Goalkeeping is the topic du jour as the top two teams in the Western Conference collide at The Home Depot Center. With Kasey Keller spending his one-game suspension for his red card against Kansas City, either Chris Eylander or Ben Dragavon is expected to fill in when Seattle Sounders FC travel to face Chivas USA.
Seattle coach Sigi Schmid says both players are healthy, but he has not made the decision on who will start.
"We wanted to see how the workout would go with each of them today," Schmid said after Thursday's practice. "But we feel Chris (Eylander) is healthy, so we can base our decision upon a healthy Eylander versus a healthy (Ben) Dragavon."
Eylander just completed his first week of training coming back from a right knee injury. He also saw his first competitive action in a reserve match on Monday. At times this week, it appeared the injury still bothered Eylander, especially when he stayed down for a couple minutes during Tuesday's practice after coming together with Ely Allen in a 5-on-5 drill. Schmid dismissed this event, saying Eylander "more got kicked then anything on that particular play."
On the other hand, Dragavon is fully healthy and played 61 minutes last weekend after Keller was sent off. However, Eylander was originally intended to be Keller's backup while Dragavon is the emergency third goalkeeper.
In fact, Dragavon didn't even intend to be part of the Seattle's plans or the MLS pool of goalkeepers -- it only came to pass after a contract offer with the USL First Division Austin Aztex fell through.
"It was a really tough decision. I had a contract agreement with Austin of USL-1," Dragavon said. "They wouldn't send me the contract to sign -- I was asking them to fax it and they said I was supposed to come down the following Tuesday and get in that weekend.
"That didn't happen and I came to training with Seattle like I always do just to stay sharp. Next thing you know, I get a contract offer from MLS and a chance to back up Kasey Keller, which is something you can't pass up."
Whoever plays, he will likely see plenty of action against the Western Conference leaders. Only Chivas (3-0-1) are off to a more successful start than Sounders FC (3-1-0), having hauled in 10 points from four matches. And as Sounders FC aims to take Chivas' place on top of the Western Conference table, Schmid knows Seattle will have to keep its eyes on U.S. international Sacha Kljestan.
"He helps connect their team and is around the ball," Schmid said of the midfielder, who he is familiar with from his time coaching the United States' under-20 national team. "Most games, he gets the most touches of anybody for their team. I think in their last game against the Galaxy, he got over 100 touches.
"He's got a tremendous endurance level -- he never stops running. He's the kind of guy that if you forget about him for a second, he's not real fast but he's gone."
Schmid has also warned his players about Chivas' physical style of play. In a rough-and-tumble match last week against their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Galaxy, Chivas USA committed 16 fouls and had midfielder Paulo Nagamura sent off.
In all, Chivas USA's 58 fouls committed are tied for the league lead with New York. Forward Atiba Harris is doing his part -- his 16 fouls also lead the league.
"They usually are close to the league lead in fouls. They're not afraid to stop a buildup," Schmid said. "I don't know if it's a tactical plan on their part, but certainly they're not afraid to take the odd foul in midfield to slow down a team's counter-attack or a team's ability to get forward quickly."
Andrew Winner is a contributor to MLSnet.com.
