Scouting Report: RSL vs. Sounders FC

Real Salt Lake travels to take on the Seattle Sounders FC at CenturyLink Field tonight. Seattle will be a tough opponent, and in 14 matches this year, they have scored 32 goals. Compare that to Real Salt Lake scoring 20 in 15 matches, and our defense will have to work to pick up points on the road.

So what can we expect from Seattle? Well, for starters, they have just had 3 players called up to international duty. Xavier Arreaga (Ecuador), Raúl Ruidíaz (Peru) and Gustav Svensson (Sweden) are all key players for the Seattle side. Ruidíaz is their leading scorer with 9 goals, or roughly half of RSL’s season total. Svensson will be missed by Seattle in midfield, and Arreaga will be missed on the backline.

Seattle tends to prefer a 4-3-2-1 lineup, and look for that tonight. Look for Will Bruin, who has recovered from a knee injury, to start in place of Ruidíaz. Brad Smith and Roman Torres were both recently signed, and look for them both to be available, Torres off the bench, and most likely Smith starting on the back line.

Stefan Frei has done a good job between the posts for Seattle, and they currently boast a 19 goal differential, while RSL is once again in the negatives with -4. So, look for the Seattle defense, even without Arreaga, to be tough for RSL to break down.

Jordan Morris and Cristian Roldan will be dangerous on the wings for Seattle, and look for them to work on breaking down the RSL defense. Morris has 7 assists so far on the season, and look for him to continue his run of form.