Seattle Sounders and Houston Dynamo will raise the curtain on their round-of-16 matchup in the 2024 MLS playoffs with a meeting at Lumen Field on Tuesday.
The home side will be confident of continuing their recent dominance over the visitors and securing a 1-0 series lead to take into Tuesday's second encounter.
Match preview
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Seattle Sounders put together arguably their best spell of the campaign towards the end as they picked up five victories and two draws from their final seven outings of the regular season.
Brian Schmetzer's men had to make do with a share of the spoils against the Portland Timbers last time out as Yeimar Gomez Andrade saw his first-half strike cancelled out by Antony midway through the second period.
Racking up 57 points from their 34 matches, the Rave Greens finished fourth in the Western Conference, two points behind Real Salt Lake in third and a further five shy of Los Angeles FC and LA Galaxy.
Nonetheless, Seattle Sounders will be confident of enjoying a deep postseason run given their recent form and defensive solidity, which saw them concede the fewest number of goals in the entire division.
Tuesday's hosts will first have to navigate what has proven to be a favourable fixture in recent years off the back of five wins from their last six meetings against the visitors either side of a 2-2 stalemate in August.
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Just behind Seattle Sounders in terms of goals conceded in the Western Conference are Houston Dynamo, who largely had their defensive unit to thank for making it through to this year's playoffs.
Ben Olsen's men managed just 47 strikes from their 34 league matches—the second fewest of any team in the playoffs—but were breached only 39 times at the other end, just four more than their next opponents.
El Naranja are back in postseason action for the second year running, looking to add to their two league titles so far and end a 17-year drought since last reaching the pinnacle of American football in 2007.
Last time out, Houston Dynamo suffered a 2-0 semi-final defeat to eventual runners-up Los Angeles FC in the 2023 campaign, where they beat Real Salt Lake and Sporting Kansas City in the first two rounds.
A 2-1 victory over Los Angeles Galaxy in their final regular-season outing saw Houston Dynamo extend their current unbeaten home streak to five games, but Tuesday's visitors have been beaten in each of their most recent two away clashes ahead of the trip to Washington.
Team News
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Obed Vargas and Nouhou Tolo are both ineligible to play any part for Seattle Sounders in Tuesday's encounter as they serve their respective suspensions.
Joshua Atencio (head) and Joao Paulo (calf) also miss out for the home side, while forward Leo Chu remains sidelined with a groin injury since mid-September.
Raul Ruidiaz made his return to action from a knee injury via a brief cameo last time out, and the Peru international is expected to start from the bench once again.
Houston Dynamo duo Lawrence Ennali and Nelson Quinones are still battling with knee injuries, although the latter is relatively closer to a return to action.
Bradley Smith (thigh) and Amine Bassi (suspension) will also not play any part for the away side here, but Hector Herrera is back in contention having recovered from a muscle problem.
Seattle Sounders possible starting lineup:
Frei; Baker-Whiting; Ragen, Andrade, A Roldan; C Roldan, Minoungu; Rothrock, Rusnak, De La Vega; Morris
Houston Dynamo possible starting lineup:
Clark; Dorsey, Sviatchenko, Micael, Steres; Herrera, Artur; Carrasquilla, Gaines, Aliyu; Ponce
We say: Seattle Sounders 1-0 Houston Dynamo
Given how strong both teams were defensively during the regular season, we are anticipating a tight affair here with neither team committing too much in attack.
However, Seattle Sounders will know the onus is more on them to make home advantage count, and we fancy them to get the job done, albeit by only a narrow margin.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
