

Posted by

Kamal Hylton ,

May 15, 2014 Email

Kamal Hylton

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@KamalHylton

At this point in the Major League Soccer season teams are looking to pick up as many points as possible before the "Dog Days of Summer" sees teams begin to hit a wall and struggle to get wins, with this season being particularly difficult with the extra distraction of a World Cup year.



One of the more intriguing matches on the schedule is a Western Conference duel between two teams that have developed a mini rivalry on the field, showcasing the league’s most potent attack against a team known for its physicality.



This week’s Marquee Match-Up sees San Jose Earthquakes travel to Seattle, Washington and CenturyLink Field to take on the Western Conference leading Seattle Sounders.



San Jose Earthquakes @ Seattle Sounders



Historically these two teams play in fairly close games, as, with the exception of last season’s 4-0 win for the Sounders, games have been decided by a one goal margin and have resulted in a high amount of fouls and a few sending offs.



When looking at the buildup towards this game one of the more glaring things that can make a difference in this match is how goals have been spread amongst the teams. In Seattle's case Clint Dempsey leads the team with 8 goals but Obafemi Martins, Lamar Neagle and Kenny Cooper have combined for 11 goals. In the case of San Jose, lead forward Chris Wondolowski has 5 goals and the next highest scorer is defender Victor Bernardez with 2 goals.



Finding goal scorers beyond Dempsey and Wondolowski is important for both sides with the World Cup around the corner, as there is the possibility that US Men's National Team coach Jurgen Klinsmann could call up both forwards to the final roster and it will then be up to the depth at Sigi Schmid's and Mark Watson's disposal.



From a tactical perspective these are two teams that play similar formations but have completely different approaches in execution. The Earthquakes play a typical 4-4-2 formation with an emphasis on getting the ball wide to Shea Salinas and Atiba Harris and getting crosses into the box for Wondolowski and his forward partner Alan Gordon. The Sounders receive some quality wide play from Neagle and fullback DeAndre Yedlin, but run much of the play centrally through Dempsey, Martins and the two-way play from Costa Rican midfielder Osvaldo Alonso.



It will be interesting to see how Seattle uses this game to respond from a 5-0 drubbing at the hands of New England Revolution last time out. Many of the Revs attacks resulted in attacks going down the Sounders right side looking to target Yedlin and Marco Pappa. San Jose will likely look to do a similar job through Salinas and fullback Jordan Stewart.



Prediction:

Seattle Sounders 1-0 San Jose Earthquakes