Seattle head down the road to Santa Clara to face San Jose after the disappointment of losing in the U.S. Open Cup final in midweek at Sporting Kansas City. The Sounders visit the Earthquakes in the second game of the Heritage Cup, which they are trailing 1-0 after losing way back in week 3. But can Seattle bounce back after finally losing in the U.S. Open Cup after 3 years of dominating?
But looking at just the MLS, Seattle is coming off the back of a great run of form with three wins and three draws in their last six games. The standout win in that run was their last result against the defending MLS Cup champions LA Galaxy, where Sounders managed to put 4 past them in a 4-0 victory.
So Seattle will need to pick them selves up and get back to winning ways in the hunt for the MLS Cup. Plus it may be a chance for Seattle to start two new players which were acquired recently with Christian Tiffert joining from FC Kaiserslautern, and Mario Martinez joining from Real España on a season long loan.
For Seattle, Eddie Johnson has been on fire in recent games, and Sigi will be hoping for this to continue and for him to bounce back after his penalties miss in the final. But in MLS, EJ has seen good form in front of goal with 10 goals in 19 appearances.
Seattle will be hoping that the new boy Tiffert will make a quick impact as he replaces Fernandez, who was traded to Chicago to make way for him. He is a strong midfielder and will bolster the side along with Alonso and Evans.
The strong link at the moment is the interplay between Rosales and Johnson who seem to be working well together linking up and creating goal scoring chances on a number of occasions.
But San Jose are in fantastic form sitting in 1st place in the Western Conference, so it will be a tough game on the road for the Sounders, not only to bounce back but against tough opponents as well.
(image courtesy of mlssoccer.com)
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