Rimando, Sunny on bench for RSL against Houston Dynamo

Today's match against Houston Dynamo — you know, the one we'd expected to be deconstructing now instead of watching — is starting off in interesting fashion.

RSL's ever-consistent Nick Rimando and 2016 newcomer Sunny are both out of the starting lineup, which brings us no small amount of surprise. Joao Plata, on the other hand, returns to the XI, and that's at least encouraging.

Of course, the bigger surprise is Rimando — when was the last time he was sat on the bench for a match? While we do have faith in Jeff Attinella's ability to perform in important matches, we're still left scratching our heads for this decision.

John Stertzer replaces Sunny, which does surprise us a bit, too. Sunny has been a revelation and an excellent signing, but this sort of move indicates there may be injury concerns at play.

Finally, Demar Phillips isn't even on the bench, and Chris Wingert has taken his place at left back. This leaves RSL with just one defender on the bench: Phanuel Kavita, who has only recently returned to playing after an MCL injury. He was out 8 weeks as of March 12, so this is as quick a turnaround for potential first-team minutes as I remember seeing.

RSL lineup

Attinella; Beltran, Glad, Olave, Wingert; Stertzer, Beckerman, Morales; Martinez, Movsisyan, Plata

BENCH: Rimando, Kavita, Mulholland, Garcia, Sunny, Allen