Seattle Sounders vs. New England Revolution: MLS Match Preview

SEATTLE SOUNDERS vs NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION
CENTURYLINK FIELD, Seattle, Wash.
April 13, 2013 (WEEK 7, MLS Game #54)
4 p.m. ET (UDN; KONG/ROOT-NW; CSN-NE)

Seattle Sounders FC and the New England Revolution will both be looking to turnaround early-season misfortune as the clubs meet on Saturday afternoon at CenturyLink Field. Sounders FC return to league play following a weekend off, still looking for a first league win of 2013 after a 2-1 loss at Real Salt Lake and having been knocked out of the CONCACAF Champions League in the meantime. The Revolution haven’t scored in three matches as they also return to action after a bye week, their last match a 1-0 home loss to FC Dallas.

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REFEREE: Chris Penso. SAR (bench): Mike Rottersman; JAR (opposite): Baboucarr Jallow; 4th: Tyler Ploeger
MLS Career: 35 games; FC/gm: 22.9; Y/gm: 2.8; R: 8; pens: 13

DISABLED LIST: NE - Kevin Alston
SUSPENDED: none 
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: none

HEAD-TO-HEAD:
ALL-TIME (7 meetings): Sounders FC 3 wins, 11 goals ... Revolution 3 wins, 10 goals ... Ties 1
AT SEATTLE (3 meetings): Sounders FC 2 wins, 5 goals ... Revolution 1 win, 2 goals ... Ties 0

LAST YEAR (MLS): 6/30 -- NE 2, SEA 2 (Sene 12; Fagundez 94+ -- Johnson 23, 35)

• This is the only meeting between the teams this season.
• The Revolution last won in the series in 2010, a 3-1 win at Gillette Stadium. In three meetings since, Sounders FC have won twice, both during 2011; the teams played to a 2-2 draw in Foxborough in their lone meeting a season ago.
• Coaches record: Sigi Schmid vs. NE: P30 W13 L11 D6 ... Jay Heaps vs. SEA: P1 W0 L0 D1

SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC 
Seattle Sounders FC return to league play following a weekend off, their season-opening winless run stretched to four games in their last MLS match, a 2-1 loss to Real Salt Lake at Rio Tinto Stadium on March 30. Sounders FC are in ninth place in the Western Conference with 1 point from 4 matches.

LISTEN: Sounders Roundtable Podcast with Shalrie Joseph and Michael Gspurning
LAST MATCH

• Real took the lead after just eight minutes. After he was stoned by Seattle goalkeeper Michael Gspurning, RSL's Robbie Findley pounced on a failed Sounders FC clearance then eventually bundled the ball home from almost on the goal line.
• RSL doubled the lead in the 35th minute thanks to a set piece straight from training. Ned Grabavoy, positioned along the endline, flicked a Sebastian Velasquez corner kick back across the area for Luis Gil to finish with a acrobatic diving header.
• Sounders FC closed the gap in the 57th minute. DeAndre Yedlin’s deep cross was flicked into the path of Brad Evans by Mauro Rosales, and Evans’ left-footed shot nicked off RSL fullback Tony Beltran before nestling inside the right post behind goalkeeper Nick Rimando.
• Sounders FC head coach Sigi Schmid made four changes to the team that dropped a 1-0 to the San Jose Earthquakes at Buck Shaw Stadium. Marc Burch came in at left back for Leo Gonzalez, Brad Evans started in midfield in place of Andy Rose, and Obafemi Martins and Eddie Johnson were the new strike pair in place of Sammy Ochoa and David Estrada.
• SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC (4-1-3-2): Michael Gspurning - DeAndre Yedlin, Djimi Traore, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Marc Burch - Osvaldo Alonso - Mauro Rosales, Brad Evans (Andy Rose 81), Steve Zakuani - Obafemi Martins (David Estrada 62), Eddie Johnson (Sammy Ochoa 78).

TEAM NEWS 
Scouting Report: Ross Fletcher on SEA-NE

• With three losses and a draw in their opening four league matches, Sounders FC have the poorest start to a season in the club’s MLS history.
• “We’re picking and choosing what times in the game when we want to play. We have moments in the game where three or four guys are involved and some other guys aren’t involved, then some other guys get involved and others aren’t,” said Sounders FC head coach Sigi Schmid. “We have yet to have a game where all 11 guys are involved for the whole 90 minutes. Players have to take hold of the game.”
• Said midfielder Steve Zakuani: “At 0-3-1, our record is not good. We have to take what’s coming our way: the criticism, the backlash – we deserve it, but the good thing is that the season is still young. ... We’ll come back to MLS play and hopefully we’ll be ready for it.”
• Despite carrying an injury suffered while on international duty, Obafemi Martins made his first MLS start vs. Real Salt Lake and played 62 minutes.
• “He gutted it out for us, which shows me that he’s got some character and wants to battle for the team,” Schmid said. “He can play better because he wasn’t fully 100 percent. He had the good chance on Rimando in the first half and I think 100 percent Oba buries that.”
• Following the league match, Sounders FC saw their CONCACAF Champions League campaign come to a close with a 2-1 loss on aggregate to Santos Laguna. In the second leg, a 73rd-minute goal by Lamar Neagle brought Seattle back to 1-1 on the night and within a goal in the tie, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the loss in the first leg at CenturyLink Field.
• “We have to take the form, the character and the effort into our league matches because we have not started league play very well,” Schmid said. “But it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish and we now have to build upon our performance today in our league games.”
• Here’s the Sounders FC team: Michael Gspurning, DeAndre Yedlin, Zach Scott, Djimi Traore, Leo Gonzalez, Alex Caskey, Osvaldo Alonso, Shalrie Joseph, Mario Martinez (Mauro Rosales 59), Steve Zakuani (Sammy Ochoa 77), Eddie Johnson (Lamar Neagle 61).
• In the first leg, Herculez Gomez scored the lone goal of the match for a 1-0 Santos victory, the fourth 1-0 loss by Sounders FC in all competitions this season.
• Here’s the Sounders FC team: Marcus Hahnemann, DeAndre Yedlin, Zach Scott, Djimi Traore, Leo Gonzalez, Mario Martinez, Brad Evans (Mauro Rosales 72), Osvaldo Alonso, Shalrie Joseph (Andy Rose 72), Alex Caskey (Steve Zakuani 78), Sammy Ochoa.
• Shalrie Joseph made his Sounders debut in the first leg, playing 72 minutes. He played the full match in the second leg. “I think he helps us. He’s a good distributor of the ball, I think he finds people forward, but he’s another guy who hasn’t played a 90-minute game in an awful long time, so he’s rounding into fitness,” Schmid said. “... It sounds like a broken record but it’s true—unfortunately we’re still trying to get to know each other.”

