Sounders staging another summer surge

Defending champs unbeaten in past 7 matches ahead of 1st-place showdown vs. Kansas City on Saturday

SEATTLE (AP) — If the story of this Seattle Sounders season sounds familiar, that’s because it’s playing out in a very similar fashion to a year ago.

Except Seattle’s turnaround this time started early enough that the surging Sounders could very soon find themselves on top of the MLS Western Conference.

“You want to keep building, keep working hard to sharpen up to be better,” Seattle forward Clint Dempsey said. “But things are looking good. We are where we want to be in terms of putting ourselves in a position to make playoffs, at the same time, though, we aren’t just happy being in third.

“We want to keep fighting, pushing to finish strong for playoffs, to be in the best situation.”

The Sounders are unbeaten in their past seven matches, and coming off last week’s 4-0 rout of Minnesota, Seattle can move into a tie on top of the Western Conference with a win at home Saturday against first place Sporting Kansas City.

While there are two months left in the regular season and no team in the Western Conference has adequately separated itself — the top seven teams are separated by six points — Seattle getting to the top would cap another dramatic summer turnaround.

It’s not as dramatic as a year ago when Seattle made a mid-season coaching change and needed a late surge just to make the playoffs.

But it has been an impressive switch after the defending champs slogged through the first few months of the season. “I know that the enthusiasm and the desire is there. They put it in every game and that’s what I’m most proud of,” said Seattle coach Brian Schmetzer.

Seattle knew the early season would be a struggle coming off the hangover of winning the title with a limited off-season and while trying to add Dempsey back to the lineup.

The schedule is in Seattle’s favour now, too. The Sounders play four of the next five at home — the only road trip is to Vancouver — and seven of their final 11 regular-season matches.