After making the 3,000 mile trip to the East Coast on Thursday, Seattle Sounders FC hit the training pitch in Foxborough to finish the final preparations ahead of Saturday’s match against the New England Revolution (4:30 p.m. PT; JOEtv, Univision-Seattle, ROOT Sports (outside Seattle); KIRO 97.3 FM, El Rey 1360AM).
“Guys put in a good effort today coming off a long road trip yesterday,” said captain Brad Evans as the team wrapped up a session near Gillette Stadium. With just one point on the road so far in 2016, Evans said the locker room is more than ready to start making a return to a better road form. “It’s been awhile for us…since Houston. It’s a tough task,” said Evans, “but I think everybody’s up for it. We don’t come out here for no reason; we come out here to get results.
Head coach Sigi Schmid’s squad is looking to put last Saturday’s disappointing 1-0 loss in the rear view mirror and imagines that the Revs also want to forget about the 4-2 loss they suffered at home against FC Dallas. New England, which currently sits at 2-4-7 for the season, does have the service of proven goal scorer Kei Kamara, a familiar face that Seattle will face again after shutting him down at CenturyLink Field just weeks ago.
“Luckily, we’ve already played against Kei once this year,” said Schmid, “so it won’t be the first time we’ve seen him.”
The Sounders defense had no problem stopping Kamara when Columbus visited Seattle in April; in fact, Kamara was only able to get one shot on target all afternoon. “He’s a player that relies on service. We’ve got to make sure we cut out service to Kei,” said Schmid.
After Saturday’s match, the team will stay on the East Coast, traveling south to Washington D.C. to face D.C. United on Wednesday evening at RFK Stadium before returning home for the Copa America Centenario break. That’s not on Evans’ mind, though, who said he and his teammates are zeroed in on making the most of the road swing.
“Right now, we’re only focused on New England and what we can accomplish here.”