SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC v. SAINT LOUIS CITY SC

Greetings to my brothers and sisters in Green. Struggling St. Louis City visit The Evergreen for a midweek fixture in the league.

What: MLS League match, Seattle Sounders FC v. St. Louis City SC.

Where: Royal Brougham Park, Occidental Avenue, Seattle, Washington.

When: 7:30 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time, Wednesday 17 July 2024 CE.

At Stake: Sounders are setting a torrid pace, but unfortunately those above us in the league table are keeping an equally torrid pace of late. Sounders can rise as high as 8th in the league with a victory over St. Louis, results and goal difference permitting. Should we be defeated, we can drop as far as 14th place. Sounders FC currently sit 13th place in the MLS league table, 14 points adrift of new leaders Cincinnati.

Where to Watch: MLS Season Pass via Apple TV. As this is a home match, KJR simulcast will be available as alternate audio in the Apple TV control layer.

Where to Listen: 99.3 KJR FM and El Rey 1360 AM.

Get yourselves out to the ground if you are healthy and have the means. We’re on some kind of a run, and you wouldn’t want to miss this chapter of the exciting journey. Support is vital, and with the Sounders possibly conserving a bit of manpower for Saturdays’ bust up with LAFC, the lads are gonna need all the support you can muster.

Failing that it’s pubs, houses, flats, boats, ships, where ever you can gather round the telly of an Apple TV subscriber. From a psychic standpoint though, and quantum physics for that matter, your voices are no less important to urge the lads to victory.

It’s midweek football under the lights at Royal Brougham Park. GO ON YOU SOUNDERS!!! GET IN!!!

Before kick-off, please join me in the auld toast: “TO THE SEATTLE SOUNDERS FOOTBALL CLUB…AND VICTORY!!!”

Sounders FC have set a blistering pace in the second half of the season. Can we maintain it?

The Good News

Over the last five matches, Sounders FC are reliably scoring an average of two goals per match. Paired with our third-best defence in the league, you can expect to win a lot of matches with that level of production.

St. Louis are struggling. Mightily. They have conceded 13 goals in their last five matches for an average of 2.60 goals conceded/match. Their last two matches in the league were 4:1 defeats to Vancouver and Colorado.

With their top goal-scorer, Joao Klauss, injured, and other key injuries in their squad, combined with St. Louis’ defensive struggles, it’s hard to see them mounting a serious threat, barring utter calamity or a complete collapse on our part.

Jordan Morris is on an absolute tear, scoring four goals in his last five league matches, and adding a US Open Cup goal against Sacramento Republic FC on 9 July. Centre-halves around the league have been unable to contain him, or keep pace with him.

The Bad News

The match against LAFC on Sat, has a two-day turnaround from the St. Louis match. You would imagine, although I make no guarantees here, that the Gaffer will have to rotate the squad. He could start a team of mostly squad players, or more of a half and half approach. Victory can definitely be achieved over St. Louis in their current state, the question is: What is it going to cost us come Saturday?

One caveat: As much as the numbers say this match is a walk-over, it should be noted that in the middle of the last five matches, which by any estimate was a horrible stretch for St. Louis, they shut out San Jose 2:0 on 3 July. San Jose is a team we struggle to beat. Does it make a difference? I don’t know.

St. Louis has only one victory since 15 May. You’d think that’s a positive thing…and it is…sorta. The thing is, when the season is falling apart at your club it can make you desperate like. Fear can be a very strong motivator. We must remain vigilant in defence.

The Side I Would Select

With a date against LAFC on Saturday, a two-day turnaround, I would play a younger lineup for the bulk of the minutes. Against St. Louis, who are weak at the back, this should be enough. If need be, first choice players will be standing by on the substitutes bench.

GK     Frei

LB     Baker-Whiting

LCH    Bell

RCH    Nathan

RB     Baker

LDM    Leyva

RDM    Vargas

LF     Leo Chu

CAM   Leyva

RF     Rothrock

CF     Musovski

The Side I Think The Gaffer Will Select

In the recent past, and for as long as I can remember, this was the easiest prediction to make. The Gaffer has re-discovered his caginess, and has become wily again. This is the team (minus Atencio, for whom I’ll patch in Joao Paulo, who is off to Paris for the Olympics) that played in our 2:2 draw in Houston on 19 June. A match that was followed by a two-day turnaround before facing Dallas in Seattle.

GK     Frei

LB     Bell

LCH    Ragen

RCH    Gomez Andrade

RB     Cristian

LDM    Joao Paulo

RDM   Vargas

LF     Baker-Whiting

CAM   Rusnak

RF     Rothrock

CF     Morris

Intangibles

The Referee for the midweek fixture against St. Louis will be Alexis Da Silva who has only 12 MLS matches worth of experience.

