Seattle Sounders FC vs. New York City FC | 2018 MLS Match Preview

Dylan Butler

Seattle Sounders FC vs. New York City FC
2018 MLS Regular Season — Week 22
CenturyLink Field — Seattle
July 29 - 5 pm ET
WATCH: ESPN, TSN2

Two teams coming off midweek road victories square off at CenturyLink Field as Seattle Sounders FC host New York City FC Sunday afternoon.

The Sounders are enjoying their best stretch of the season and are unbeaten in their last five following a 1-0 victory over the San Jose Earthquakes at Avaya Stadium on Wednesday.

NYCFC have won four consecutive games – all by shutout – including a 2-0 win at Orlando City SC on Thursday.

Seattle Sounders FC

It didn’t take Raul Ruidiaz long to make an impact for Seattle (6-9-5) as the Peruvian international took down a Cristian Roldan cross with his chest before a clinical finish inside the far post for the lone goal in a 1-0 victory at San Jose.

Ruidiaz, who earned his first start in his second appearance, celebrated his 28th birthday in style, running over to the stands behind the net where he was handed a Peruvian flag from a fan. The win was the Sounders second straight against a Western foe and the third clean sheet in the last four games.

“It was a big result,” Brian Schmetzer said. “It wasn’t the most attractive game in the first half, but sometimes winning away from home you can’t always win pretty. I think the players gutted it out. We got the timely goal and were able to hang on at the end. We were hanging on for dear life at the end. San Jose was putting us under a lot of pressure.”

Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: D - Nouhou Tolo, D - Jordy Delem
International duty: None
Injury Report: OUT: F - Jordan Morris (torn ACL), M - Handwalla Bwana (right midfoot sprain); QUESTIONABLE: M - Victor Rodriguez (right hamstring strain), D - Chad Marshall (calf contusion)

Projected Starting XI
(4-2-3-1, right to left)
GK: Stefan Frei — Jordan McCrary, Roman Torres, Kim Kee-hee, Nouhou Tolo — Gustav Svensson, Cristian Roldan — Nicolas Lodeiro, Clint Dempsey, Alex Roldan — Raul Ruidiaz

New York City FC

It wasn’t pretty, but NYCFC (13-4-4) moved ahead of the New York Red Bulls into second place, one point behind Atlanta United, following a 2-0 win over Orlando City SC Thursday night. It was the Cityzens' first road win since a 2-1 triumph at San Jose on March 31.

Maxi Moralez pounced on a rebound to score his eighth goal of the season and then the Argentine playmaker picked up assist No. 11 on the season on Anton Tinnerholm’s stoppage time goal that put NYCFC ahead, 2-0, at the break. The Lions roared in the second half and the woodwork was hit numerous times, but NYCFC secured a fourth straight clean sheet, extending a club-best shutout streak to 398 minutes.

“I’m not happy. We are able to win, but I’m not happy with our performance because I can’t play in that way,” Dome Torrent said. “If you wan’t to win MLS or if you want to try to win MLS, even when [Orlando] play with 10 players, we played bad, really bad. I say in the second half, I don’t like to defend deep. I repeat three times, but I don’t know what happened.”

Suspended: M - Alex Ring
Suspended after next caution: M - Tommy McNamara
International duty: None
Injury Report: OUT: M - Yangel Herrera (ankle surgery), D - Cedric Hountondji (hamstring injury); QUESTIONABLE: F - David Villa (right knee injury)

Projected Starting XI
(4-2-3-1, right to left)
GK: Sean Johnson — Anton Tinnerholm, Maxime Chanot, Alex Callens, Ben Sweat — Ebenezer Ofori, Kwame Awuah — Ismael Tajouri-Shradi, Tommy McNamara, Ronald Matarrita — Jo Inge Berget

All-Time Series

Overall: Seattle Sounders FC 1 win, 4 goals … New York City FC 2 wins, 5 goals … 0 draws
At Seattle: Sounders 0 wins, 0 goals … NYCFC 1 win, 2 goals … 0 draws
Last meeting at Seattle: Seattle Sounders FC 0, New York City FC 2 (June 25, 2016)