Sounders play first of five MLS games this month

TUKWILA – If March was the month of the miserable start for Sounders FC (0-3-1), and April was when the course settled ever so slightly (1-0-1), then May is the time to get a surprisingly disappointing season back on track.

Five MLS games this month, starting today in Philadelphia, give the Sounders ample opportunity to climb out of last place and closer to a playoff position.

Seattle won’t have this much league action within a month until August. “We’ve got to keep pushing each other week in and week out and get back on the table where we belong,” said forward Eddie Johnson.

The Sounders have played fewer games than every other MLS team due to participation in the CONCACAF Champions League, but they’ll soon start to make them up.

There are a couple nonleague games on the May schedule, too. Seattle hosts Orlando City of the third-tier USL PRO in a Reserve League game on May 12 and will also enter U.S. Open Cup play on May 28 with the rest of the American MLS teams.

A busy schedule will accentuate what has been a seasonlong issue: injuries and depth. The other pressing matter – and very much related to the injury woes up front – is goal-scoring. The Sounders have an MLS-low three goals in their six games, half the production of Union forward Jack McInerney, the league’s co-leading scorer and reigning Player of the Month.