Sounders serve as target, model for resurgence

The Dynamo on Wednesday night face a team telling a story they hope they will be able to write in the near future.

Seattle Sounders FC visit BBVA Compass Stadium for a midweek match boasting their best form of the season after parting ways with their coach. Once below the Dynamo in the MLS Western Conference standings, Seattle is 3-0-1 under interim coach Brian Schmetzer.

Many with the last-place Dynamo (5-10-9) have said throughout the season that although things are not going well, everything can change with a few consecutive victories due to the league’s forgiving playoff structure.

Standings fluid

Seattle (9-12-3) might be about to prove them right. The Sounders could catapult into playoff position by earning three points Wednesday.

“I have been in the league 20 years as a player and working in the front office, and things can change very quick in MLS,” Dynamo VP/GM Matt Jordan said. “It is a very unpredictable league. The Western Conference is as unpredictable as I’ve ever seen it right now.”

Seattle’s unbeaten streak began after a pair of major moves in late July. On July 26, the Sounders parted ways with longtime coach Sigi Schmid. A day later, they signed Uruguayan midfielder Nicolas Lodeiro to a designated player contract.

Lodeiro, a regular with the Uruguay national team, has played every minute of the current streak, chipping in one goal and four assists. He has been perhaps the biggest difference-maker added by any MLS team during the summer transfer window.

The Dynamo, meanwhile, used the transfer window to position themselves

to make a big signing or two during the winter transfer window. While they wait for their chance to make a splash in the winter, they will have to find a way to slow a team that has done so.

“The most important thing I have seen (with Lodeiro) is that he connects the team very well in the midfield and then he is clinical when he has been given opportunities in and around the box,” said Dynamo defensive midfielder Collen Warner, who is likely to be tasked with the responsibility of marking Lodeiro. “The most important thing is limiting his touches close to the 18.”

Though it is not as pronounced as Seattle’s, the Dynamo go into Wednesday’s game on their own good note. Last weekend they won a road game — 2-1 at San Jose — for the first time in 20 tries, a streak that stretched for more than a calendar year.

It is a step in the right direction, but it does not mean anything if they do not add to it. Interim coach Wade Barrett was quick to bring it up in the locker room postgame in San Jose.

Ride the momentum

In other words, the Dynamo cannot be like Seattle unless they beat Seattle.

“It is great to get a win, but you can’t settle for that,” Barrett said. “It’s not good enough. We have to take that momentum into this game. I know Seattle has been in a good run of form, but there is every opportunity for us to come out and get three points on Wednesday.”