By Jennifer Denton // @darkwynds
Houston Dynamo v Seattle Sounders
Tonight is the first leg of the Western Conference finals. Of course, it has been what seems like a million years since the last playoff game against Vancouver Whitecaps. This has been a welcome rest and a terrible one all at the same time. It has given us time for our injured players to heal up. Looks like Osvaldo Alonso and Jordan Morris might be able to make it back for part of the series. Of course, this has given time for Houston’s players to heal up too. The downside is that we have lost all the momentum we had coming off the Vancouver series.
During the regular season, Houston and Seattle split the series. Sounders lost in Houston and won at home. The game in Houston saw the return of Clint Dempsey. He scored in a 2-1 road loss that opened the Sounders title defense. The Sounders still have not won a game in BBVA Compass Stadium. The game in Seattle was a different story. Will Bruin scored the only goal in a 1 – 0 win in June.
Houston is down a goalkeeper due to being suspended for off the field issues. Also, three of their players were part of the Honduras National Team that made the trip to Australia for a World Cup playoff game. Sounders just had Gustav Svensson go off for national team duty, traveling to Italy for a World Cup playoff game.
🚨 HYPE VIDEO ALERT! 🚨
Get amped for #HOUvSEA with 90 seconds of pump up.#DefendOurCup pic.twitter.com/ZMMMqTq5nz
— Seattle Sounders FC (@SoundersFC) November 21, 2017
This promises to be a good game. Houston and Seattle match up well in most positions on the field. The Sounders will need to play up-tempo and keep the ball moving. Sounders have players that are hungry to score. Bruin wants very much to score on his old team. Look for him and Dempsey to cause Houston a lot of trouble.
The game will kick off at 6:30 pacific time (most likely later due to national broadcast) at BBVA Compass Stadium. The game will be broadcast on FS1 and Fox Deportes. Ref for tonight is Chris Penso.
#defendourcup
Featured image courtesy: @SoundersFC
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