TUKWILA, Wash. – Seattle Sounders forward Nelson Valdez is still questionable for the team’s road matchup against the Houston Dynamo this weekend, and he may not travel with the team to Houston on Friday at all as he continues to recover from injury.
Valdez was hobbled this week with a leg injury sustained in training, and head coach Sigi Schmid said it’s unlikely the Paraguayan international will start when the two teams clash at BBVA Compass Stadium on Sunday (1 p.m. PT; ESPN/KIRO 97.3 FM/El Rey 1360AM), if he plays at all.
“He’s coming along,” Schmid said. “We’re debating whether we take him along because there’s another 48 hours to go before the game. But he was on the field [Friday], so we’ll have to see. Certainly, we don’t seem him necessarily starting.”
If Valdez can’t play, it will be the first time in six games across all competitions this season the Sounders will be without the 32-year-old veteran, who has exclusively played centrally up top in the team’s 4-3-3 formation.
The likely move without Valdez is to move Clint Dempsey into the middle and start either Aaron Kovar, Herculez Gomez or Darwin Jones on the front line, paired with Dempsey and Jordan Morris.
