The Seattle Sounders return to action on Wednesday night against the Houston Dynamo for the teams’ third and final meeting this season. Here’s a breakdown of everything you need to know about the game.
WHEN AND WHERE: Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. PT at CenturyLink Field in Seattle.
WHERE TO WATCH: The game will be telecast on JOEtv. You can find a full list of Sounders FC Pub Partners here.
WHERE TO LISTEN: The game will air on KIRO Radio 97.3FM and in Spanish on El Rey 1360AM.
RECORDS AND STANDINGS: Sounders (13-13-5, 44 points, fifth place in the Western Conference), Dynamo (7-13-11, 32 points, 10th in the West).
ALL-TIME HISTORY: The Sounders are 5-3-5 all time against Houston and have not lost to the Dynamo since 2013.
LAST MEETING: The Sounders and Dynamo drew 1-1 on Aug. 24 in Houston. Nicolas Lodeiro scored the equalizer for Seattle in the 94th minute after Andrew Wenger gave the hosts the lead in the 75th.
PLAYOFF BERTH ON THE LINE: The Sounders can clinch a spot in the MLS Cup Playoffs with a win on Wednesday night, their eighth consecutive trip to the postseason. Seattle is currently projected at a 97 percent chance of making the playoffs and would leap Real Salt Lake for fourth place in the West with a victory. The Sounders cannot clinch a playoff spot with a draw.
MATCH SUSPENSIONS: Seattle’s Brad Evans and Houston’s Alex will each be serving suspensions for Wednesday’s match. Evans was ejected minutes after scoring the eventual game-winning goal against the Vancouver Whitecaps on Oct. 2 for an attempted headbutt on David Edgar. The Sounders decided last week not to appeal the suspension. Alex will serve a one-game ban for yellow-card accumulation after being booked in the 92nd minute for dissent in the Dynamo’s 3-2 loss to the Colorado Rapids over the weekend.
MORRIS AND LODEIRO RETURN: Jordan Morris and Nicolas Lodeiro have returned early from national team duties and are expected to play on Wednesday. Morris logged 30 minutes as a substitute in the United States’ 2-0 friendly win over Cuba on Saturday, but U.S. Soccer released him before their next friendly against New Zealand on Tuesday Oct. 11.
Lodeiro scored on a diving header in Uruguay’s 3-0 win over Venezuela in CONMEBOL 2018 World Cup Qualifying, but was booked later in the match and is now suspended for La Celeste’s next match against Colombia. He returned to Seattle on Sunday.
DYNAMO OUT OF POSTSEASON CONTENTION: Houston was eliminated from the playoff race with its loss to the Colorado Rapids over the weekend. Houston went 3-1-3 from Aug. 14 to Sept. 24 to keep its slight hopes alive, but it lost its last two matches to New York City FC and the Rapids to close that window.
CLASH OF THE INTERIMS: Brian Schmetzer and Wade Barrett are the league’s only two interim head coaches after the Sounders and Sigi Schmid parted ways in July and the Dynamo parted ways with Owen Coyle midseason. Schmetzer has gone 7-1-3 (24 points) and has led Seattle to the brink of a postseason berth after the club had just 20 points from 20 matches. Barrett has gone 4-6-9 (21 points) since taking over for a club that sat at 3-7-2 through its first 12 matches.
