Seattle Sounders vs. San Jose Earthquakes | 2018 MLS Match Preview

Dylan Butler

Seattle Sounders FC vs. San Jose Earthquakes
2018 MLS Regular Season — Week 35
CenturyLink Field — Seattle
October 28 — 4:30 pm ET
WATCH: ESPN+, MLS LIVE on DAZN (Canada)

The Seattle Sounders can finish anywhere from second to fifth place in the Western Conference when they meet the San Jose Earthquakes in a Decision Day presented by AT&T clash at CenturyLink Field.

The Sounders are coming off a 3-2 win over the Houston Dynamo on Sunday and could earn a Knockout Round bye with a fifth consecutive victory and a little help, while the Earthquakes, who snapped a six-game losing streak with a 0-0 draw against the Colorado Rapids, are hoping to end the season with a first win since Aug. 29.

This is the second meeting this season, with the Sounders winning 1-0 at Avaya Stadium on July 25 as Raul Ruidiaz scored his first MLS goal in the 62nd minute.

Seattle Sounders FC

Nico Lodeiro had three assists to help lead Seattle (17-11-5) to a 3-2 win over the Dynamo at BBVA Compass Stadium on Sunday.

Chad Marshall, making his 400th regular season appearance, latched onto a Lodeiro corner kick to give the Sounders a 1-0 lead in the 26th minute. Gustav Svensson got on the end of another Lodeiro corner to make it 2-0 in the 50th minute. Kevin Garcia gave the Dynamo a lifeline with his first MLS goal in the 63rd minute, but Ruidiaz put the game away three minutes from full time before a cosmetic Mauro Manotas goal two minutes later.

“Some of those games in the middle of the season were do-or-die. If we lost a couple of those games, the game against Minnesota when [Will] Bruin kicks that in, Raul scoring off his 12th touch against San Jose, those were all do-or-die games,” Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer said. “Those type of situations, those experiences, will help this group of guys when it comes to the playoffs.”

Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: None
International duty: None
Injury Report: OUT: F - Jordan Morris (torn ACL), F - Felix Chenkam (herniated disc), M - Harry Shipp (right hamstring strain), D - Brad Smith (right hamstring strain); QUESTIONABLE: D - Roman Torres (right knee contusion)

Projected Starting XI
(4-2-3-1, right to left)
GK: Stefan Frei — Kelvin Leerdam, Kim Kee-hee, Chad Marshall, Nouhou Tolo — Gustav Svensson, Osvaldo Alonso — Cristian Roldan, Nico Lodeiro, Victor Rodriguez — Raul Ruidiaz

Notes: Lodeiro is just the third Seattle player to record 3+ assists in a MLS match, and the first since Brad Evans in Sept. 2014. He has six assists in his last three appearances for the Sounders. … The Sounders have gotten 44 points in league play since July 1 (14W-2L-2D), four more than any other team. They have allowed multiple goals just twice in that time.

San Jose Earthquakes

It wasn’t a win, but San Jose (4-20-9) kept a clean sheet and didn’t lose for the first time in nearly two months by playing the Rapids to a 0-0 draw Sunday in their home finale.

All eyes will be on Chris Wondolowski to see if the veteran forward can tie or break Landon Donovan’s all-time record of 145 career goals.

“I thought the performance was really good by the entire crew,” interim manager Steve Ralston said after the game. “I haven’t seen the stats or anything like that, but I thought we out-possessed them, they sat deep and unfortunately we couldn’t really break them down in the final third.”

Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: None
International duty: None
Injury Report: OUT: D - Kevin Partida (right ACL reconstruction surgery and partial meniscectomy), M - Jahmir Hyka (facial surgery)

Projected Starting XI
(4-4-2, right to left)
GK: JT Marcinkowski — Nick Lima, Jimmy Ockford, Francois Affolter, Shea Salinas — Magnus Eriksson, Tommy Thompson, Anibal Godoy, Jackson Yueill — Chris Wondolowski, Danny Hoesen

Notes: San Jose has had three players score in double-digits this season (Danny Hoesen – 12, Vako – 10 and Wondolowski – 10), the second time they have done so in a season since 2008. … The Earthquakes’ 0-0 draw with Colorado last week snapped a franchise-worst eight-game streak of allowing multiple goals (1W-7L). They have not kept back-to-back clean sheets since April 29-May 6, 2017.

All-Time Series

Overall: Seattle Sounders FC 9 wins, 28 goals … San Jose Earthquakes 10 wins, 26 goals … 5 draws
At Seattle: Sounders 7 wins, 20 goals … Earthquakes 5 wins, 12 goals … 1 draw
Last meeting at Seattle: Seattle Sounders FC 3, San Jose Earthquakes 0 (July 23, 2017)