Sporting Kansas City hits the road for a meeting against defending Supporters Shield champion Seattle Sounders FC on Saturday night (9 p.m. CT, 38 The Spot and SKCTV). I caught up with SB Nation soccer editor Jeremiah Oshan to discuss the match.
JF: What were your takeaways from Seattle’s 2-0 win at Vancouver last Saturday?
JO: It was pretty impressive. It was a different Sounders tactical approach than we’ve seen in quite some time. It was very possession-oriented—they attempted more than 600 passes, which is high for them. For a road game, it was interesting to see them string passes together the way they were, and they were really holding possession as running out the clock for a lot of the game, so it’s hard to tell how much of that was affected by grabbing an early lead. They got a fifth-minute goal, s they were never really chasing.
They’ve played with a few different styles this year. Usually on the road they’re looking for the counter. You saw a good example of that in New York. The Vancouver win was good from the perspective that they were able to generate some offense without Clint (Dempsey) and Obafemi (Martins) on the field together, which is the first time that’s happened. This year they had kind of struggled when one or both of them were missing. Dempsey stepped into more of a playmaking role against Vancouver and (Chad) Barrett was up top by himself. If Obafemi doesn’t play this weekend, they could use a similar approach.
JF: Clint Dempsey has had a great start to the season not only scoring goals but setting up other players.
JO: As good as Clint Dempsey was last year, he wasn’t usually dropping back into the midfield as much as we’ve seen this year. He’s putting in a little more effort defensively. We saw a lot of that last week—him dropping back not only to get the ball but to help out on defense. He’s probably been the MVP of the year so far. He’s shown a willingness to do a lot of different things. He’s gotten into the box, he’s made the killer pass and he’s done a lot of the little stuff like connecting passes and keeping possession. Against Vancouver I was really impressed by him just playing the possession game. He seemed very content to drop into the midfield and help out. It was a leadership by example performance from him. This is kind of a sign of what’s to come. If he can get enough games, I have to think he’ll be a favorite for the MVP this season.
JF: Aside from Dempsey and Martins, who are some other Seattle players who have stood out this season?
JO: Marco Pappa has had an interesting year. He hasn’t scored but he’s started to shoot a little more lately. But now he’s already tied for his career high with five assists. Pappa likes to roam around—even though he’s an outside midfielder, you’ll see him in the middle of the park a lot. He’s never been a player who’s been known to put in a ton of effort on the defensive side, but over the last two years we’ve seen him develop into a two-way player.
A while back, people were also talking about Brad Evans moving to centerback and what a mistake it was and how he didn’t look comfortable there. But over the last five weeks or so, he’s probably been the Sounders’ best defender. You see him covering for (Chad) Marshall a lot. He’s winning balls and standing guys up and making a ton of clearances. He’s still got the passing of a midfielder as a center back. That’s been really fun to see.
JF: What is Seattle’s perception of Sporting Kansas City heading into Saturday?
JO: It’s a tough team to play against. Even though the Sounders have a good record against Sporting Kansas City, they’ve never really had an easy time against them. The fact that they’ve had to get late winners so often against them suggests that they’re always been in a tough game. And that’s how all of the games have been between these teams. Every game has been decided by one goal or less. Every game has been competitive and fun, and Seattle seems very aware that Kansas City has always given them a hard time.
JF: How do you think these two teams match up in conference foes?
JO: The seeds of a rivalry have been there for a long time in this matchup. The fact that they’ve played important games against one another—I know for Sounders fans that 2012 Open Cup loss burns quite a bit. A lot of Sounders fans would probably trade in quite a few regular season wins for that Open Cup victory. That’s the kind of stuff that really builds a rivalry. There’s something that will never be matched with the rivalry Seattle has with the Timbers, but once you get past those regional rivalries, it’s other great teams that you have great matches with. Since 2009, these teams have had a lot of memorable matches, and that’s how you start to get a rivalry. We’re at the point where they’ll play each other three, four or five times a year. So it has the potential to be a pretty significant rivalry.
What are you thoughts on what you’ve seen from Sporting KC?
JO: To me the thing that is most apparent about Sporting Kansas City is Dom Dwyer seems to be finding his form. The goal he had the other day was really impressive. No matter what league that happens in throughout the world, that’s a great goal. I’ve always liked Benny Feilhaber’s game, and Krisztian Nemeth really seems to be coming into form. It seems like a tough team. I know they haven’t gotten all the results they’ve wanted to this year, but I always feel like they have a tone of talent. Whenever I look at their roster, there’s always a handful of guys I would take in a heartbeat.