It's the second week on the road for Sounders FC after last weekend's win in New York City. Now, the Rave Green is set to take on another Eastern Conference opponent, Columbus Crew SC. Sounders captain and former Crew player Brad Evans looks back at last week's win and the preparations ahead of Saturday's match in Ohio in his Captain's Notes.
We are coming off a very successful trip to New York. It was the craziest travel we've had to date, just in terms of the length of the flight, getting there and feeling tired. It was a difficult task. I'm extremely proud and I think everyone is of how we performed on a small field. No matter how you prepare for that, you can never quite replicate it so I'm proud of how we dealt with that challenge. I'm proud of the guys and our three points on the road.
After that, we flew home to prepare for Columbus, my old stomping grounds along with Chad [Marshall] and Sigi [Schmid]. It's always a fun place to come back to. We have great memories: the MLS Championship and Supporters' Shield banners are up in the stands...I still remember those fondly. We were able to train at the stadium on Friday. It's a phenomenal pitch and it's always a good time to come back.
The reality is it's a very tough team and a very good team. They have a new coach with new players. It's a big challenge this weekend and it's our second of three on the road. We have to pick up points no matter how we do it. It should be a much different game than the one last week and we should see a much more free-flowing game. We know they like to spread their outside backs so we need to be aware of that. Come game time, we have to be turned on. There are three points on the line and we've got to be road warriors.
Let's go Sounders!