TUKWILA, Wash. – When the Seattle Sounders take on the LA Galaxy at CenturyLink Field on Saturday (1 p.m. PT; ESPN, YouTube TV, 950 KJR AM, El Rey 1360 AM | TICKETS), there will be no shortage of storylines.
There’s the obvious talking point that comes with a return trip from former Sounders Head Coach and current Galaxy boss Sigi Schmid, who manned the Seattle sidelines from its expansion season of 2009 until halfway through ’16. There’s also plenty at stake as it pertains to the Western Conference playoff picture, with the streaking Sounders trying to fight their way above the red line for the first time all season and the Galaxy looking to improve on their current fourth-place perch.
According to Sounders Head Coach Brian Schmetzer, however, his team’s focus is on capitalizing on an opportunity. Five Galaxy starters won’t factor into Saturday’s match, with Romain Alessandrini, the sibling duo of Giovani and Jonathan dos Santos, starting center back Michael Ciani and superstar forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic all staying back in Los Angeles.
“Obviously everybody knows about the injury situation,” Schmetzer said on Friday. “All we’ve messaged, all week long, is that this is a really great opportunity for us. If some results go our way and we’re better on the day and we get three points, we can actually make it above the playoff line.”
The Sounders’ blueprint in home matches has traditionally been to try and be on the front foot from the get-go, put opponents on their heels and, ideally, find an early tone-setting goal. Against a still-talented but undeniably less-than-full-strength opponent, the importance of getting off to a strong start is accentuated.
“I think our starts have been fairly good as of late,” said Schmetzer. “I think over the course of time and even the last year and a half since I’ve been around, we’ve had periods of time where our team has gotten off to slower starts than I would have liked. It’s kind of flipped around a little bit.
“We’ve gotten off to some good starts where we’ve made our opponents pay. So we’d obviously like to start on the front foot. We’re at home, it’ll be a big crowd, it’ll be a nice day to play. So we obviously want to start strong.”
The challenge for Seattle also becomes not taking a result as a given. Even sans some of those key contributors, the Galaxy still boast enough firepower to give the Sounders’ back line a challenge. Striker Ola Kamara and midfielder Chris Pontius, who have combined for 14 goals this season, will be especially called upon on Saturday.
Lamar Neagle celebrates his equalizer against the Galaxy in 2017 | Jane Gershovich
“We do not want to slip and be overconfident,” Schmetzer said. “We’re not going to do that. We’re going to prepare for the game, make sure we start strong and then see where the game takes us.”
On a broader level, the Sounders can also build on their recent run of positive momentum with another three-point result. Seattle is currently in the midst of the club’s best run of form of 2018, with its current string of eight unbeaten matches on the line in Saturday’s match. A victory against LA would also be Seattle’s sixth straight during that span, which would set a record for the MLS iteration of the franchise.
“[Saturday’s match is] definitely a winnable game,” midfielder Cristian Roldan said. “But for us, it’s about maintaining that clean sheet because we know that they’re capable of scoring. So [we’re] excited for the game obviously, it puts us in a really good spot if we win. That’s the goal.”
