RENTON — With a few dozen season-ticket members in attendance at Tuesday’s training session, the Seattle Sounders put on a bit of a show with some short-sided games. Already riding high on a seven-game unbeaten streak in which they’ve gone 6-0-1, the energy seemed to be amped up by the cheering fans who oohed and aahed.
“It’s definitely more fun,” Sounders midfielder Obed Vargas said. “We’re trying to put on a show for all these people who support us, have a little more energy, some guys are a little happier. It’s always good to have fans here cheering us on during training.”
One player who seemed to particularly respond was Raúl Ruidíaz, who looked to be showing no ill effects of the hamstring injury that caused the Sounders to leave him in Seattle during their road trip to Austin FC over the weekend. Ruidíaz banged in a couple of long-range shots during the training session and seemed ready to contribute for Wednesday’s home match against St. Louis City.
“It was a long trip and we didn’t want to risk it,” Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer said about Ruidíaz’s injury. “He’s had hamstring issues before. At this point in the season, we can be a little more conservative. If it was a playoff game, he’d have played. We’re just being cautious.”
Ruidíaz’s absence did get a little bit of extra attention, though, as it happened to coincide with rumors out of Peru that Universitario — his boyhood club — is trying to bring him back for their centennial celebration. The reports went as far as to suggest that Universitario’s president was meeting with the Sounders and Ruidíaz about engineering a move, although that seems to be completely unsubstantiated.
“I saw some of it,” Schmetzer said. “He’s happy with us. He’s under contract. He’s working hard every day in training. I’d like to keep him.”
Jeremiah Oshan
Gearing up for a final push
The Sounders have two games remaining before the regular season pauses for the month-long Leagues Cup. Thanks to a four-game winning streak in league play, they can potentially move up all the way to fourth in the Western Conference standings if they can win these two home games. But they also can’t afford to overlook struggling St. Louis City, who is up first.
St. Louis come into this game having gone 1-8-3 in their last 12 matches, which includes consecutive 4-1 losses in their last two games, and are also expected to be missing several key players, like João Klauss, Célio Pompeu and Rasmus Alm. Their struggles have been so bad that head coach Bradley Carnell was fired a couple of weeks ago.
Schmetzer was quick to call St. Louis a “dangerous opponent” but also understands the opportunity the Sounders have to close out this part of the season strong.
“It’s interesting because awhile back — around the halfway point — we talked about wanting to make a push for the second half,” he said. “But this feels more appropriate with Leagues Cup coming, two home games to end what has already been an impressive homestand.”
Strength in numbers
The Sounders have used a different lineup in each of their games during their current seven-game unbeaten streak and have only used one lineup twice all season, which came much earlier in the year. While coaches often crave consistency, in this case it might be helping.
“The team has been able to put out different starting 11’s, different guys on the field and they’ve responded,” Vargas said. “That’s what has brought us together and has helped us through this stretch. Everyone is contributing, no one is just sitting on the side. That’s the biggest thing.”
