By Steven Agen
When the Seattle Sounders take the field against FC Dallas in Sunday’s Western Conference Semifinal first leg, there will be plenty of questions.
For starters, how will Dallas react to not winning the Shield? Will it be a hangover or increased motivation to succeed in the playoffs? Since that cold Seattle night last November, have the young but plucky Texans grown enough to overcome these same Sounders?
There is one thing that won’t be up for debate, though, and that’s in regards to health and rest. The Sounders will play their third match in a week while Dallas have rested since a home victory against San Jose on Decision Day. In addition, Seattle will face the weekend without key defenders Brad Evans and Leo Gonzalez. Ozzie Alonso is questionable after having to limp off against RSL last weekend. Sigi Schmid’s ideal starting eleven features only three players younger than 30 in it.
Throw in the part where FC Dallas doesn’t start a player younger than 24 in the front six and relies on speed and individual ability, and the problem starts to become clear. Despite being 5-3-2 in ten all-time home playoff matches with a +5 goal differential, the Seattle Sounders are going to need to hang on at CenturyLink Field and win the tie in Frisco.
The average age of Schmid’s lineup will likely get younger on Sunday but not by choice. With Evans and Gonzalez sideline, veteran Zach Scott will help plug the experience gap while rookie Oniel Fisher will try and get his playoff legs under him for the first time. The 2015 draft pick saw significant minutes over the summer, though he struggled with positioning and one on one defending, despite his impressive speed. Limiting those one-on-ones with FC Dallas’ wingers could determine the outcome of this match; though that is easier said than done, especially when one of those wingers will undoubtedly be Colombian sensation, Fabian Castillo.
In the midfield, the Sounders must attempt to unnerve a young group that has the advantage of outnumbering the home side. Coach of the Year candidate Oscar Pareja has built his side around a 4-5-1 featuring Diaz in a free attacking role with either Texeira or Perez in front of him. Andres Ivanschitz and Nelson Valdez, having joined Seattle in the latest transfer window, are still building their fitness, and combined with their age, seem unlikely to reprise their roles on the wings. This leaves Marco Pappa, if healthy, the chance to step up and build on his goal on Decision Day. The Guatemalan international has the exact skillset to help Dempsey and Martins trouble the Dallas back four, which happens to be the oldest and most experienced unit the visitors will bring to Seattle.
Last time FC Dallas came to Seattle, the Sounders were able to take all 3 points in a 3-0 win.
The other wide midfield spot is more of a toss up as Lamar Neagle has fallen out of favor. If Alonso is able to go from the start, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Erik Friberg move off to the right side of midfield with either Andy Rose or Gonzalo Pineda replacing him in the center. If Alonso can’t go, it’s probably Friberg-Rose in the center. This particular scenario features the unique possibility of Chad Barrett partnering Martins up top with Dempsey dropping into midfield as he did last week. Honestly, there really aren’t very many other attacking options for the depleted side.
Their goal will be to keep it close in leg one. As Chad Barrett described at training on Friday, perhaps it will be the home crowd that buoy Seattle where rest has failed them:
“It’s always tough to play three games in a week, four games in how many days? It’s tough but that’s playoff soccer. That’s what it is. That’s why it’s so important to play that game at home and get our twelfth man behind us. That forty thousand, fifty thousand people, how every many that are going to be there, get them behind us, give us that little piece of energy we that probably wouldn’t have had we played in Dallas. So it’ll be good to play this home game first and I think the goal is try and score a few goals but most importantly keep them to zero, because away goals is what got [us through]last year.”
Barrett’s point is valid- having to play at Dallas this weekend would have amounted to another Seattle playoff series decided prematurely. Fabian Castillo is the compliment for Diaz, bringing speed where the Argentine brings creativity. The two of them may have a field day in Seattle, but they definitely would have in Frisco.
So how do you stop it? Schmid will need to take a page out of Peter Vermes’ playbook and grind out a gritty result. This entails keeping eight or ten men behind the ball whenever possible, and limiting Dallas on counters and set pieces. It means slowing the offense down and looking to posses to give the defense a breather, rather than transitioning at a breakneck pace. Mostly, it means showing the discipline to know that this tie can’t be won on Sunday, but it can be lost.
Will the Sounders show a confident idealism, and attempt to carry the game as they normally do at home? Or, after seven years, will the club show the tactical flexibility necessary to finally hoist the cup at the end of the season?
PREDICTION
Seattle 0, Dallas 0
