The 24-hour delay for Seattle's road match at Montreal may not be ideal, but Head Coach Sigi Schmid and the Sounders are not letting the extended stay north of the border get them down.
“The spirit of the team has been good,” Schmid said. “It is what it is. We can’t control the weather, so we’ll have to make do.”
Seattle held an extra training session on Saturday at an indoor practice facility in Montreal, but the extra day of preparation wasn’t the only advantage of the delay. It also means extra recovery time for players carrying knocks, and that could mean a more likely availability of Brad Evans, Chad Marshall and Leo Gonzalez, as Evans and Marshall were limited in training early in the week and Gonzalez is working his way back from off-season groin surgery.
“We have a few guys with aches and pains, so it gives them another day to recover from those aches and pains,” Schmid said.
The change in dates wasn’t altogether unexpected when it was announced on Friday afternoon, but it certainly wasn’t a convenient change for Seattle, who will return home on Monday ahead of next week’s home contest against the Columbus Crew.
“We knew that it possibly could happen, but the team is anxious. You always want to play the games on the days they’re scheduled. Your body and your mind get into a certain rhythm,” Schmid said. “But like I said, you can’t control the weather, so we have to accept it.”
Sunday’s match kicks off at 1 pm PT with local television coverage on JOEtv and regional coverage on ROOT Sports.
