Just when it looked like everything was starting to go the Seattle Sounders' way, news that Mario Martinez injured his knee hit the internet. Although the Sounders insist the injury is not as serious as the first reports suggested, it's never a good sign to see one of your top playmakers kept out of training just a few days before the season starts.

"His knee was a little bit sore so we decided to go easy on him today," Sounders Schmid said, according to the Tacoma News-Tribune. "He bumped knees yesterday. We don’t think it’s anything serious. Today was just a day we thought we could be easy with him and see where he’s at tomorrow."

At the very least, this seems to cast doubt on the possibility of Martinez starting. Truthfully, that may have happened anyways as it's not entirely clear whether or Schmid was going to start Martinez anyway. Steve Zakuani and Mauro Rosales appear to have the inside track as the starting outside mids. If Martinez were to start, the indications are that it would have required Rosales to move to forward where some of his best skills are somewhat negated.

Assuming Martinez's injury is not serious, he could still come off the bench and David Estrada would likely start at forward.