverage beginning at 12:30 p.m. PT.

 

Sounders FC and Sig Schmid part ways.

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Sounders FC Coach Sigi Schmid
Sounders FC Coach Sigi Schmid

The Seattle Sounders announced Tuesday morning  a mutual parting of the ways with  Sigi Schmid  the only coach the organization has had since its inception into the MLS. Like any said amicable divorce, the action always leaves more questions than answers. Some to be answered by those on the inside, some never to be told.

The business end of  the beautiful game is rarely clean and pretty. Every moment of brilliance on the field has a yang effect off the field, specifically the business operations side.

Schmid joined the Sounders with the sole purpose of capturing the MLS Championship despite the team being an expansion club. While there was no set time table the expectation was sooner than later. Given Schmid’s previous accomplishments , 2008  U.S. Open Cup and MLS Championship, 2002 MLS Championship with LA Galaxy the expectations seemed attainable in short amount of time.

Winning the 2009 U.S. Open Cup in its first try only added to the Sounders high expectations. While the Sounders kept on winning the expectations continued to increase and the 2014 heart break of winning the Supporters Shield, the U.S.Open Cup only to be denied a chance at the MLS Cup by the LA Galaxy in the Western Conference did nothing to quench the thirst

In 2015 the Sounders finished sixth in the Western Conference two points behind the Portland Timbers  and that sin looked to be forgiven when the Sounders  beat the Galaxy in the knockout round and advanced to the Conference Semi finals. A penalty shoot out loss to FC Dallas in the Semifinals and the Timbers winning the MLS Cup left the Rave Green nation parched.

The sudden departure of Obefami Martins before the teams first game to start the 2016 season, left Schmid in scramble mode regarding the best way to deal with the departure of the teams high scoring forward. Schmid and the Sounders were never able to physically or  psychological  overcome the loss. Reinforcements were to arrive in the summer signing of  Roman Torres, Adreas Ivanschitz and Nelson Valdez. Torres has been injured while Ivanschitz and Valez have been major under performers.

The downward spiral continued as the team was unable to score goals and the low point was last week when the Sounders lost 3-0 to Sporting Kansas City and had one shot in the game which came in the 87th minute and was not on goal.

“I’m proud of the success we’ve achieved in winning five major trophies in Seattle, qualifying for the postseason for seven-straight seasons. ” Schmid said at the Tuesday press conference. “My only disappointment is that we were unable to bring home an MLS Cup to our tremendous fans, who have always been supportive through good times and bad. In closing, I want to thank the Sounders FC organization, the club’s fans and the city of Seattle for this amazing run.”

A classy quote from a classy individual. And in turn the Sounders said all the right things regarding  Schmid.

“It’s been a privilege to work with a legend like Sigi and I’ve learned a lot from him. We thank him for his many years of excellent service to this club,” Sounders General Manager and President of Soccer Garth Lagerwey said.

Schmid’s teams captured 11 major titles, he was a two-time MLS Coach of the Year and was recently inducted into the  National Soccer Hall of Fame . Top assistant Brian Schmetzer will be the teams interim coach till the end of the season.

Reign FC Breaks Out with Five Goals in Win Against Orlando Pride

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The Seattle Reign scored a season high five goals in Saturdays 5-2 victory over the Orlando Pride. Here is match report from the Seattle Reigns Media Department.Reign Player

In front of a season-high crowd of 5,103 fans, Seattle Reign FC earned their first-ever win against the Orlando Pride, in a 5-2 victory at Memorial Stadium. Five goals is the highest goal total in a single match for Seattle this season.

With the win, Reign FC (5-4-5, 20 pts) have now lost just one game in their last eight matches, and Seattle has now scored in 15 consecutive home matches, tying an NWSL record.

“We put them under a lot of pressure,” said Seattle Reign FC head coach Laura Harvey. “I said to the girls before the game ‘I think against Flash, we didn’t score the second goal early enough and goals always change games.’ and when we got the second goal, I thought we put ourselves in a really good position.”

