Coming off a bye week, Seattle Sounders FC fell 1-0 to Real Salt Lake on Saturday afternoon at CenturyLink Field. RSL's Sebastian Saucedo won the match with a 20 yard strike in the 61st minute that goal-keeper Stefan Frei tipped before the ball sailed into the back of Seattle's net.
The Sounders, now 2-6-2 on the season, will prepare to face Salt Lake again next weekend on the road (Saturday at 6:30pm on Sports Radio 950 KJR) as the club aims to rise in the Western Conference standings. RSL, meanwhile, recorded their first road victory of the year on Saturday.
For Seattle, the question continues to be the attack and where the goals will come from when train finally starts moving, as Head Coach Brian Schmetzer put it after the match. Clint Dempsey continues to play out of his normal position at forward and speedy, young midfielder Handwalla Bwana suffered a right foot injury in the first half. Schmetzer could not provide an update after the match.
The club also awaits the return of Will Bruin (questionable Saturday with a plantar fascia tear), Victor Rodriguez (questionable, knee sprain), and Ozzie Alonso (out, quad sprain) who will no doubt give the Sounders' attack a much needed boost when they get healthy. Not to mention Nicolas Lodeiro, who is on Uruguay's preliminary World Cup roster.
With Gustav Svensson (Sweden) and Roman Torres (Panama) also off on World Cup duty, the club signed forward Felix Chenkam from S2 during the week for forward depth. Time will tell if Chenkam will get a chance to play striker for Seattle, as he was an unused substitute on Saturday.
Schmetzer also utilized another new formation in the starting lineup against Salt Lake, a 4-1-4-1 that included Jordy Delem in the defensive-midfield. The Bwana injury "hurt us", Schmetzer said, and forced him to play substitute Waylon Francis as a winger, and later on, Kelvin Leerdam on the other wing. Usually fullbacks, Francis and Leerdam were not enough for the new-look attack to break through against RSL.
For more takes and opinions about the 1-0 loss as well as a preview for next Saturday's rematch in Utah, listen to the Sounders FC Postgame Show below then watch highlights from the match.