By Money MikeThe Seattle Sounders take on the Columbus Crew this Saturday in their last road match before they return home for a stretch of three straight home games against the Portland Timbers, Sporting Kansas City and FC Dallas. The Sounders are come head to Columbus after losing to D.C. United on Wednesday 2-1 which also ended Seattle's 6-game unbeaten streak as Charlie Davies and Josh Wolff combined on both the goals and each coming away with a Goal and an Assist. Seattle got the goal from the Penalty Spot which was converted by Brad Evans but it wasn't enough. On the other side, Columbus is sitting on a 6-game unbeaten streak right now after defeating our rivals from the north, the Vancouver Whitecaps 2-1. They're a tough team to score against and at the same time, they don't score that many goals, so this looks like a pretty evenly side affair.
Injury report:
Seattle Sounders FC - Well of course, O'Brian White and Steve Zakuani are out and Pat Noonan is probable. One player to add to that list, Mauro Rosales. Now, I don't know what happened here, they said he suffered a hamstring injury, but I don't know when that happened. However with the lineup changes Sigi Schmid will make, one of which will be keeping Mauro Rosales out for this match.
Columbus Crew - For the Screwed up Crew (lol!!), we have Danny O'Rourke out with left knee surgery and Josh Williams out with right hip labral tear. Shawn Francis has a strained left hamstring and is listed as questionable. Last but not least, Tommy Heinemann is listed as probable after having to deal with a Right pes anserine bursitis.
Key matchups:
Emilio Renteria vs Jeff Parke - We need Jeff Parke out there, I don't understand why the hell he was kept on the bench these last couple of games, when there was really no need to bench him. The way Renteria's been playing, benching Parke for the third game in a row would definetely not be a smart move.
Fatigue vs Depth - This team has just been banged up. Ever since the Zakuani injury you've had to switch a bunch of things around, especially with O'Brian White out as well. Where's Lamar Neagle, where's David Estrada, where's Mike Fucito, where's Montano? You have a bunch of young players who are ready to show that they deserve to be on this team.
Key to victory:
Three words: QUIT! STANDING! AROUND!
There's no way in hell that you'll win a game when you have 9-10-11 players in your own area backing away from the ball and not going after it. That's just extremely stupid. They did that against New York and lost because of it. Quit standing around and go after the ball.
Look ahead to the Gold Cup:
Now I know it's a little early but the Gold Cup is just around the corner and the international teams are preparing their roster's for the tournament which kicks off on the 5th and ends on the 25th. Mexico already has their roster set up for the Gold Cup and the player to look out for on that team is...... and believe me I don't need any help with the answer. The player to watch for Mexico...... Manchester United forward, Javier Hernandez aka "Chicharito. Here's a player who I thought wasn't really gonna do much for United because he joins the team from Chivas de Guadalajara on July 1st and the fact that the Premier League is a lot tougher than the Mexican League. But I was wrong, so far Chicharito excelled in his first year with Manchester United scoring 12 goals in 25 appearances in the Premier League and 19 goals in 42 appearances in all compititions in 2010-2011, so yeah he's definitely a player to watch for Mexico. The New York Red Bulls are gonna spend the majority of June, practicing, traveling, all that stuff, without Rafa Marquez after he was added to the Mexican side.
The United States hadn't announced anything with their squad yet, I'm guessing Brad Evans will be left out this year. O'Brian White, unless he can recover quickly, looks like he will be left out of the Jamaican squad and Leo Gonzalez, I don't think will be added to Costa Rica's squad. Again, we'll find out sooner or later.
