Following long break, Sounders itching to return to action

Jeremiah Oshan -

RENTON — Perhaps the most annoying thing about the structure of the MLS playoffs is teams who need just two matches to advance from the First Round end up with a three-week break between rounds. For a team like the Seattle Sounders, who crammed in 45 matches during the season’s first 35 weeks, that’s the longest break they’ve had all year.

As a result, they’ll have to shake off a bit of rust when they take the field against LAFC in the Western Conference semifinals on Saturday.

To help with that, they played a 60-minute scrimmage on Saturday, albeit without a handful of players who were either on international duty or still nursing niggling injuries.

“We’ve had a long stretch where we haven’t played a real meaningful game,” Sounders midfielder Cristian Roldan told reporters following Tuesday’s training session. “The scrimmage was really important for us to feel like it was game-realistic and trying to paint a picture of what we’re gonna see this week.”

As much as they were able, the Sounders set up the second team in a way that was meant to mimic LAFC. Of course, they weren’t exactly facing anyone like Denís Bouanga, Mateusz Bogusz or Cristian Olivera.

“Everybody is ready for the game to to take place,” Roldan said. “We’re antsy, we want to play, we want to get into this game on the right foot. Training’s been at a high level and we’re ready to to get this game going.

“We’re excited to to have a bit of a normal week and working on a little bit more tactical switches leading into the game.”

Although the Sounders have lost all four of their meetings with LAFC this season, Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer indicated there will likely only be relatively minor tactical tweaks. Bolstering Schmetzer’s confidence is the Sounders 5-1-4 record in the 10 matches since their last meeting with LAFC, which includes an active nine-game unbeaten streak in which they’ve allowed just four goals.

“I’m happy with the players, the effort, the application, happy with the coaching staff,” Schmetzer said when asked to assess how the Sounders utilized the break. “We’re still a good team. We still had the best record in the last half of the year, and we’re not gonna completely draw up something new.”

Availability updates

  • After missing much of the previous two weeks, the Sounders continue to be careful with Paul Rothrock’s unspecified muscle injury. Schmetzer called Rothrock’s absence on Tuesday a “down day” as the winger continues to deal with heavy legs, but he’s expected to fully rejoin training on Wednesday.
  • Obed Vargas has returned from Mexico’s U20 camp, where he appeared in both matches. Vargas was sporting a bit of a shiner under his left eye, but that’s not expected to limit him in any meaningful way.
  • Reed Baker-Whiting just finished up with the United States U20s and is also expected to rejoin training on Wednesday.
  • Nouhou played all 90 minutes in both of Cameroon’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers and is expected to rejoin training on Thursday.
  • “If I can get two training days with everybody, that’s all were going to need,” Schmetzer said.