As the Seattle Sounders approach their second road match of the season, the team is confident the outcome will be different when they take on Sporting Kansas City (5:30 p.m. PT; MLS Season Pass on Apple TV app, 950 KJR, El Rey 1360AM) at Children’s Mercy Park
“We’re going to put out a good squad and we have a good chance of winning if we play up to our potential,” said Head Coach Brian Schmetzer.
Key players Raúl Ruidíaz, Nouhou and Alex Roldan will be away due to international call-ups, but the versatility of the Rave Green allows the team to continue competing with the same intensity.
“We have more than capable players who can slot into multiple positions, so I think we’ll see something along the lines of that,” said goalkeeper Stefan Frei.
Other tactics include utilizing substitutes for longer stretches of time. Forward Léo Chú, midfielder Josh Atencio and defender Kelyn Rowe are among the few players who will likely contribute to more minutes this Saturday.
The Sounders also hope to build off their defensive performance from last weekend against LAFC, while challenging themselves to create more opportunities in the attack.
“We've played fairly well defensively so we need to keep that going, a clean sheet again,” said Schmetzer. “And then scoring goals, we haven’t scored in two games, so a lot of this week was addressing that.”
Added Schmetzer: “Training [focused on] a lot of attacking movements, a lot of shooting and a lot of finishing.”
The team has struggled on the road since July of last year but remain positive and determined to slash the 10 away-game losing streak this coming weekend against Sporting Kansas City.
“If we can eliminate those small mistakes and be a bit more clinical in certain instances, we're right there,” said Frei. “It will have to come sooner or later…We just have to keep putting our heads down, keep working hard, believing that we can do it and keep putting ourselves in positions to be in games on the road to take some points on.”
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