LINEUPS: The Sounders made just one change, again, swapping Pedro de la Vega and Georgi Minoungou, again. João Paulo also made the bench for the first time in six games.

The Seattle Sounders can move one step closer to locking up home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs with a win tonight against the Colorado Rapids, one of the teams still able to pass them in the standings.

To clinch that position tonight, the Sounders would need to win and for the Houston Dynamo to drop points at St. Louis City.

A loss, however, could drop the Sounders as low as sixth in the Western Conference table and remove their ability to control their destiny for home-field advantage.

The Sounders come into this game as the hottest team in MLS, claiming 13 of the last 15 points available, going 5-1-1 since the end of Leagues Cup and holding an 11-2-2 record since June 15.

They’ve also been relatively good at Dick’s Sporting Good Park, where they are 9-5-2 all-time and have claimed at least a point in four of their last five appearances (1-1-3).

Notes

In addition to setting a personal best with his 14th and 15th assists in league play on Wednesday, Albert Rusnák also tied Nicolás Lodeiro for the most all-competition assists (18) in a season in Sounders history. Rusnák is now two goal-contributions away from tying Obafemi Martins’ single-season record.
Cristian Roldan appeared in his 340th game across all competitions for the Sounders on Wednesday. That puts him second on the Sounders’ all-time list behind Stefan Frei (381).
The Rapids lead MLS with 14 penalties awarded. They’ve converted nine of them.
The Sounders lead MLS with 12 goals from fouls, which includes eight from the penalty spot.