Reign FC first goal of the match came off of a Kim Little penalty kick in the 21st minute of the match. The goal was Little’s first in eight matches, and her 30th career NWSL goal. Little is the first player to reach the milestone. Little also holds the all-time NWSL record for goals scored.

In the 30th minute, Seattle doubled the lead through a Jess Fishlock strike. After Orlando failed to clear a Naho free kick, the ball fell to the feet of Fishlock, who fired the ball into the back of the net.

“I think that we can be pleased with the result,” said Fishlock. “I think that’s the most important thing for us at this stage, is that we got three points, but what was really good was that we scored a lot of goals, and a lot of different players scored a lot of goals.”

Despite a comfortable two-goal lead at the half, Reign FC came out quickly in the second 45 minutes. Just two minutes in, Manon Melis was able to net her second goal in two games.

Orlando would cut the deficit to two goals in the 52nd minute, when Jasmyne Spencer slid home a Jamia Fields cross. However, just four minutes later, Reign FC would respond with a goal of their own, when Kendall Fletcher headed home a Lauren Barnes corner kick. Fletcher celebrated the goal with her signature Fletcher Flip.

Fletcher was awarded Reign FC player of the match for her efforts, once again going the full 90 minutes for the club. Fletcher also had a goal line clearance in the 38th minute, scored her first goal of the season, and earned Little’s penalty in the match.

“Sometimes it falls right and sometimes it doesn’t,” said Fletcher. “It seemed like tonight my number got called a lot. I was glad I was able to do that and help the team get the result.”

Seattle went on to earn another goal in the 87th minute, through an Orlando Pride own goal by defender Toni Pressley. The Pride grabbed one more goal before the time ran out, as Kristen Edmonds found the back of the net in the 89th minute.

Before the match, Reign FC honored Amy Griffin as a Reign FC Legend for her lifetime of work growing the women’s game in the United States. Griffin is the head coach of the United States deaf women’s national soccer team, who just returned from Italy after winning their second-straight Deaf World Cup.

Today’s result gives Reign FC 20 points on the season, good for sixth place on the NWSL table. Seattle is currently just two points out of a playoff slot, behind Sky Blue FC who currently sit in 4th with 22 points.

“We needed it [the win],” said Harvey. “I think we’ve managed to hang on to the playoffs, just hang around it enough to make it still viable and scraped results when we’ve needed them. Obviously we’d love to make it a little easier on ourselves but that doesn’t tend to be our way.”

With the loss, the Orlando Pride remain on 18 points for the season, and have moved down in the standings to seventh place. The Portland Thorns still remain in first place with 26 points, as they hold the tie-breaker over the Washington Spirit, who also have 26 points.

Up next, Reign FC visits Portland Thorns FC on July 30 at 7:30 p.m. PT. This is the third of four matches between the two teams this season, and their final match before the NWSL Olympic break.

NWSL Match Report
Match: Seattle Reign FC (5-4-5, 20 pts) vs. Orlando Pride (6-8-0, 18 pts)
Date: July 23, 2016
Venue: Memorial Stadium
Kickoff: 7:00 p.m. PT
Attendance: 5103
Weather: Sunny

Team 1 2 Final
Seattle Reign FC 2 3 5
Orlando Pride 0 2 2

Scoring Summary:

SEA – Kim Little 21’ (PEN)

SEA – Jessica Fishlock 30’

SEA – Manon Melis 47’

ORL – Jasmyne Spencer (Jamia Fields) 52’

SEA – Kendall Fletcher (Lauren Barnes) 56’

SEA – Toni Pressley (Own Goal) 87’

ORL – Kristen Edmonds (Sarah Hagen) 89’

Lineups:

