Seattle Sounders vs. FC Dallas: 3 Keys for Game 1
By Paul Taylor
1) A clean sheet is vital
It can’t be stressed enough how important a clean sheet is, when you’re playing at home in the second (and indeed third) round of the playoffs. This becomes even more paramount, when you have to go on the road for the second leg.
In fact, you can go as far as to say a 0-0 at home is better than 1-1 for the Sounders. Understandably, this will mean Stefan Frei needing a performance similar to the one he gave against Sporting KC, when he was probably Seattle’s best player.
Frei spoke to the media about Thursday’s game “You train every day, to be able to make saves and I was fortunate enough to be able to make them (against Sporting KC).
“It’s nice to be able to help out your team, especially in critical moments like the playoffs, so I’m please with that. However, we have a big test looming ahead, (against FC Dallas).”
One critical factor to getting that clean sheet at home, could be the availability of Roman Torres, who missed training on Saturday with a tight hamstring. Schmetzer admitted afterwards that the imposing defender will be a game-day decision, so Sounders’ fans will have to wait with baited breath to find out.