Sounders FC record with Da Silva as Referee: 0-1-0

St. Louis record with Da Silva as Referee: 0-0-0

General notes on personnel

St. Louis transfers IN:

Olivares - reserves

Durkin (DC United) €278,000

Totland (BK Hacken) €455,000

Dyhr (FC Midtjylland) €500,000

Kijima - draft

Teuchert (Hannover 96) free

Girdwood-Reich (Sydney FC) €794,000

Klein - reserves 

Hartel (FC St. Pauli) free

Wentzel - reserves 

Reid - reserves

St. Louis transfers OUT:

Creek (FC Tulsa) free

Schneider (Indy Eleven) free

Bell (Seattle Sounders FC) re-entry draft

Nelson (LA Galaxy) free

Stroud (DC United) undisclosed fee

Bartlett (DC United) undisclosed fee

Perez (Birmingham Legion FC) loan

Gioacchini (Como 1907) €2M

Jensen (Viborg FF) loan

Jackson (Columbus Crew SC) €606,000

Dyhr (Randers FC) €373,000

Comparison against common opponents

RSL 2:0 SEA

SEA 1:1 RSL

STL 1:1 RSL

RSL 3:1 STL

(against RSL: SEA 0-1-1 -2, STL 0-1-1 -2) even

SEA 0:0 ATX
ATX 0:1 SEA

ATX 2:2 STL

STL 1:0 ATX

(against ATX: SEA 1-1-0 +1, STL 1-1-0 +1) even

LAG 1:0 SEA

SEA 0:0 LAG

LAG 3:3 STL

(against LAG: SEA 0-1-1 -1, STL 0-1-0 0) edge STL

DC 2:1 SEA

STL 2:2 DC

(against DC: SEA 0-0-1 -1, STL 0-1-0 0) edge STL

DAL 0:0 SEA

SEA 3:2 DAL

STL 0:0 DAL

DAL 2:0 STL

(against DAL: SEA 1-1-0 +1, STL 0-1-1 -2) edge SEA

SKC 2:1 SEA

SKC 3:3 STL

(against SKC: SEA 0-0-1 -1, STL 0-1-0 0) edge STL

HOU 2:2 SEA

STL 2:1 HOU CCC

HOU 1:0 STL CCC

HOU 0:0 STL

(against HOU: SEA 0-1-0 0, STL 1-1-1 0) edge STL

SEA 2:1 CHI

STL 3:1 CHI

(against CHI: SEA 1-0-0 +1, STL 1-0-0 +2) edge STL

LAFC 2:1 SEA

STL 0:2 LAFC

(against LAFC: SEA 0-0-1 -1, STL 0-0-1 -2) edge SEA

POR 1:2 SEA

STL 0:0 POR

(against POR: SEA 1-0-0 +1, STL 0-1-0 0) edge SEA

SEA 1:1 COL

STL 0:3 COL

COL 4:1 STL

(against COL: SEA 0-1-0 0, STL 0-0-2 -6) edge SEA

SEA 0:2 VAN

SEA 1:1 VAN

VAN 4:3 STL

STL 1:4 VAN

(against VAN: SEA 0-1-1 -2, STL 0-0-2 -4) edge SEA

SJ 3:2 SEA

STL 2:0 SJ

(against SJ: SEA 0-0-1 -1, STL 1-0-0 +2) edge STL

Know Thine Enemy

St. Louis as they lined up in their 1:4 defeat against Vancouver at CityPark on 13 July. 

GOALKEEPER

Roman Burki, 33

Switzerland (9/0)

Notable Clubs: BSC Young Boys (2/0), FC Thun (4/0), FC Schaffhausen (9/0), Grasshoppers (110/0), SC Freiberg (34/0), Borussia Dortmund (176/0), St. Louis City SC (55/0)

Estimated Transfer Value: €2.5M

Notes: Developed by FC Munsingen and BSC Young Boys. Won a Swiss Cup with Grasshoppers. Won two DFB Pokal and a DFB Supercup with Borussia Dortmund. Named to MLS Best XI 2023. Named MLS Goalkeeper of the Year 2023.

DEFENCE

Jayden Reid, 22

United States

Notable Clubs: New York RB (1/0), St. Louis City SC (4/0)

Estimated Transfer Value: €50,000

Notes: Developed by Jigs Soccer Academy and New York RB. Played his university football for Connecticut (51/3).

Tim Parker, 31

United States (2/0)

Notable Clubs: Long Island Rough Riders (7/0), Brooklyn Italians (5/0), Vancouver Whitecaps (76/1), New York RB (79/1), Houston Dynamo (62/0), St. Louis City SC (48/4)

Estimated Transfer Value: €1.2M

Notes: Played his university football for St. John’s (79/4). Won a Canadian Championship with Vancouver. Won an MLS league championship with New York RB. Named to MLS Best XI 2023.