Seattle Reign FC: Kopmeyer, Reed, Fletcher, Barnes, Pickett, Winters (Yanez 74’), Fishlock, Little (Elston 85’), Kawasumi, Melis (Dallstream 79’), Mathias

Substitutes Not Used: Solaun, Cruz, Tostanoski

Orlando Pride: Savage, Witteman (Fortune 79’), Pressley, Kyle, Levin, Edmonds, Evans, Weatherholt (Hagen 80’), Fields, Burkenroad (Edwards 64’), Spencer

Substitutes Not Used: Dorsey, Reynolds, Wisner, Lelii

Stats Summary: SEA/ORL
Shots: 23 / 8
Shots on Goal: 12 / 5
Saves: 3 / 8
Corner Kicks: 6 / 4
Fouls: 8 / 11
Offside: 1 / 0

Misconduct Summary:

SEA – Dallstream (Yellow) 81’

Officials:
Referee: Christopher Spivey
Assistant Referees: Christopher Elliot, Joshua Haimes
Fourth Official: Kelsey Harms

The kid goes home, Ken Griffey Jr. inducted into MLB Hall Fame

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Ken Griffey Jr throw opening day pitch.
Ken Griffey Jr throw opening day pitch.

He is Seattle’s best loved and most impactful athlete of all. Sure there many beloved Seattle athletes, Shawn Kemp, Steve Largent, Russell Wilson, Michelle Akers, Terry Metcalf, Jamal Crawford,  Warren Moon, Rhoda Smith , Tara Davis, Brandon Roy and Tara Davis to name a few. But none of the above named or the numerous names left out, transformed Seattle both on and off the field the way Ken Griffey Jr did.

The fore ever lovefest between Seattle and the Kid who was elected into the MLB Hall of Fame class of 2016 was a perfect storm. Griffey and Mike Piazza became the 311 and 312th members to be inducted to  baseball mortality Sunday morning in Cooperstown, NY in front of 50,000 adoring fans, family and former teammates.

When the Mariners Griffey with the 1st overall pick in the 1987 amateur  draft, it is safe to say they though they had something special. What they did not know was that they drafted one of the greatest athletes in sports. While they are few athletes who have  had the same pedigree  none worked harder than Griffey.

Griffey’s on field work ethic transcended an organization while his off field enjoy life demeanor transcended a generation and a City. Griffey finished his career sixth on the all-time home run hit list with 630, was a 13-time All-Star and robbed countless hitters of home runs in his 22 seasons in the majors.

Along with the hits, runs, and catches, Griffey had a Candy Bar named after him, a video game and the swagger of putting his hat on backwards. Say what you want about the eighties, but it was a time of love, compassion and fun. Yes twenty years after the hippie movement, Griffey, the Mariners and the City of Seattle had their own love fest for each other.

“Thirteen years with the Seattle Mariners,”  Griffey said in his induction speech. “From the day I got drafted to my first at-bat in the Kingdome to the ’95 playoffs, my first trip back to Seattle as a member of the Reds and my return to Seattle in 2009 to my retirement in 2010, Seattle, Wash., has been a big part of my life.”

“There are so many great things I could talk about, but we’d be here all day. But I am going to leave you with one thing. Out of my 22 years, I learned that only one team will treat you the best and that’s your first team. I’m damn proud to be a Seattle Mariner.”

After thanking teammates, family, friends and fans Griffey finished his speech with a signature hat backwards, mike/hat drop.

And with a hat turned backwards  Seattle’s most beloved athletes entered Baseball mortality representing the Seattle Mariners.

Sounders FC wither in 3-0 loss to Sporting Kansas City

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Sounders FC coach Sigi Schmid
Sounders FC coach Sigi Schmid

The Seattle Sounders (6-12-2 20pts) match against  Sporting Kansas City(9-10-4, 31pts) was always going to be an arduous one,  Sporting was back home looking for their third consecutive home win after losing two on the road. The Sounders were playing their third road game in a row having lost the previous two.

