TUKWILA, Wash. — There are 16 days between the Seattle Sounders’ second leg against FC Dallas in the Western Conference Semifinals on Nov. 6 and the team’s first leg of the Western Conference Championship against the Colorado Rapids on Nov. 22 (7 p.m. PT; FS1, KIRO Radio 97.3 FM, El Rey 1360AM).
The time between rounds of the 2016 Audi MLS Cup Playoffs was elongated because of a preexisting FIFA international break, and the extra time is a double-edged sword. It affords teams like the Sounders a chance to have injured players recover and get healthy. Jordan Morris (hamstring) and Alvaro Fernandez (hamstring) are each working to get back to full match fitness, while Andreas Ivanschitz (knee) an Brad Evans (calf) have returned as full training participants.
But the over two-week break also tests the focus and patience of the players who are forced to wait to play.
“When you have to train, train, train, train and there’s no game, [the players] were a little squirrely today,” said head coach Brian Schmetzer. “They’re ready for the game to happen. They have a day off tomorrow, so hopefully that will settle them down. Then we’ll finish the last three training days on a high and a good note."
A consistent point of emphasis for the Sounders since Schmetzer took over has been the execution of set pieces, something they’re continuing to work on between rounds. That attention to detail becomes all the more important against Colorado, an excellent defensive team in the run of play and one that beat the Sounders in their last match at CenturyLink Field on an Axel Sjoberg header from a corner kick.
Schmetzer mentioned how dominant the Houston Dynamo were for many years on free kicks, utilizing the brilliant service from Brad Davis to find Brian Ching and other tall attacking players in the 18-yard-box. He believes his team can have similar success.
“We have [Nicolas Lodeiro] or Ivanschitz taking set pieces, those are pretty good left feet, and we’ve got some giants in there that like to attack the ball inside the box,” said Schmetzer. “It makes us dangerous.”