Joshua Yaro, 29

Ghana

Notable Clubs: Philadelphia Union (23/0), San Antonio FC (45/1), San Diego Loyal (28/2), St. Louis City SC (26/1)

Estimated Transfer Value: €450,000

Notes: Developed by Right to Dream Academy. Played his university football at Georgetown (57/1).

Tomas Totland, 24

Norway

Notable Clubs: Sogndal (72/7), Tromso (27/5), Hacken (44/1), St. Louis City SC (22/2)

Estimated Transfer Value: €1.2M

Notes: Developed by Fana. Won a Swedish league title with Hacken.

MIDFIELD

Chris Durkin, 24

United States

Notable Clubs: DC United (96/5), Sint-Truiden (68/2), St. Louis City SC (22/1)

Estimated Transfer Value: €2M

Notes: Developed by Richmond Kickers and DC United.

Eduard Lowen, 27

Germany

Notable Clubs: FC Nurnberg (65/8), Hertha BSC (14/0), FC Augsberg (16/2), VfL Bochum (26/2), St. Louis City SC (42/9)

Estimated Transfer Value: €5.5M

Notes: Developed by SV Hottenbach, FC Kaiserslautern, and FC Saarbrucken.

Njabulo Blom, 24

South Africa (2/0)

Notable Clubs: Kaizer Chiefs (55/0), St. Louis City SC (40/2)

Estimated Transfer Value: €1M

Notes: Developed by Kaizer Chiefs.

FORWARD

Indiana Vassilev, 23

United States and Bulgaria

Notable Clubs: Aston VIlla (4/0), Inter Miami CF (45/5), St. Louis City SC (57/5)

Estimated Transfer Value: €2M

Notes: Developed by Tormenta FC, IMG Academy, and Aston Villa. Played at youth levels for United States (26/5). Won an EFL2 title with Cheltenham. Eligible to play for both United States and Bulgaria but is not yet cap-tied.

Nokkvi Thorisson, 24

Iceland (1/0)

Notable Clubs: KA Akureyri (65/23), Beerschot (28/7), St. Louis City SC (28/3)

Estimated Transfer Value: €650,000

Notes: Developed by Dalvik, Tor Akureyri, and Hannover 96. Won a Golden Boot scoring 17 goals for KA Akureyri in the 2022 Icelandic league season.

John Klein, 24

United States

Notable Clubs: St. Louis City SC (9/1)

Estimated Transfer Value: No value listed.

Notes: Developed by Sporting Kansas City, Portland Timbers, Chicago FC United, St. Louis Scott Gallagher, and Kaw Valley FC. Played his university football at St. Louis (88/29).

Familiar Faces

St. Louis forward Sam Adeniran played for Sounders FC Reserves (38/15) from 2021-2022, and for Sounders FC (4/0) from 2021-2022.

Squads

Sounders FC from:

Frei, Thomas, Baker, Bell, Gomez Andrade, Nathan, Nouhou, Ragen, Alex, Baker-Whiting, de la Vega, Joao Paulo, Kitahara, Leyva, Rusnak, Vargas, Morris, Cristian, Leo Chu, Musovski, Rothrock, Ruidiaz, Teves.

Notes: Atencio with United States U-23s. Hawkins with United States U-20s.

St. Louis from:

Burki, Lundt, Olivares, Blom, Dyhr, Hiebert, Markanich, Nerwinski, Nilsson, Parker, Reid, Totland, Watts, Wentzel, Yaro, Durkin, Kijima, Klein, Loewen, Pearce, Adeniran, Glover, McSorley, Thorisson, Vassilev.

Injury List

(as listed on mlssoccer.com at press time)

Sounders FC -

OUT: Rodrigues (hamstring).

MATCHDAY DECISION: none.

St. Louis -

OUT: Alm (knee), Klauss (knee), Ostrak (ankle), Pompeu (leg).

MATCHDAY DECISION: Nilsson (hamstring).

Discipline

(as listed on mlssoccer.com at press time)

Sounders FC: No players suspended.

St. Louis: No players suspended. Durkin, Markanich, Pompeu, and Vassilev are out next match if booked.

Fun Fact

Sounders FC Reserves won their fourth in a row on Sunday, absolutely battering Vancouver Whitecaps 2 by a score of 1:4 at Swangard. Scoring for the Sounders FC Reserves were Chris Aquino, who scored two goals, with De Rosario and Gomez adding one each. The Reserves actually scored all five goals this match, as Vancouver’s only goal was a Snyder Brunell own-goal. In the team for the Sounders FC Reserves: Castro, Kossa-Rienzi, Lopez, Sousa, Bowen, Kitahara, Brunell, Aquino, Bettache, Tsukanome, De Rosario. Substitutes used: O’Malley, Fahling, Gomez, Minoungou, Miglietti. Well done, lads!!!