Verdict: Home win
Best odds: 5/4
Bookmaker: Unibet
Seattle Sounders are set to welcome Los Angeles FC to the Lumen Field in Seattle on Saturday, for what will be their 14th match of the season in the Western Conference of the American Major League Soccer. The visitors will, however, be playing their 15th game.
Seattle Sounders
The Sounders are currently in seventh place in the table with 19 points, though they have one or two games, or even three, in hand on the whole of the Western Conference. They actually have three games in hand on Sporting Kansas City at the bottom. LA Galaxy and Nashville are directly above with four points more, while Houston Dynamo, Minnesota United and Colorado all sit one point below.
Brian Schmetzer’s team have been on relatively fine form recently. They’ve achieved four victories from their last six matches in all competitions, along with one draw and one defeat. They first played a 2-2 draw against San Jose Earthquakes in the round of 32 of the U.S. Open Cup which they went on to lose in a lengthy penalty shootout, then they beat Minnesota at home by 3-1 and Houston Dynamo away by 0-1, before losing 1-0 away to Colorado Rapids. They beat Charlotte FC by 2-1 at home, and eventually thrashed Vancouver Whitecaps 4-0 at home.
Raul Ruidiaz struck twice in that last match, in between an early penalty taken by Nicolas Lodeiro and a late goal from Alex Roldan.
Team News
Unfortunately for the Sounders, Ruidiaz won’t be able to their attacking line in this match due to a hamstring problem, even though it’s supposedly not too serious. The same goes for defender Yeimar Gomez Andrade.
It is however, very serious for midfielder Joao Paulo, who is out with an ACL tear. Goalkeeper Stefan Cleveland is also out with a face laceration.
Los Angeles FC
It’s been a great campaign for Los Angeles FC so far. At the moment, they lead the way at the top of the table in relative comfort with 29 points, four more than second-place FC Dallas, as well as Real Salt Lake in third who have played one match more, and five more than Austin FC in fifth. City rivals LA Galaxy are sixth with a tally of 23.
LA FC appointed Steve Cherundolo as the manager at the start of the year, and despite their lead in the Conference rankings, the team commanded by the 43-year-old managed only to win half of their last six matches in all competitions, losing the rest. The run starts with a 2-0 home win over Portland Timbers in the U.S. Open Cup round of 32, but then they lost 2-0 away to Colorado. A home defeat to Austin by 1-2 followed, before they beat Columbus Crew away by 0-2. They were knocked out of the Open Cup in the round of 16 at the hands of neighbours Galaxy, and on May 29th, they beat San Jose in an exciting contest, when four goals had the scoreline finely balanced at halftime.
Cristian Arango opened the scoring with an early penalty and Ryan Hollingshead added the second soon after, but Jeremy Ebobisse scored twice for the Quakes. Eventually, Brian Rodriguez netted the winner for LA two minutes into the second half.
LA have strengthened their ranks with the acquisition of Giorgio Chiellini who is set to arrive as a free agent from Juventus soon, but the veteran Italian defender obviously can’t help his new team just yet.
Team News
The involvement of star striker Carlos Vela in this match is questionable due to a thigh problem, but LA’s main problem lies in the fullback positions. Right-backs Franco Escobar (calf strain) and Julian Gaines (sore pelvis) are doubts as well, as is left-back Diego Palacios who is recovering from a head injury. Attacking midfielder Ismael Tajouri-Shradi has quad problems.
Conclusion
Seattle’s form, coupled with the advantage of the home soil and the rather heavy injury crisis which has obviously besieged LA, might just prove enough for them to pull the leaders back here and make the race for the top spot far more interesting.
Verdict: Home win
Best odds: 5/4
Bookmaker: Unibet
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