Sounders FC ready for defensive battle
With margin for error minimized in playoffs, Seattle expects tight match
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With the paucity of scoring chances in the playoffs, Seattle knows that scoring a goal or two in Thursday night's first leg could mean the difference between advancing and going home. With the return leg of the home-and-away playoff series set for next weekend, both teams will be playing to win, but defensive discipline will be of primary importance.
"It's going to be tight defensively," said Seattle defender James Riley, who competed in the playoffs with the New England Revolution. "In the playoffs, you try to re-emphasize team defense. You get (fewer) opportunities, but when you do get opportunities you want to stick it in the net."
Sounders FC hold a 2-0-1 advantage in the season series with the Dynamo. Despite that success, Seattle coach Sigi Schmid said there isn't too much to be drawn from those results except that his team knows it can win against its first-round foe. Each game was a "mutually exclusive event" according to the veteran coach, especially when one considers the changes in Houston's squad since the two teams met.
Up front, Houston has also added the potent forward Luis Angel Landin. The 24-year-old Mexican adds a different look than Houston's other forwards and has had some time to get into step with his strike partner Brian Ching.
"Technically he is a very, very good player. He's got good size," Schmid said of Landin. "He presents a different element than what we faced when we played against [Kei] Kamara and he is much different than [Dominic] Oduro."
Besides Landin, Houston's back line, which had been ravaged by injuries and international absences when the teams played in July, is now intact again. The Dynamo's only injured defensive player is Richard Mulrooney, who began to suffer knee problems after the U.S. Open Cup semifinal against Seattle and has been out since July.
Considering the spate of injuries the Dynamo struggled through, the fact that they conceded only 29 goals -- tied with Seattle for the best mark in the league -- is especially impressive.
Sounders FC, too, had some injury concerns during the week, with goalkeeper Kasey Keller leaving training early with a sore ankle and striker Fredy Montero held out altogether due to illness. But appear fine and ready to play on Thursday.
With the defensive strength of both teams, it will be interesting to see how many gambles each team will take. In August, Houston's 1-1 draw at home against Seattle included plenty of goal-scoring opportunities and could have been won by either team. But teams tend to tighten up in the playoffs, meaning it will be up to the players to pick and choose the chances to get forward for goals.
As each team fights to limit the opportunities of the other, spectators can expect another physical battle on Thursday night. Memories of Seattle's Open Cup melee against Houston back on July 18 include a bloody head dressing worn by Seattle's Nate Jaqua and a few "extracurricular activities" from either team that went unpunished by the referee.
Seattle came out on top on that hot, sticky night in Tukwila, Wash., but the physical nature of the game has remained in the minds of the players.
"We know it's going to be a physical game," Riley said. "We aren't going to back down from physical challenges. We aren't going to go in dirty -- we are just going to go in hard like they are."
In the cauldron of Qwest Field, with the noise of more than 30,000 fans echoing in the ears of the players, physical challenges could lead to skirmishes, especially considering the frustration designated player Freddie Ljungberg has shown at home during the course of the season.
Schmid has taken precautions to make sure any physical confrontations don't turn into yellow or red cards for his team, addressing his team earlier in the week. Riley believes Seattle's earlier card troubles should mitigate any silly cards.
"To be honest, having all those disciplinary things going on in the beginning of the season was a bit of a blessing in disguise," said Riley, who has been sent off twice in 2009. "Playoffs are a whole new level of intensity but I think we've learned from those past mistakes."
Whatever happens, both coaches are treating this first round of the playoffs as one match with two halves.
"We're going to play and try to win this over 180 minutes. Unless the score is a big blowout either way, it's going to finish in Houston," said Houston coach Dominic Kinnear, echoing similar comments from Schmid. "You can't panic. You have to remain disciplined and remember that even though it's 180 minutes, every minute has some meaning."
Andrew Winner is a contributor to MLSnet.com.
