Sounders Ready for First-Place Rapids
By Ben Renner
After dropping yet another game on the road, the Sounders return home to Seattle to face the first-place Colorado Rapids.
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The Sounders will face the Colorado Rapids at CenturyLink Field at 7pm tomorrow night looking for revenge after their disheartening 3-1 loss at Colorado last month. The Rapids are currently the Cinderella story of the year in the MLS. After a rough offseason, they are in first place with 24 points in the Western Conference standings.
Much of the credit for the Rapids’ surprising success this year has rightfully gone to US Men’s National Team veteran Jermaine Jones, who has been an offensive force so far this season, scoring three goals and assisting two others this season for the Rapids. He has also been distributing the ball well in Colorado’s aggressive attack.
Head coach Sigi Schmid told reporters after the Sounders training session yesterday that injured forward Nelson Valdez, who didn’t make the trip to Dallas last week, was progressing to full health, but held off on details of the starting lineup. Chad Marshall was absent from Thursday’s practice with an undisclosed injury. Schmid called Marshall “questionable” for tomorrow.
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The Sounders sit in eighth place in the West with 13 points on the season. Because of their road troubles, the margin for error at home is razor-thin if they want to climb back into the race. There’s a long season still to go, but the Sounders have to clean up at home whenever possible and beating the first-place Rapids is a good place to start.