TUKWILA, Wash. — The Seattle Sounders have been riding a wave of confidence for the last six weeks that they haven’t seen all season, the apex of which came on Sunday in their convincing 4-2 road win over the LA Galaxy.
The Galaxy were the second-place team in the Western Conference, sport one of the league’s best and most expensive lineups and had not lost at StubHub Center in 15 previous matches this season.
Yet here were the Sounders, entering three games below .500 and with just two road wins all year, scoring four times and heading back to Seattle with perhaps their most impressive result of the season when they were desperate for points. But as the team returned on training on Monday, the reality of its postseason push was tangible: The Sounders are still in dire need of points.
Seattle sits in the seventh place in the West, three points out of the final playoff spot, albeit with two games in hand on Sporting Kansas City and the Portland Timbers, the fifth- and sixth-place teams, respectively. That makes Seattle’s home match on Wednesday against the Chicago Fire (7:30 p.m. PT; JOEtv, ROOT Sports (outside Seattle); KIRO 97.3 FM, El Rey 1360AM) all the more important.
Sounders interim head coach Brian Schmetzer made the objective clear to his team: There will be no hangover.
“The messaging started from the very, very top, from our owners,” Schmetzer said. “If we don’t have a good performance against Chicago, then all the hard work is wasted against LA. We are preparing the team not to have a let down. That can’t happen.”
The Sounders are 5-1-3 since Schmetzer took over two months ago and have made up considerable ground to even have a shot at the postseason. This was a team sitting on 20 points from 20 matches and sinking further and further into the Western Conference basement — a spot its opponent on Wednesday currently occupies in the East.
“Whether [the Fire are] the bottom of their division, it doesn’t matter,” Schmetzer said. “Two-days rest doesn’t matter. All those excuses are out.”
The quick turnaround will be easier said than done, though, with three matches in an eight-day span, all of which are vital with just five games remaining in the regular season. Schmetzer trusts that manager of performance and sports science David Tenny and head strength and conditioning coach Chad Kolarcik will have the players in top form and ready to go on Wednesday. The players' fitness level and ability to shut the door early on Chicago will go a long way in securing an attainable three points.
“We’re preparing the team to come out and play good soccer and never give up,” Schmetzer said. “It’s been the hallmark for the last six weeks.”
