TUKWILA, Wash. – Relying on depth and occasionally coping without regular starters during the season is a common storyline for pretty much every MLS team. But even by those standards, the Western Conference-leading Seattle Sounders will be especially stretched thin ahead of their Saturday road matchup with Sporting Kansas City (8:30 pm ET; MLS LIVE).
The most glaring absences could be strikers Obafemi Martins and Clint Dempsey.
Martins had surgery on a broken nose earlier in the week and didn’t train on Thursday, while Dempsey is on notice waiting for the birth of his fourth child, meaning he could also miss Saturday’s contest.
“Dempsey’s situation is ongoing,” Sounders head coach Sigi Schmid said Thursday at Starfire Sports Complex before his team flew to Kansas City. “Martins had surgery and he was unable to train after the surgery because when you have surgery like that there’s a chance at nosebleeds, so you can’t really train.”
The prospect of being without their two leading goalscorers would present enough of a challenge for the Sounders, but the extent of the depleted roster doesn’t end there. Chad Barrett, who generally starts up top if either Dempsey or Martins are out, tweaked a hamstring early in the week and also didn’t train Thursday.
“Barrett got injured in training on Tuesday,” Schmid said. “So right now we’re not sure about his status.”
This means Lamar Neagle could end up being Seattle’s lone experienced option at forward.
Throw in the potential loss of midfielder Gonzalo Pineda for a second straight game (ankle) and the confirmed absences of center back Brad Evans (international duty) and midfielder Osvaldo Alonso (suspension), and the Sounders are left without key starters all over the field.
Zach Scott – who figures to get the nod at center back in Evans’ absence – said he was less concerned with the missing players and more concerned with having those who are available for Saturday physically ready following Seattle’s recent home stand, which saw them play three games in eight days.
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“I think the biggest thing is just making sure we’ve recovered after [the home stand],” Scott said. “That was really the look-ahead when we were trying to figure out training this week, was just making sure guys who needed rest got the rest and the guys who we expect to be rotating in this weekend were sharp.”
As for the midfield, Andy Rose and Cristian Roldan could each receive another call after both started in each of Seattle’s last two matches.
“I’ve been feeling good,” Rose said. “Getting a lot of minutes which is the main thing for me, just making sure I’m always in contention for the starting 11 or the first one off the bench. …I’m more than happy to do whatever I need to do for the team. Obviously we’ve had a few injuries and national team call-ups and what not so you have to fill in and if I’m the one to do that, then brilliant.”
