Following their first playoff series victory in franchise victory, Seattle now has the daunting task of taking on the defending MLS Cup champions in the LA Galaxy. They travel to Home Depot Center for the first leg on Sunday night (9 PM EST, ESPN), where they have struggled throughout their franchise’s history, having only scored one goal in four years.
However, Seattle will look to continue reversing the trends that have doomed them this playoffs, after advancing past Real Salt Lake in the conference semi-finals last week. They will hope to bring forward a much more vaunted offensive attack, after tallying only one goal in the two matches against Real Salt Lake. That offense will rely on Eddie Johnson coming off the bench again, as he continues to deal with an injury.
Meanwhile, the Galaxy come into Sunday night having knocked off Supporters’ Shield winning San Jose, defeating the Earthquakes 3-1 on the road on Wednesday night. Robbie Keane led the attack, as he continues to make his mark for the Galaxy in the second half of the season. Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena has even gone on to say that Keane has been the best player in the league during that second half.
But this is an offense that has struggled against Seattle this season, having scored just one goal in three matches this year. Conceding six goals in those three matches did not help the stat sheet, either. Positive news for Los Angeles will be that they feature a much stronger starting lineup than they did in the opening playoff match against San Jose last week, as they will hope to take advantage of the home field tonight.
SBI will be providing live commentary on tonight’s match, so please feel free to follow along with the action here. As always, you are welcome to share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.
Enjoy the action (Commentary is after the jump):