Movie Ranking: five / 5
SECOND LEG
Seattle Sounders will be playing against Portland Timbers in the second leg of the Western Conference championship match. They are trailing the opposition 2-1 from the first leg. Seattle Sounders manager Sigi Schmid has a lot of headache due to the injury problems surrounding Obafemi Martins and DeAndre Yedlin. They were not involved in the first leg match against Portland, and there remains a lot of doubt about their participation in the second leg. Yedlin has been one of the impressive players for Seattle in recent times.
The 20-year-old should be fit for the encoder according to Schmid, but he is more concerned on striker Martins. The former Newcastle United striker has been suffering from a groin injury in recent weeks. This was limited him to just one appearance in the last seven matches. Since the arrival of Clint Dempsey, Martins has played very little football. This has not been good for the club’s plan of having a great attack. Leo Gonzalez is also likely to miss the match after having not recovered sufficiently from his hamstring injury.
Zach Scott, however, is expected to be fit after making good progress from his rib injury. Clint Dempsey has stated that it would be great if Seattle had the presence of Martins on the pitch.
“We’ll see tomorrow how he came through tonight. He was able to do everything tonight. He was able to do more than he did yesterday, so that’s a good sign,” Schmid said to the press on Wednesday. “You want to have as many players available as possible. He’s one of our DPs. He has a lot of quality and he has a lot of experience. If he’s available to play, then that’ll be great. You’d like to see what’s going to be that best XI that we can put on the field,” Dempsey said.
Survey about IUPUI at the Super Bowl Village in Indianapolis
Video clip Rating: five / five
IMPD Bike Safety PSA
Video clip Rating: / 5
TITLE CONTEST
MLS Western Conference title is proving to be an intense battle this season due to the sheer number of teams that are capable of winning the title even at this stage of the campaign. Vancouver Whitecaps are one of those teams, who are still capable of winning the title. They will be going into the weekend’s match against San Jose earthquakes with 33 points on the board. This has been a poor season from San Jose earthquakes, but they are only a remarkable three points behind Vancouver in the fifth place. Vancouver manager Martin Rennie has acknowledged that the Western Conference is one of the tightest divisions right now.
The intensity is expected to go up significantly after the arrival of United States star Clint Dempsey. Seattle Sounders have managed to sign the player from Tottenham for around £ 6 million. He will be one of the designated players in the squad. According to several reports, he will be earning more than what David Beckham did during his LA Galaxy days. Rennie has said that he would welcome the arrival of Dempsey because it helps improve the image of the league substantially. This would also bring in a lot of coverage to the league that was started in 1994.
“It’s a tight division. There’s a lot of teams doing well. Seattle have got a lot of talented players and obviously have had a lot of success in previous years. The signing of Dempsey will certainly not make the challenge any easier, I’m sure, but I think it’ll be a good incentive for everybody. I think when high-profile players come to the league, I think it boosts the league, it increases attendance and it increases interest in the league. That’s a positive for everybody,” said the 38-year-old manager, who is one of the youngest in the league.