The Philadelphia Union and Seattle Sounders both will hope to rebound from close defeats when they meet in Chester, Pa., on Tuesday night to resume a suspended match.
The fixture originally kicked off on March 9 only to be suspended in the sixth minute because of unplayable conditions after heavy rain.
The teams’ paths have diverged substantially since then.
Philadelphia (3-1-4, 13 points) continued an unbeaten start to the season that spanned seven matches in total before last weekend’s 2-1 loss to Real Salt Lake. At one point they had won three in a row.
Saturday’s performance was unfortunate, not poor.
Three-time MLS Goalkeeper of the Year Andre Blake made a rare mistake handling Andres Gomez’s shot on RSL’s opening goal. Philadelphia also created more chances in a deadlocked second half before Salt Lake’s Alexandros Katranis scored the late winner.
“If we put one of those in the back of the net we’re having different discussions. We didn’t (and) we got punished,” Union coach Jim Curtin said. “I think we created enough to win and had a pretty big advantage in expected goals but that doesn’t mean anything. Actual goals are what matter.”
Seattle (1-5-3, 6 points) has struggled significantly through its first nine matches, failing to score in four.
Veteran striker Raul Ruidiaz has scored four times, but the 33-year-old has missed more time in recent seasons with nagging injuries. No one else has more than a single goal.
Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at D.C. United turned on a red card issued to goalkeeper Stefan Frei for denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity after the Sounders had grabbed an early lead.
Playing with 10 men, Seattle avoided a rout and even created a couple of late chances to tie the score, but coach Brian Schmetzer hesitated to declare any moral victories.
“The fact of the matter is we’ve won one game this year. And so that’s where we start from. I’m pretty pragmatic,” Schmetzer said. “The only positive spin on this is that the team found a way to create multiple chances to get themselves back into the game and maybe steal a point.”
–Field Level Media