Sporting forward Dom Dwyer scored the first and last goals of the game with Jacob Peterson providing the knock out blow in first half stoppage time after Dwyer gave the home side the lead in the 21st minute. Dwyer’s second goal came in the 79th minute.

The Sounders effort in the disastrous 3-0 loss to Kansas City was disappointing, ineffective and futile. The Sounders had no corner kicks in the game  and managed  just one shot which was not on goal and the wayward stab came in the 87th minute. Sporting had seven corner kicks, 19th shots with six on goal. Yes it was that bad and safe to say the drubbing in Kansas City was the Sounders worst loss of the  season.

While the heat played a part in the match with the field temperature reaching 95- degrees resulting in water breaks in each half, the Sounders inability to  communicate with each other when playing team defense was perplexing, and downright inexcusable .

Sporting players made runs towards the listless Seattle backline resulting in space and time with the ball. Seattle midfielders were not on the same defensive page with the overwhelmed backline and the result was a long and difficult afternoon for Seattle goal keeper Stefan Frei who made some impressive saves to keep the score line at 3-0.

https://twitter.com/SoundersFC/status/757312993893822464

The loss leaves the Sounders 9th in the Western Conference, ten points out of a playoff spot  while Sporting KC moves into a two way tie with Real Salt Lake for fourth place in the conference. The Sounders will return to MLS  action next Sunday when they host the LA Galaxy.

 

Sounders FC at Sporting Kansas City in must win clash

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Sounders Joevin Jones tries to split the defenders
Sounders Joevin Jones tries to split the defenders

Normally the football term, the business end is used with about three to four weeks left in a soccer season. It is the last week of July and Seattle Sounders FC ( 6-11-2, 20 points) are at the business end of their schedule. So using the said premise ,the Sounders have about four weeks let in the season right? Note quite,t he Sounders last regular season game is scheduled for October 23rd. The Sounders business end of the football will begin Sunday  ( 12:00 p.m. PT) in Kansas City when the Rave Green will face off against Sporting KC ( 8-10-4, 28 points). The Rave Green are in cardiac arrest mode and in dire need of a double dose of the defibrillator machine to stabilize themselves. Translation, Sunday is a must, must, must  win game for Sounders head coach Sigi Schmid and his players.

http://www.soundersfc.com/post/2016/07/23/interview-sigi-schmid-teams-final-training-ahead-skc?autoplay=true

If the Sounders are to kick start their season in the Nationally televised game( ESPN), they will need to play smart, and cohesive soccer. The Sounders have lost their last two games, 4-2 at the LA Galaxy in a U.S. Open Cup Quarterfinal match and a 3-1 loss at the Portland Timbers in MLS play. In both road losses, the Sounders were unable to secure a victory after taking the lead. A perplexing paradox to say the least.

After dispelling of the, “inability to score demon,” the Sounders have found themselves, battling the, “what was I thinking demon.” The Sounders are giving it a full 89 minutes and unfortunately the game is played a minimum of 90 minutes with all 11 players on the same page. The backline will need to push up field when the opportunity is there but track back and have one of the midfield players stay back and help.

Sporting KC center-forward Dominic Dwyer leads the team with eight goals while midfielder Benny Felihaber is the top assist man with five assists. The two veterans spearhead a disciplined attack that can score goals by exploiting defensive weakness in the backline.

Seattle will be without midfielder lynchpin Osvaldo Alonso due to a yellow card accumulation and will look to the speed of Cristian Roldan to provide some pace and width along with midfielder mate Erik Friberg  who will try to win the possession battle in what will be a hot and humid afternoon. Clint Dempsey will return to the line up after missing the Portland game and could be the difference maker if he and Jordan Morris can click on some up front combination passes that lead to goals.

Sporting KC will be returning home after two consecutive 1-0 road losses. Sporting is 6-4-1 at home while the Sounders  are 1-6-2 on the road.