After falling to Real Salt Lake last Saturday, moving their record to 2-7-2 on the MLS season, the Seattle Sounders are now preparing to face Sacramento Republic on Wednesday night in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.
Seattle's run in the Open Cup is unprecedented, winning the Championship in 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2014 and nearly collecting a fifth title in 2012. This year, the squad is looking for their fifth overall title and it starts with Wednesday in Sacramento, a fourth round match in the tournament.
Usually featuring a large collection of Sounders FC 2 players, this year is no different, as the team signed S2 players Rodrigue Ele, Nick Hinds, Shandon Hopeau, David Olsen, Ray Saari, and Marlon Vargas on Wednesday morning.
The lineup against Sacramento should feature most, if not all, of those S2 players, as well as young and bench players currently playing for the first team. "The young guys, guys who haven’t been playing as much, everyone is super hungry,” first team attacker Henry Wingo said earlier in the week.
Sounders FC is also preparing for a Saturday evening MLS match against D.C. United (7 p.m. on Sports Radio 950 KJR). Head Coach Brian Schmetzer fielded questions regarding fixture congestion in his Monday press conference with reporters, which you can watch below.
On Tuesday evening, S2 Assistant Coach Wade Webber joined Jackson Felts on Sounders Weekly to provide scouting reports for five of the six Sounders FC 2 signings that joined the first team for the match in Sacramento.
In addition to Webber, Jackson was also joined by broadcaster Matt Johnson to talk about the loss to RSL and Nico Lodeiro's impending return as well as midfielder Cristian Roldan, who talked about the state of the attack and his decision to stay in Seattle instead of joining the United States Men's National Team. Listen to the full show below!