Injuries, World Cup Call-Ups Will Not Dilute Intense Seattle Sounders-Real Salt Lake Match

Seattle Sounders FC (8-2-3, 1st West) vs. Real Salt Lake (6-6-0, 2nd West)

Saturday, May 31: 4:00 pm Eastern

CenturyLink Field, Seattle (MLS Live)

Seventeenth Meeting All-Time:

Seattle; six wins. Real Salt Lake; six wins. Five draws.

Stats breakdown including all matches

 Stats breakdown including all Seattle home matches and Real Salt Lake road matches

A fitting way to end the month of May for the Seattle Sounders FC as they welcome in Real Salt Lake to CenturyLink Field for a clash between the top two clubs in Major League Soccer. Both clubs are coming off of draws in their previous matches; Seattle with a 2-2 draw against the Vancouver Whitecaps and RSL with a 0-0 against struggling FC Dallas.

The big storyline coming into the match was going to be how both teams would fare with each missing key pieces on 2014 World Cup rosters. Seattle is without Clint Dempsey and DeAndre Yedlin while Real Salt Lake is without Alvaro Saborio, Kyle Beckerman and Nick Rimando. That storyline took a backseat though on Thursday as both clubs learned they would be dealing with key injuries that will affect them both in the long-term.

News came across Twitter this morning that Real Salt Lake’s Alvaro Saborio had fractured the fifth metatarsal in his right foot while practicing with the Costa Rican national team at its pre-World Cup camp. This means that Saborio will miss the World Cup entirely and could miss up to three months in total though the club will not discuss a specific timetable until their medical staff is able to examine the injury.

In researching the injury, this writer came upon an article written by Dan Rookwood of The Guardian back on April 11, 2002. Rookwood interviewed Professor Angus Wallace of the University of Nottingham in regards to David Beckham’s foot injury sustained in a Champions League quarter-final match with Manchester United earlier that month.

In Beckham’s case, he had broken the second metatarsal in his left foot. The metatarsal is the long bone that runs from the base of your toes to the arch of your foot. The first metatarsal is the one connected to your big toe while the fifth is connected to your little toe. Wallace stated that “Metatarsal bone fractures are common, they usually heal within six weeks. How if it [had been] a fracture of the fifth or outer metatarsal, delayed healing can be a problem.”

Saborio is scheduled to return to Salt Lake City in the next few days to be evaluated by RSL’s medical staff. He had scored six goals and added two assists during his 10 matches with RSL up to this point in the 2014 season.

The Saborio injury will not affect this match with Seattle but another RSL forward’s injury could. Joao Plata had to be subbed off after only 42 minutes last week after re-aggravating a hamstring injury. He returned to practice on Thursday according to Chris Kamrani of the Salt Lake Tribune and is listed as doubtful according to manager Jeff Cassar.

So as of now, it looks as though the Real Salt Lake forward options would consist of a combination of Devon Sandoval, Olmes Garcia or Robbie Findley. These three have combined for just 16 appearances with six starts, a total of 668 minutes played with zero goals and only one assist. This should put some more pressure of Javier Morales at the top of the RSL midfield diamond to create space and opportunities for the strikers to get good looks at goal.

The Seattle Sounders were also given some bad news on the injury front as an MRI revealed that center-back Djimi Traore had adductor tear and that Traore would be out “a while” according to manager Sigi Schmid. It was not the news that Seattle fans wanted to hear after seeing Traore struggle to get to his feet after an awkward tackle on a recovery run in Vancouver on Saturday. Traore initially tried to just shake it off but it was apparent that something was wrong when he only lasted about thirty seconds before falling back down to the pitch in pain; Brad Evans was subbed on as his replacement.

Adductor tears are a very tricky injury that vary from person-to-person. They can take anywhere from six weeks to six months to heal, leaving a distinct chance that Traore could miss the rest of the season.

Furthermore, the more immediate issue comes in on Saturday with Real Salt Lake coming to town. Chad Marshall did not play last week due to an illness that, according to Jeremiah Oshan at Sounder at Heart, was apparently bad enough that it caused Marshall to lose about five pounds. His availability for Saturday is unknown though he has returned to training.

What this means is that likely we will see a back four that consists of Brad Evans at right back, Leo Gonzalez at left back with Jalil Anibaba and Zach Scott at center back. We do not think that Marshall will be fit to go a full 90 on Saturday but he may be well enough to give 20-30 minutes at the end if called upon.

The Sounders central defense looks very cloudy though looking into the future. Djimi Traore and Zach Scott are well into their 30s and Chad Marshall is turning 30 this year meaning that there could be some more turn over on the Sounders back-line. Sigi Schmid addressed these rumors last week saying, “We’re always looking. Center back is a position that we’re looking at.”

He went on to say “We want to make sure that we continue to be prepared for 2015, as well, so if a good center back comes along in the summer window, rather than miss that opportunity and wait for the winter, we might need to grab it now – if it’s the right guy and if it’s a guy who makes sense for us.” Those quotes are from a piece written by Joshua Mayers of the Seattle Times last Thursday.

Seattle does have some younger players at the center-back position but none of them are available to Sigi Schmid as they are either currently on loan or injured. First-round pick Damion Lowe is out with an injury while Eriq Zavaleta is on loan with Chivas USA and Jimmy Ockford is on loan with the New York Cosmos.