Old foes, Seattle. I remember the first time I really thought about Seattle Sounders as a rival, of sorts. It was 2011. I’d recently started writing about Real Salt Lake on my first blog about the team. RSL had what I’d assumed was a reasonably winnable match against the Sounders, but fate had other ideas.
With the team having established a ‘fortress’ following an incredible 2010 campaign with no home losses, 2011 continued in similar fashion until May 28, when Seattle came to then-Rio Tinto Stadium. Jamison Olave picked up a justified red card for (I think) denial of a goalscoring opportunity, and Seattle scored twice in the last 20 minutes of the match. That match saw Nelson Gonzalez score his second (and last) RSL goal, an effort in the dying minutes.
There are Sounders names in that match that are seared in my memory. Fredy Montero, Nate Jaqua, Lamar Neagle, Mauro Rosales, Osvaldo Alonso, Brad Evans, and of course, Kasey Keller. In the days when were guaranteed two matches against every side, a team like Seattle presented an interesting opportunity. This seemed like a team that had a smartly constructed roster.
The RSL lineup is filled with familiar names, too. Rimando, Borchers, Russell, Olave, Beltran, Beckerman, Williams, Grabavoy, Johnson, Espindola — 10 of the side’s 11 starters are essentially club legends. The bench even featured Donny Toia in his first professional season, and while he didn’t feature in that first season, he’d return to RSL in 2019 for three seasons.
I’m sure I was at that game. I remember the feeling. I don’t remember, for instance, that it dumped rain. I don’t remember the late struggle to score an RSL equalizer, which never came to fruition. But I remember the names and the feeling that team gave me — and it was a mixed campaign, to be sure. Javier Morales had only recently gone down with a career-altering injury. It felt like it all came crashing down at that moment, didn’t it? Jean Alexandre played forward during that season far more than we ought to have been comfortable with. We met up again with Seattle in the playoffs, earning a 3-0 revenge scoreline at home. (Weirdly, in that game, Jamison Olave exited again — this time through injury.) It was the pre-VAR days, and it was 2011 in MLS. The first goal might have been ruled offside with video review, but it wasn’t. I didn’t mind. The second goal — ah, I remember this one like it was yesterday. It’s a little heel flick goal from Saborio, and while we might remember him for his stoic demeanor, he looked genuinely pleased to be combining again with the returning Javier Morales. Ned Grabavoy grabbed the nail in the coffin, executing his memorable ‘ice in the veins’ celebration.
RSL later lost to LA Galaxy in the Western Conference final, but these are moments that I still come back to, some 15 years later. Isn’t that something? 15 years. Plenty of you reading were probably children at the time. It’s all making me feel a bit old, what with my 40th birthday having recently come and gone. These memories form an indelible, inextricable part of my life, so I hope the distraction from this match isn’t too much.
Injuries and absences
Those matches I discussed above? They’re still two years before DeAndre Yedlin first played professional minutes for Seattle Sounders. Anyway, Yedlin is out. That’s too bad, really, because there’s a nice story there. Here’s the full list from the club’s match preview:
OUT: Juan Jose Arias, Emeka Eneli, DeAndre Yedlin
QUESTIONABLE: Lukas Engel, Kobi Henry, Diego Luna, Victor Olatunji
The club also notes (for the first time I’ve seen) a “secured” section, which notes the players whose visa work is apparently done. I understand the trickiness of all this in this, um, particular political environment into which we’ve been unfortunately and unjustly thrust. Anyway.
That list includes Morgan Guilavogui, Juan Manuel Sanabria, and Stijn Spierings.
Starting lineup predictions
GK: Rafa Cabral
CB: Sam Junqua, Justen Glad, Philip Quinton
LWB: Alex Katranis
RWB: Zavier Gozo
CM: Noel Caliskan, Pablo Ruiz
W/AM?: Booth, Hezarkhani
FW: Piol
Notes on this:
There’s of course a chance that one or more of Guilavogui, Sanabria and Spierings start, but I wouldn’t count on it. Early indications seem to be that their minutes will be somewhat limited initially. Guilavogui apparently joined training mid-week. I think the most likely is Juan Manuel Sanabria.
I wouldn’t be shocked to see Luca Moisa start again. It’s somewhat clear (especially from the fact that he didn’t start with no reported injury) that Pablo Ruiz’s physical capabilities in MLS are somewhat limited, which wouldn’t be at all surprising given his multiple consecutive years with major injuries.
“I thought he had a really solid game out of possession, a really solid game in possession. The ball he played to Alex for the goal that was called back was excellent. That’s the sort of thing we’ve come to expect him in the academy and the Monarchs environment. His soccer brain, his soccer IQ, his technical ability, his passing range and ability, there’s not a lot of doubt about those qualities. With him, it was sort of ‘when is the physical component going to come along?’, and put him in a position to get into those games in MLS. To be honest, I think the big surprise for me personally was that he was able to transition as early as this preseason. Last season with the Monarchs, he did really, really well, but when he trained in the first-team environment, you could see he was physically a little bit behind it. He put in a lot of work last year, a lot of work in the offseason. He came into this preseason and showed everyone he was ready to be considered. At that point, it’s just about seizing your opportunity, and that’s what he’s been doing. He’s another young kid, and those kids can improve very, very quickly as they assimilate new information.”
Wasatch Soccer Sentinel
