The lineups are in and Sounders FC is aiming to start off the month of July on a strong note against DC at CenturyLink Field.
SEATTLE – Sounders FC head coach Sigi Schmid likes the rendition of his lineup with Eddie Johnson, Obafemi Martins and Lamar Neagle all on the field together. And while the trio won’t start together as Seattle hosts DC United on Wednesday in the only meeting of the year between the two sides, it is far from an indication that Schmid is going away from that lineup.
Neagle suffered a groin strain in the first half of Seattle’s 2-0 loss to Real Salt Lake on June 22, but was able to play through it until being taken off early in the second half. Against DC United, he will be on the bench for Sounders FC, while Schmid opts for Brad Evans on the left side of midfield.
Martins and Johnson will start together up top in consecutive games for the first time this season as they continue to develop chemistry as a forward pair. In the midfield, Mauro Rosales is on the right with Servando Carrasco and Andy Rose in the middle and Evans on the left. It is the ninth consecutive start for Carrasco as Osvaldo Alonso continues to recover from a quad strain. This week Schmid indicated that he hopes to have Alonso available on Saturday when Sounders FC heads to Vancouver to face Whitecaps FC.
On the backline, DeAndre Yedlin is out of the lineup after suffering a slight shoulder injury in the FIFA U-20 World Cup last week in Turkey and will be replaced by Zach Scott on the right side. The rest of the backline will be Leo Gonzalez on the left side and Djimi Traore and Jhon Kennedy Hurtado in the middle in front of goalkeeper Michael Gspurning.
In addition to Neagle, Schmid will have Marcus Hahnemann, Marc Burch, Patrick Ianni, Shalrie Joseph, David Estrada and Sammy Ochoa on the bench.
On the other side, DC United will play without midfielders Dwayne De Rosario and Nick DeLeon and goalkeeper Bill Hamid as De Rosario and DeLeon are out with injuries and Hamid is with the US National Team preparing for the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Ben Olsen will instead start Joe Willis in his third start of the season at goalkeeper. Former Sounders FC defender James Riley will be joined by Ethan White, Daniel Woolard and Chris Korb along the backline. The midfielders are Sainey Nyassi, Perry Kitchen, Kyle Porter and Alain Rochat. And the forwards are Chris Pontius and Lionard Pajoy.
On the DC bench will be Andrew Dykstra, Taylor Kemp, Conor Shanosky, Marcelo Saragosa, John Thorrington, Carlos Ruiz and Casey Townsend.
