Every year about this time we look back on the truncated MLS offseason and wonder where the time went. As onlookers, we’re afforded that luxury.
Players and coaches are not. Time to suit up.
Just months after a brutal Walker Zimmerman penalty kick sent the Seattle Sounders home for a wet winter hibernation, they’re back back on the grind for the first time in MLS play against Sporting Kansas City on Sunday (4 p.m. PT; FS1/KIRO 97.3 FM/El Rey 1360 AM), the beginning of one of the most anticipated seasons in recent Sounders history.
As far as Seattle is concerned, bowing out of the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF Champions League to Club América on Wednesday could prove to be a shrouded blessing. Not only does the team not have to worry about leg-draining midweek cup matches early in the season, but the Sounders were also able to use those matches to adequately build fitness in ways most of the league wasn’t able to do. Going 90 minutes against a Liga MX side at 7,000 feet is a bit more valuable than a preseason friendly.
There’s one question mark about the Sounders’ opening day lineup – Erik Friberg could skip this one after suffering a blow to the head midweek in Mexico, meaning Cristian Roldan likely gets the call in midfield – but the remainder of the starting XI is secure. Expect the same group we’ve seen over the last three matches, stretching back to a 4-0 win over the LA Galaxy in preseason. While the back line struggled a but against Club America, there’s little reason to think that given time, this crew won’t coalesce into the league-best defense it was in 2015 in time.
The bigger question mark is what Sporting Kansas City brings to bear.
The core of Vermes’ crew is roughly the same as it was last year, and the year before that. The bedrock of SKC’s success the last few years has been consistency, and Vermes is essentially the diametric opposite of USMNT boss Jurgen Klinsmann when it comes to team selection: he is rarely full of surprises.
The most intriguing tactical riddle, then, isn’t necessarily what SKC throws onto the field, but how it matches up with the Sounders’ lineup. Both teams will likely trot out a 4-3-3, and interestingly enough, both tactical deployments will be roughly the same. Vermes prefers playing two defensive midfielders behind Benny Feilhaber, and in a first choice setting that’s Soni Mustivar and Roger Espinoza. The back line will be similar to its setup last year, and the changes up front largely involve whether veteran newcomers Brad Davis or Justin Mapp starts on the left opposite Dom Dwyer in the middle and Graham Zusi on the right.
But the middle is where the real intrigue lies. And it’s probably where the game will be won or lost on Sunday.
The Sounders tend to build their attacks around the successes (or failures) of Osvaldo Alonso. If the Cuban holding midfielder can flip possession quickly to restart attacks, it’s typically a dominant day for Seattle in terms of possession. One of the reasons Seattle’s struggled against SKC in recent years, however, is because Feilhaber makes that so difficult.
There isn’t a better central attacking midfielder in MLS than Feilhaber, who’s basically a direct matchup versus Alonso with both sides playing 4-3-3s. Expect him to tag-team Feilhaber with Friberg or Roldan. If Feilhaber has a quiet day, so too does the rest of the XI.
The broader question stoked by the Club America series is how the defense recovers from surrendering five goals in two games. The good news it that Oribe Peralta and Darwin Quintero are forever in the rearview, but they don’t get much rest with Dwyer on deck. There are few forwards in MLS more opportunistic, and both Davis (if he starts) and Zusi can drop a dead ball or a cross on the head of a pin. Don’t think this team won’t be dangerous on the break just because it’s aging.
From Seattle’s perspective, a hot start is important. In 2015, a 3-0 opening night win over the New England Revolution set the tone for a tremendously productive first few months of the season. With the attack seemingly already humming and the midfield settling nicely into its new 4-3-3 environs, the table is set for arguably the most anticipated season in franchise history.
