Thursday, July 17

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Sports Mole previews Sunday's MLS Playoffs clash between Seattle Sounders and San Jose Earthquakes, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.

Now separated by five points in the top nine of the Major League Soccer Western Conference standings, Seattle Sounders and San Jose Earthquakes will do battle at Lumen Field on Sunday.

The hosts have moved into fifth spot with a four-match unbeaten streak, while their visitors now sit ninth having failed to win any of their last four league games.

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Match preview

Seattle Sounders head back into action on Sunday aiming to continue a pleasing run of MLS form following their return from the Club World Cup, having moved into the top five of the Western Conference in recent weeks.

They headed into the global competition having earned 26 points from their first 18 league matches, on the back of consecutive defeats to Minnesota United and Vancouver Whitecaps, and their losing run continued having fallen short in each of their group-stage outings against Botafogo, Atletico Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain.

The Sounders appear to have turned a corner since, though, adding eight more points to their tally in their last four attempts, firstly bouncing back with a 2-0 home triumph over Austin FC and a 1-1 draw against Columbus Crew.

Then following a 3-2 away triumph over Sporting KC, Brian Schmetzer's side most recently hosted Colorado Rapids and shared the points in agonising fashion, having led 3-0 through Obed Vargas and an Albert Rusnak brace, only for Djordje Mihailovic, Cole Bassett and Darren Yapi to force a share of the points in a 3-3 draw with second-half goals.

Left wounded by that draw, but still sitting in the top five thanks to their improvement, Seattle Sounders will aim to bounce back and move fourth with a return to winning ways on Sunday.

Their visitors, meanwhile, head to Lumen Field aiming to move back into the Western Conference's top seven and end a winless run.

Following a 14th-placed conference finish last time around, San Jose Earthquakes currently find themselves ninth in their bid to return to the MLS playoffs in 2025, having earned 29 points from their first 23 outings, winning seven and losing eight of those.

The most recent of those victories came away at FC Dallas in late June, but they have since failed to add another notch to their wins column in four more league outings, firstly playing out 1-1 draws against Los Angeles Galaxy and New York Red Bulls.

Then on the back of a US Open Cup penalty shootout loss to Austin FC and a 4-1 away beating to Minnesota United, Bruce Arena's men hosted FC Dallas last time out and snatched a point, having fallen 2-1 down to a Petar Musa brace, only to draw level four minutes from time through Josef Martinez.

Now only leading 10th-placed Real Salt Lake by a single point, but trailing the top seven by the same margin and Sunday's hosts by five, San Jose Earthquakes will bid to end their winless run and put three important points on the board.

Seattle Sounders MLS form:

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Seattle Sounders form (all competitions):

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San Jose Earthquakes MLS form:

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San Jose Earthquakes form (all competitions):

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Team News

Seattle Sounders will continue to contend with several injury issues on Sunday, with first-choice goalkeeper Stefan Frei, Stuart Hawkins, Joao Paulo and Paul Arriola all set to remain confined to the treatment room.

In the absence of Frei, Andrew Thomas will continue to deputise between the sticks, while defender Yeimar Gomez Andrade is a fresh concern after being withdrawn at half-time last time out and may drop out for Kim Kee-Hee.

Daniel Musovski will continue to lead the line, while Albert Rusnak is a key man in support having moved onto 10 MLS goals for the season with his brace against Colorado Rapids.

San Jose Earthquakes remain without midfielder Noel Buck, who has been sidelined by an injury since May.

After earning them a point with his eighth goal of the season last time out, Josef Martinez will continue in attack alongside Cristian Arango, who leads the squad with 11 goals so far this term including 10 and five assists in 19 MLS outings.

Crisitian Espinoza remains a danger man in a right wing-back role, while Reid Roberts will hope to again join Bruno Wilson and Rodrigues in a back three.

Seattle Sounders possible starting lineup:

Thomas; A Roldan, Kim, Ragen, Bell; Vargas, C Roldan; Ferreira, Rusnak, Rothrock; Musovski

San Jose Earthquakes possible starting lineup:

Daniel; Rodrigues, Wilson, Roberts; Espinoza, Leroux, Tsakiris, Harkes, Costa; Arango, Martinez

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We say: Seattle Sounders 2-0 San Jose Earthquakes

 

Despite their disappointing draw last time out, Seattle Sounders are heading in the right direction in their return to form, and we back them on home turf to outclass a faltering San Jose Earthquakes side,

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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