Seattle Sounders vs. Toronto FC – Game Preview
Saturday, September 5th, Century Field, Seattle, WA. 10 p.m. ET
Major League Soccer West meets East, with recently-troubled Seattle Sounders hosting injury-battered Toronto FC.
Seattle Sounders are currently sitting in sixth place in Major League Soccer’s Western Conference (12-13-2). Tied at 38 points with seventh-place San Jose Earthquakes and being just above the red line, this is a crucial came for Seattle in terms of securing the playoff spot.
Seattle’s late 2-1 home win over Portland Timbers this past Sunday followed a 2-0 loss at Real Salt Lake, a 4-0 home win over Orlando City SC; and beforehand a 5-game losing streak throughout July.
Toronto FC sit fourth in Major League Soccer’s Eastern Conference (11-10-4) and are tied at 37 points with fifth-place New England Revolution.
Toronto had a slump in mid-August, losing 1-3 to Sporting Kansas City at home, followed by a 3-0 loss at New York Red Bulls. However, the team has recovered with a 5-0 home win over Orlando City SC, followed by a 2-1 win at home over Canadian rival Montreal Impact.
Although Toronto FC seems to be the stronger side coming into this match, the team’s star forward and goal scorer Sebastian Giovinco is injured. Fellow forward Jozy Altidore is also going to miss the trip to Seattle due to International duty. That means that Captain, midfielder and play-maker Michael Bradley will need to creatively fill up the void left by the Atomic Ant and Altidore.
Seattle Sounders are coming with forward Obafemi Martins coming back from injury and looking strong, having scored three goals in Seattle’s last three games.
This is the first time these sides are meeting this Major League Soccer season, with Toronto winning 2-1 at CenturyLink Field last March. This was Toronto’s second win out of all nine meetings the two teams had.
