

Posted by

Kamal Hylton ,

March 5, 2014 Email

Kamal Hylton

On Twitter:

@KamalHylton

With offseason moves and preseason now in the rearview mirror, the excitement of MLS First Kick is finally here and with that comes return of RNO's MLS Marquee Match-Up feature, a weekly look at the top matches within Major League Soccer each week.



Front and centre in the season opener are the defending champions Sporting Kansas City hoisting the 2013 MLS Cup banner and collecting their championship rings before taking on Clint Dempsey and the new look Seattle Sounders.



Seattle Sounders @ Sporting KC



Taking an immediate glance at how both sides come into the match, the first thing that springs to mind is the offseason moves of head coach Sigi Schmid, who after being eliminated from the 2013 Western Conference Semifinals now faces pressure to not only make it to but win MLS Cup.



Both Eddie Johnson and Mauro Rosales have found new pastures, now clearly making this Clint Dempsey's team to lead. Coming over midseason, the U.S. International struggled to find form but with a full training camp behind him the Sounders will now be looking for a return on its investment.



Beyond Dempsey, who will be leaving the team during the World Cup, the supporting cast will be heavily relied upon for consistent production.



Two players that will need to hit the ground running are Lamar Neagle and Kenny Cooper. The Tacoma, Washington native was arguably the most underrated player in MLS for 2013 while the Seattle's newest acquisition up front should provide a different dimension to the attack alongside Nigerian DP Obafemi Martins.



Neagle's ability to provide versatility either out wide or up front will be particularly important, with his tireless work rate and ability to crash the box with late runs as seen here:







Neagle also combines thos qualities with his nose for finding and making use of gaps in the defence as displayed here:







On the other side, Coach Peter Vermes has managed to keep the core group of his championship side together and still boasts one of the league’s most stout defences.



It will be interesting to see how Sporting KC set up at the forward positions. Playing its usual 4-3-3 formation with an emphasis on widening the field and hitting opposition on the break, the natural trio is CJ Sapong/Dom Dwyer/Graham Zusi. But with Zusi and central defender Matt Besler set to make the U.S. World Cup squad, Vermes might opt down the line for a forward line of Soony Saad/Dom Dwyer/CJ Sapong.



Where the hosts will need consistent quality is from the midfield position, an area that at times that lacked invention last year.



Players like Oriol Rosell, Benny Feilhaber, Paolo Nagamura, Peterson Joseph and Lawrence Olum while a major part of Sporting's trademark robust style will need to strike a perfect balance, particularly in the position that Rosell and Feilhaber share as deep-lying playmakers.



How Rosell in particular is deployed will be essential to how Sporting KC attack and how Seattle intend to set up defensively. An example of how he can impact a game through controlling tempo is shown in this 2012 video against Toronto FC:







From a tactical perspective the main individual battle to keep an eye on will likely be Aurelien Collin vs. Clint Dempsey, with the physical French defender looking to put the American star off his game. An under the radar battle could very well be at the fullback position.



The SKC duo of Chance Myers and Seth Sinovic have already widely established themselves as the best tandem in MLS. However, the continued development of Deandre Yedlin potentially alongside a rookie in 2014 MLS SuperDraft and Jamaican international Damion Lowe could be fascinating.



Prediction: Seattle Sounders 1-1 Sporting KC