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION
The New England Revolution return to league play following a weekend off, their last match a 1-0 loss to FC Dallas at Gillette Stadium on March 30. The Revolution are in a tie for eighth place in the Eastern Conference with 4 points from 4 matches.

LISTEN: Latest edition of Revolution's Far Post podcast
LAST MATCH
WATCH: Feldman, Lemieux preview match

• The game's lone goal came three minutes from full time. From a passing movement through the Revolution half, David Ferreira found himself in time and space and picked up his head before floating the ball into Blas Pérez's path, and he ghosted into the right spot and placed his header inside the far post.
• Revolution head coach Jay Heaps made four changes to the team that reaching a scoreless draw with Sporting Kansas City at Gillette Stadium. Bobby Shuttleworth came in between the posts in place of Matt Reis, Ryan Guy and Diego Fagundez started in midfield for Kelyn Rowe and Scott Caldwell, and Jerry Bengtson replaced Chad Barrett up top.
• NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION (4-1-4-1): Bobby Shuttleworth - Andrew Farrell, Jose Goncalves, A.J. Soares, Kevin Alston (Chris Tierney 88) - Clyde Simms - Lee Nguyen, Juan Toja, Ryan Guy (Kelyn Rowe 60), Diego Fagundez (Andy Dorman 85) - Jerry Bengtson

TEAM NEWS
Box-to-Box: Kyle McCarthy on state of Revs

• The Revolution were shut out on the attacking end for a third consecutive match, now 298 minutes without scoring a goal, the third-longest streak in the league this season (Chicago Fire, 334; New York Red Bulls, 309).
• “I want to have a balanced attack,” said Revolution head coach Jay Heaps. “I like it when guys like Diego (Fagundez) and Jerry (Bengtson) and Juan (Toja) and Kelyn (Rowe) are in the box when we go forward. But right now our play is a little bit out of sync with what our runs are. That’s where I think we just have to continue to get better every week.”
• Said Fagundez: “We’re all trying so hard to get those three points and the goals. The ‘keepers are just making good saves. We’re trying everything we can; we’re crossing, we’re trying to get into the box. Someone needs to step up and score that goal. I think once we get it, we’ll be all set.”
• Fagundez made his first start of the season, playing wide on the left of midfield and lasting 85 minutes. Fagundez had not seen action since a late substitute shift in the season opener.
• “I’m really comfortable [playing on the left wing]. I like going one on one against defenders or moving around, especially when you have a lot of good players like Juan (Toja) and Lee (Nguyen) and Ryan (Guy) and Jerry (Bengtson) up top. We can move around and get open,” said Fagundez.
• Ryan Guy also made his first start of the season, in an attacking central midfield role with Jerry Bengtson playing as the spearhead striker.
• “(We put in) Diego (Fagundez) for a little more offense. I thought he brought it tonight. I thought Diego did all right, a couple turnovers, but overall it was positive in what he was trying to do,” said Heaps. “Ryan (Guy) more for penetration to extend the field. We wanted to be aggressive and we saw what we were trying to do in the second half.”
• For a second consecutive match after recording a shutout, Matt Reis was held out of the following match with knee swelling. Reis recorded a shutout vs. Chicago in the season opener, then did not play in the 1-0 loss at Philadelphia, returning to action for the scoreless draw with Sporting KC before missing the Dallas match.
• “Nothing’s showing up in terms of major damage,” said Heaps. “But there’s a little bit of pain, a little bit of swelling and we just want to manage that. ... We knew we had the bye week. It was one of those where we said, ‘All right, let’s get him extended rest so we can really calm this thing down.’”
• Fullback Kevin Alston, who has started all four matches this season, was played on the disabled list to undergo treatment for chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), a rare but treatable form of leukemia.
• “The Revolution fully supports Kevin as he begins treatment,” Revolution general manager Michael Burns said in a statement. “Right now, the most important thing for Kevin, and his family, is to concentrate on returning to full health. Kevin's had a tremendous attitude since the diagnosis and his positivity is an inspiration for all of us.”