Rapids-Sounders: Four Questions With Sounder At Heart

COMMERCE CITY – Burgundy Wave did a collab for the match today with Sounder At Heart. We each asked each other a few questions about the other team. Bellow you’ll find Mark Kastner‘s responses.

1. Seattle’s 1-1-3 (W-L-D) since MLS resumed play after Leagues Cup. That’s below expectations. They’ve looked fallible recently and earlier this year. Is this a slump or something more? What’s been missing, other than Cristian Roldan? 

The Sounders are dealing with a classic sports situation where their very successful core has gotten just a little too old and a little too injured. Everyone on the roster has been about 5-10% worse for large swaths of the last year and the age of stars like Nico Lodeiro, Raúl Ruidíaz, and Stefan Frei.

First year GM Craig Waibel, who replaced Garth Lagerwey after his move to Atlanta, gambled in the winter on keeping the core intact for just one more season. Last season, following the CCL win, the Sounders dealt with some serious injuries on their way to missing the playoffs. The logic to see if this core had one more season in them wasn’t completely unfounded, however. Seattle has dealt with Cristian Roldan missing a bunch of time and they haven’t had a healthy Ruidíaz all season. They’ll qualify for the playoffs, probably, but what happens after that is anyone’s guess. Which isn’t the expectation you expect from a Sounders team, as you mentioned.

2. The Sounders are scoring goals but it’s been by committee recently. What will the attack look like in this game? Do Raúl Ruidíaz or Jordan Morris get going? 

The Sounders aren’t scoring a lot, but they’re scoring just enough to keep their heads above water. Ruidíaz is injured and likely won’t play tonight against the Rapids. So, conventional wisdom suggests that Morris will play up top and Leo Chu will slot back into the lineup after serving his red card suspension. This combo of Chu at LW and Morris at ST has led the Sounders to their best attacking patterns all year, such as the Kansas City match earlier this season. 

3. Brian Schmetzer has been conservative in this fixture in the past. They can’t afford to lose ground to LAFC or St. Louis. And they’re only two points ahead of 7th place San Jose. Do they come here setting up for a draw or is this a must win? 

As I’m sure you’ve heard a thousand times before, the altitude plays such a large part in this fixture for the Sounders. I’d be interested in seeing if there’s a bigger elevation difference between Lumen Field and DICK’s Sporting Goods Park.

You have the added element that the Sounders are coming off short rest having played in Dallas on Saturday. I don’t think Schmetzer and Co can really setup for a conservative approach against the Rapids. Three of Seattle’s five remaining games are on the road and even if you factor in home games, this is their easiest fixture left. Not getting three points would mean they’d have one win in eight league matches. 

4. Bonus Question: So that tweet the club sent out the other day teasing a rebrand. What are we expecting next Tuesday? It’s one of the coolest crests and color schemes in MLS. We’ve seen recent MLS rebrands go over horribly with supporters. Unless they’re going full retro, does the club even need a rebrand? 

So, I think the approach here is much more of a “refresh” rather than a full “rebrand”. A lot of Sounders fans would say that the crest has arguably been dated since it was revealed 15 years ago and could use a fresh coat of paint, so to speak. I’m not expecting the Sounders to go the way of Chicago or Montreal with this process. 

Photo Credit: Mark Shaiken.

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