TUKWILA, Wash. – When the Seattle Sounders take on the LA Galaxy in a pivotal Western Conference showdown at CenturyLink Field on Sunday (9:30 pm ET; FS1), they’ll have to do so without the services of All-Star center back and 2014 MLS Defender of the Year Chad Marshall.
The 31-year-old defensive stalwart suffered a sprained neck during Seattle’s training session on Wednesday and, in a scary scene at Starfire Soccer Complex, was carried off the practice field on a stretcher and taken to the hospital in an ambulance.
However, speaking with reporters after Seattle’s practice on Friday, Sounders head coach Sigi Schmid said the stretcher and ambulance were cautionary measures and that Marshall could actually return to training as early as next week.
“With Chad, it’s a neck injury, so obviously there’s precautions we need to take,” Schmid said. “But our expectation is that he shouldn’t miss more than this game here coming up. He’s been released [from the hospital], and he’s feeling much, much better.”
Schmid did add that the nature of Marshall’s injury means he will have to undergo a lengthy evaluation process before he returns to action.
“With certain injuries like that you have to go through a protocol,” Schmid said. “You’ve got to follow that protocol, and we always err on the side of caution. But I fully expect to see Chad around next week.”
The Sounders were already down one center back after midseason acquisition Roman Torres was lost for the season with a torn ACL suffered against the San Jose Earthquakes on Sept. 12.
They’ll now likely rely on the veteran combination of Brad Evans and Zach Scott in their central defense against a star-studded Galaxy squad that heads to CenturyLink on Sunday leading the Western Conference and Supporters’ Shield standings with 50 points in 31 games.
“Evans has played a lot of minutes at center back,” Schmid said. “So has Zach Scott, so I’m not too worried.”
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The Sounders dropped each of their previous matchups with LA at StubHub Center this year, the first a 1-0 defeat at back on April 12 and the next by a 3-1 scoreline on Aug. 9.
A reversal of fortune at home on Sunday, however, would bump Seattle up to 49 points on the season and improbably put them back in the mix for the Supporters’ Shield after a rough summer stretch that saw them at one point lose 10 times in 13 games.
“We have to give them credit and know that they are very good players and they’re a successful team,” Evans said on Friday. “But we’ve also got to realize with three games left, we’re still fighting. We could still make a run at this. There’s still a couple trophies within our grasp and if we do this thing right and we give it our all these next three games, it’s a possibility we could get two trophies.”
