The Seattle Sounders welcome the Western Conference-leading Houston Dynamo to CenturyLink Field on Sunday (7 p.m. PT; JOEtv, Univision, ROOT Sports, KIRO Radio 97.3 FM, El Rey 1360AM | TICKETS) in the Sounders’ first rematch of 2017.
The Dynamo defeated Seattle 2-1 in the season-opener in Houston behind some excellent counterattacking play. The Dynamo boast three fantastic attackers in Alberth Elis, Erick “Cubo” Torres and Romell Quioto, the latter two of whom scored against the Sounders back in March. A big focus then for Seattle will be slowing each of them down and mitigating their impact on the break.
“That’s their style of play,” Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer said of Houston’s ability to counterattack. “That’s their identity.”
Tracking back defensively will be a must for the Sounders, especially given their predilection for extended possession in the attacking third while playing at home. With so many numbers forward, they become susceptible to being hurt in transition with the pace of the Houston attackers.
“Defending in transition is all mental,” said defender Brad Evans. “It’s being aware of your surroundings and making sure that everybody is on the same page…It’s not just one person, it’s everybody being a smart player. You can play off of instincts, but sometimes it becomes a tactical battle.
“It’s all just little things, it’s a chess match out there.”
Evans missed the season-opener as well as the first two months of the season with a calf injury, but his reemergence has helped shore up Seattle’s back line. In his first two starts of the season earlier this month, he led the Sounders to back-to-back home shutout wins over Real Salt Lake and the Portland Timbers, respectively.
Evans came off the bench in the midweek loss at Columbus — he was resting in what was the second of three games in eight days — but should be fully ready to go on Sunday. He said the team shouldn’t need any extra motivation for the Dynamo match and that simply wanting to put in a better performance than they did against Crew SC should be incentive enough. Seattle will also have a nine-day break before hosting the Timbers in the U.S. Open Cup on June 13, so the team is prepared not to hold anything back.
“We’re at home, we have to make a statement again,” Evans said. “It’s similar to a Salt Lake game. To me, this is another must-win game. If we’re not going to pick up points on the road, then we’ve got to do it at home. This is another one of those chances and opportunities for the guys to right the ship.”
