The Seattle Sounders will look for a second consecutive win when they host a Real Salt Lake side riding an 11-match unbeaten run on Wednesday night.
Seattle (4-6-5, 17 points) has yet to string two wins together, with coach Brian Schmetzer’s veteran-laden squad coping with a lengthy early-season injury list.
And the Sounders have found it harder to earn points at home, with three of their four victories coming as the away side.
Most recently, an own goal and a breakaway strike from Jordan Morris lifted the Sounders to a 2-1 win at St. Louis City on Saturday night. Even though the result moved Seattle above the playoff line and into ninth place in the Western Conference, Schmetzer still saw some unevenness in the effort.
“We knew the position we were in in the standings,” he said. “To me, it’s more important that the team starts to play a little better. Our performances have gotten a little better, there are still some dips and we’re not as consistent as we’d like to be, but scoring two goals on the road gives you a good chance of winning.”
After returning to action on May 18 following a two-plus-month stint on the shelf due to hamstring trouble, prized offseason addition Pedro de la Vega did not dress against St. Louis. He is questionable for Wednesday’s match.
Salt Lake (8-2-5, 29 points) extended its unbeaten run by rallying from three goals down to record a 3-3 draw at FC Dallas on Saturday.
Anderson Julio scored his third goal of the season and second in as many matches and also added an assist on Nelson Palacio’s equalizer deep in second-half stoppage time. Julio and Palacio were two of five second-half substitutes deployed by Real Salt Lake between the 62nd and 70th minutes to help turn the match around.
“I’m just really proud of the way that the guys that came in got after the ball, because the last thing you want when you’re trying to chase a game is guys that aren’t getting pressure on the ball and basically ceding a lot of space,” Salt Lake coach Pablo Mastroeni said. “What they did was keep our lines extremely high, and the guys in the back did a great job as well.”
The draw marked the second consecutive match where Real Salt Lake overcame a multiple-goal deficit after crawling out of a two-goal hole in their 5-3 home victory over the Colorado Rapids on May 18.
–Field Level Media
