Sounders, Dallas meet in conference semifinals again
Maybe the rubber match will finally produce a decisive victor.
The 2014 Western Conference semifinals between the Sounders and FC Dallas ended 1-1 after 180 minutes, with Seattle advancing courtesy of the away-goals tiebreaker used by MLS for two-game playoffs. Last year, in the same round, Seattle and FCD were deadlocked at three after two matches and extra time, Dallas finally prevailed in a penalty-kick shootout.
The teams meet in the conference semis for the third consecutive season starting Sunday at CenturyLink Field. And this series looks even less straightforward than the previous two.
“It’s the playoffs,” interim Seattle coach Brian Schmetzer said. “The first year, we go through on Ozzie (Alonso)’s away goal. The next year, they beat us in penalties after Chad (Marshall) scored on that corner kick from (Marco) Pappa.
“It’s been a good series. It should be a very tremendous series.”
The teams enter Leg 1 slightly hobbled.
Dallas is the top seed in the West, the first team since those 2014 Sounders to win the regular-season league title and U.S. Open Cup. FCD has the advantage of rest – having avoided a midweek knockout-round game – and of hosting the second leg, when it’ll know exactly what’s required to advance.
But FCD will also be down two key players who inspired last year’s triumph.
Colombian winger Fabian Castillo, voted the league’s best player under the age of 24 in 2015, forced through a summer transfer to Trabzonspor in Turkey – despite coach Oscar Pareja’s open reluctance to sell his most valuable asset midseason.
MLS MVP candidate Mauro Diaz was lost for the year after suffering an ACL injury against the Sounders two weekends ago. The war of words after Dallas’ hotly contested 2-1 win in Frisco, Texas – FCD defender Ryan Hollingshead implied that Seattle had targeted Diaz, and that unnecessary physical play led to his injury – will add another subplot to the series.
Dallas averaged less than a goal per game in its final seven matches. It hauled itself over the line with Supporters’ Shield in hand due more to defensive stinginess than the attacking might so overwhelming earlier in the season.
Seattle, too, has looked below its best in recent weeks. The Sounders survived Kansas City’s knockout-round upset bid despite managing only a single shot on goal.
“Dallas is nowhere near as physical as KC was,” Seattle goalkeeper Stefan Frei said. “We’re going to have to make sure we make that count. We’re a team that likes to have possession. KC disrupted our possession very, very effectively. For us, in order to be successful, we have to maintain possession.”
Jordan Morris has been marooned on an island as the lone forward in Schmetzer’s 4-2-3-1 formation. Nicolas Lodeiro, while still effective, hasn’t been quite as productive as he was in the first few months after his midseason arrival from Boca Juniors.
“Our touches are down between Jordan and Lodeiro,” Schmetzer said. “We’re trying to figure that out. It’s noticeable. Yes, we do (need to improve). Yes, we’re working on it. Some of it is personnel. When you lose (Clint) Dempsey, (Andreas) Ivanschitz, Brad (Evans) coming on as a sub, you lose some of it. But the personnel that we have must step up. They know our system. Next guy up.”
Dempsey is out for the rest of 2016 with an irregular heartbeat, and Ivanschitz has been ruled out of the first leg of the series with a knee sprain.
Seattle’s injury concerns don’t end there. Authoritative defender Roman Torres is a game-time decision with a tight hamstring, having missed the team portion of team training on Saturday. Evans is still less than 100 percent having dealt with nagging back and calf issues, Schmetzer confirmed, and 36-year-old Zach Scott is the next man up in central defense.
The third consecutive Sounders-Dallas Western Conference semifinal series could be decided by an unlikelier hero this time around. The rubber match could very well come down to which team is able to better cover for its high-profile absences.