SoccerBlogs

Schellas Hyndman – FC Dallas Head Coach

(On the outcome of the game...)
"It's about right. They created a lot of chances, a lot of breakaways, a lot of counterattacks. It seemed like the only time Seattle really put their foot on the ball is when we were down a man.

Happy Tuesday, folks. The top story on D.C. United's website is an article with tweets from players that they sent out during a photo shoot. Yeah, no one wants to talk about that Red Bulls game at all.

Tweet Tweet: D.C. United at the Capitol | D.C. United

Look at how special we are.

In a result that can only be considered failure the Seattle Sounders drew the New England Revolution at home. The zero-zero result does not do the performance justice, nor does the single point in the table represent the match. Two months into the league play and Seattle can not manage a win despite the favorable schedule.

As the Seattle Sounders sit with zero points they get their best opportunity for a win when they take on the New England Revolution, another team struggling as the season begins. Amid injuries and fitness the lineup for Seattle is in question. This is also true for the Revolution, but they have the biggest "injury of all.

During this rather awful start by the Seattle Sounders, one of the common calls is for the team to do something drastic in terms of formations. Whether it's calls for a three-man backline a three-forward set or something else, there seems to be this idea that one of Sigi Schmid's biggest problems is that he's hopelessly devoted to the 4-4-2 or some version of it.

Teams are going to face choices on how to defend the speedy duo of Obafemi Martins and Eddie Johnson. It gets even more complex due to Steve Zakuani sitting on one flank. Sigi Schmid says the Seattle Sounders will need to react to the open space as it is given.

"Do they want to play a high line?

Both sides will but forward significantly weakened teams from the Ideal XIs that a coach prefers. Seattle Sounders coach Sigi Schmid has dealt with the injuries a bit longer so his reduced team has a bit more experience than Frank Yallop's reduced San Jose Earthquakes.

The South Bay side still has decent talent though.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

By FRANCO PANIZO

Adam Johansson is reportedly in the final hours of his time as a member of the Seattle Sounders.

Sounders head coach Sigi Schmid said after Tuesday practice that Johansson is going to be waived in a move that could be made official as soon as Wednesday, according to the Seattle Times.

The United States earned their extraordinarily rare point at Azteca with Eddie Johnson putting in 35 minutes all the way up top unlike his past matches for Jurgen Klinsmann. Midfielder Mario Martinez played the full 90 for Honduras in their road loss to Panama. The two performances may help long term recruiting for Hanauer & Co, but right now they create lineup questions for Sigi Schmid.

Sigi Schmid gave Softy specifics about injuries and playing status today during his near weekly show on KJR. He addressed Obafemi Martins' availability, the club's need for players being at 100% and a couple players that played themselves out of the lineup who may be reentering it as well.

On a cold, wet day after a draw/loss in Mexico and a day of rest the biggest bit of news is that Obafemi Martins returned to Starfire and was training with the team again. Several other key Sounders are still out with injury and Friday's training session will go a long way to determining who gets used in Saturday's match.

Obafemi Martins is clearly not going to play on Tuesday night in Torreon as the Seattle Sounders try to upset Santos Laguna and continue to make history in the tournament. But the team may, or may not, have the services of Eddie Johnson and Brad Evans.

"Eddie did more today," head coach Sigi Schmid said following a rainy day of training on Sunday.

Seattle Sounders FC will likely be without at least two of their four listed forwards for the match at Santos Laguna next Tuesday. Obafemi Martins is getting his knee looked at by a foreign specialist and David Estrada's eye is still healing from a non-foul incident in the RSL game. Eddie Johnson may be back for the next match.

Obafemi Martins and Eddie Johnson logged significant travel miles over the past week in order to help club and country. After today's practice session it seems likely that both will be able to feature in the two matches that are causing Sigi Schmid to juggle lineups. Mario Martinez is unlikely to start on Saturday.

In a match that will last in Seattle Sounders fans memories more for the first appearance of Obafemi Martins than the result, the result was a mere draw against Portland Timbers squad that used constant pressure and a barrage of offense to press Seattle despite being on the road. Steve Zakuani created a great opportunity in the 13th minute that Eddie Johnson slid into the goal, but the 1-nil lead would not hold the Timbers back and Rodney Wallace completed their comeback with a 91st minute game winner tying goal.

As Seattle Sounders and Portland timbers rekindle their decades old rivalry for 2013 there was much anticipation in CenturyLink for Obafemi Martins arrival. As much vitriol and familiarity between Seattle and Portland, both clubs are without key contributors from their past and are somewhat unknown to each other.

Both Sounders GM Adrian Hanauer and Coach Sigi Schmid talked briefly about the potential Designated Player signing of former Levante player Obafemi Martins when practice at Starfire wrapped up today. While neither was willing to confirm the deal, their words make the deal seem quite close to being done.

SEATTLE - For the first time in a while, Seattle Sounders FC dominated a game on Saturday in the 0-0 tie against the New England Revolution.

Both teams played a 4-4-2 hybrid formation that often looked like a 4-2-3-1. Deep-lying central midfielders disrupted play through the middle on both ends, making flank play the key to success for both teams.

