The Seattle Sounders are hosting the first-place LA Galaxy at Lumen Field on Sunday (6 p.m. PT; FS1, 950 KJR AM, El Rey 1360 AM | TICKETS) and will be sporting their new Jimi Hendrix kits. Here are three matchups to watch:
Raúl Ruidíaz vs. Nick DePuy
Ruidíaz recorded a brace in the opening week and nearly added another on a header in Week 2 (a chance that Brad Smith cleaned up for a goal). The Sounders’ talisman will look to get on the score sheet again as he lines up against Daniel Steres and his inexperienced center back partner DePuy, who was a collegiate forward before transitioning to central defense over the last few years. Despite being the only 2-0-0 team in the league, the Galaxy have allowed two goals in each of their first two matches.
João Paulo vs. Víctor Vázquez
The Sounders know Vázquez well after his two-year stint with Toronto FC that helped lead the Reds past Seattle in MLS Cup 2017. The 34-year-old Spaniard spent two years away from MLS before being brought back in by new Galaxy manager Greg Vanney, the same man who coached him at TFC. The Sounders have only conceded one goal in two matches so far, and none from open play, and a large part of that has been the defensive work of João Paulo and Josh Atencio clogging the middle of the park. It’ll be important to keep Vázquez off the ball, so he can’t get it to…
Xavier Arreaga vs. Javier “Chicharito” Hernández
Chicharito leads MLS with five goals in the opening two weeks, three more than any other player. He’s coming off a hat trick and very much looks like the Chicharito of old, the goalscoring poacher that he was brought in to be. Arreaga has been playing in the middle of Head Coach Brian Schmetzer’s new three-man back line, and it’ll be his job to organize Shane O’Neill and Nouhou to ensure Chicharito isn’t able to float into little pockets of space and dangerous gaps in the defense, something upon which he’s defined his illustrious career. LA has shown so far that it needs Chicharito’s offense to win games, so whether the Sounders can contain him or not will almost certainly dictate Sunday’s result.
