Eddie Johnson and Obafemi Martins will start up top for the Sounders with Lamar Neagle on the left wing.
SANDY, Utah – Lineups are in at Rio Tinto Stadium as the Sounders FC faces Real Salt Lake for the second time this season and Seattle head coach Sigi Schmid will be looking for an explosive offense with Obafemi Martins, Eddie Johnson and Lamar Neagle all starting.
To fit the three forwards on the field together, Neagle moved to the left wing, where he scored five goals for the Sounders in the 2011 season. Johnson and Martins will start up top and Neagle will be joined in the midfield by Shalrie Joseph and Servando Carrasco, who will be making his eighth straight start, with Mauro Rosales on the right side.
Defensively, Schmid was left to fill the gap created by DeAndre Yedlin playing with the US U20 National Team at the U20 World Cup in Turkey and he opted to put Zach Scott in that role. Djimi Traore and Jhon Kennedy Hurtado will start as the two centerbacks with Leo Gonzalez at left back. Michael Gspurning will aim to keep alive the Sounders FC’s hot run as the best team in MLS over the last nine matches at 6-1-2.
On the bench, the Sounders will have Marcus Hahnemann, Marc Burch, Andy Rose, Alex Caskey, Mario Martinez and David Estrada.
RSL head coach Jason Kreis also has the benefit of bringing players back from national team duty, with Alvaro Saborio starting up top alongside Robbie Findley after Saborio returned from World Cup qualifying with Costa Rica. The diamond shaped midfield will consist of Kyle Beckerman in the defensive role, Khari Stephenson and Ned Grabavoy as the outside midfielders and Javier Morales at the head of the diamond.
Defensively, Nick Rimando will start in goal behind a back four of Tony Beltran, Carlos Salcedo, Nat Borchers and Chris Wingert.
On the bench will be Josh Saunders, Lovel Palmer, Yordany Alvarez, Sebastian Velasquez, Olmes Garcia, Joao Plata and Devon Sandoval.