BY MIKE DONOVAN

Obafemi Martins returned to practice on Thursday for the first time in two weeks while dealing with a knee injury. Despite his return to practice, Sigi Schmid told KJR Radio that Martins will not play in Saturday's match against the New England Revolution. The team listed Martins as out for the match.

Shifting Steve Zakuani to the forward was a major topic of conversation this week both online and at practice. This also lead into Sigi Schmid talking about how part of the shift was due to the way that Seattle needed to defend Santos Laguna. It was a similar structure to what was used to chase the second half of the Salt Lake match and most of leg one's loss to Santos at home.

With a starting lineup that was clearly chosen to send a message Sigi Schmid's Seattle Sounders played a better game of soccer than their recent past. It was also quite different. The aggressive 4-1-4-1 put pressure higher than Seattle typically deploys. This created a few transitions further up field and led to some interesting attacks, but the Santos Laguna counter bypassing that midfield either over the top or with one touch 20 yard passes would create too many counters.

The Sounders' pursuit of a CONCACAF Champions League title will have to wait until 2015, at the earliest. That's a rather bitter pill to swallow, and is not made much easier by the fact that the Sounders came within a goal of advancing to the final.

The silver lining of the elimination comes in the way the Sounders were eliminated.

Using Steve Zakuani and Eddie Johnson as forwards Sigi Schmid's Seattle Sounders created numerous chances, held their own in Mexico and still fall to Santos Laguna in the CONCACAF Champions League semifinals. Carlos Quintero opened the scoring for the home side with a 21st minute free kick placed as well as can be.

Yesterday's weekly notes from Seattle Sounders FC said that Michael Gspurning earned his second yellow card (he is listed with two on official tournament site) of the current CONCACAF Champions League cycle and will miss the first leg against Santos Laguna. If you are surprised by this don't worry, most everyone is - including Sigi Schmid.

If you think that the goal against Seattle by UANL Tigres was offside you could be right. But you would only be right if you are talking about that creature called "passive offside." This is the case where a player affects play without touching the ball.

Sigi Schmid made an impassioned case that the goal against Seattle Sounders FC in the CONCACAF Champions League match was one of those cases.

Some matches Seattle goes in as overwhelming favorites (Most Open Cup, CCL Group stage, Reserve League). During the regular season at worst they are evenly matched with their MLS competitors. A couple times a year Sounders FC are dramatic underdogs. Even then, Sigi Schmid rarely plays cynically. Tonight against UANL Tigres in CONCACAF Champions League action expect a cynical lineup that emphasizes the bunker & counter with one forward with speed to chase and the other with a magical foot.

The long expected signings of Philip Lund and Ashani Fairclough was made official on Friday, the Seattle Sounders announced. Lund and Fairclough were two of the last trialists in training camp and have long seemed to have the inside tracks on earning roster spots. Lund will occupy an international roster spot, but Fairclough will not as he has permanent resident status.

Seattle Sounders FC will be parting ways with right back and Swedish National Teamer Adam Johansson so that he can get first team minutes and continue his career. The move will open up cap space as well as relieve some playing time congestion in the midfield. Just prior to the end of practice Liviu Bird tweeted the following;

Source says Adam Johansson hasn't been at Sounders FC training for a week.

The formations were typical of what the Sounders and Timbers have displayed in recent history.

Passion will be bouncing through the stadium from section to section from stands to field. Seattle Sounders FC v Soccer Village USA is enough to get anyone excited for the game. It is still early to judge how good either team is, but on paper the Schakal are much better than the past two seasons, that may or may not mean that they are better than Seattle now.

There was plenty of discussion over decisions made by head referee Jorge Gonzalez during the 2-2 tie between the Philadelphia Union and Seattle Sounders on Saturday, with both sides questioning major calls in the second half.

The biggest controversy was a missed call on a hand ball in the box by Sounders left back Leo Gonzalez in the closing minute, but there were also three red cards that Gonzalez handed out in the last ten minutes.

There's going to be a lot of time spent on how that 4-2-3-1 played, because it was different. What was different about it was not that it was used. Sigi Schmid has used that general shape before and in some ways a majority of time when Montero was here the 4-4-2 played very similar. Just look at how Alex Caskey was asked to play.

After a week with a roster depleted by injury and national team calls Sigi Schmid may get to pick an ideal XI based solely off of form and tactics when the Sounders travel to face Real Salt Lake on Saturday. Both Brad Evans and Shalrie Joseph returned to full training today, with Tuesday's training being major test in how healthy they will be through the week.

Both Don Ruiz and Joshua Mayers relayed the injury status of the Sounders. The simple version is that the same players who were available Wednesday are still available while Estrada and/or Zakuani could be available. There may be changes though as Seattle Sounders FC needs to be more aggressive in leg two.

Leading up to the Seattle Sounders' trip to Monterrey, Sigi Schmid openly talked about the need to avoid disaster. Of course, winning was ideal and securing a tie would have been very nice, but the goal was to head back to Seattle with out digging themselves a horrible hole the way they had done in playoff series each of the past two years.