Caps need to keep Lodeiro in check
Limiting the playmaking Uruguayan crucial to earning points Saturday
Nicolas Mezquida never met Nicolas Lodeiro growing up in the same hometown, Paysandu, on the Uruguay River.
They are three years apart, and Lodeiro, a prodigious talent, left for Nacional in Montevideo at 14.
Mezquida, though, has been familiar with Lodeiro’s ability from a young age.
When Mezquida was a playmaker with Uruguay’s U-15 team, he had a coach who instructed him to watch and learn from the older internationals at his position: Lodeiro, and Diego Forlan. He would watch how they controlled tempo, how they pulled the strings.
“It’s not a surprise for me,” Mezquida said of Lodeiro’s instant success with the Seattle Sounders. “He shows this in the national team, in Boca Juniors, and back to Nacional (as a youth player).
“I knew he would make a big difference in MLS.”
Saturday at CenturyLink Field (1 p.m., TSN1, TSN 1040), the Caps and Sounders will both be desperate for a win to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Vancouver (9-13-7) is four points back of Portland for the final playoff spot in the West. Seattle (9-13-5) is six points back but has two games in hand on both Cascadia rivals.
“We have to win,” said Mezquida. “It’s all or nothing. We come here for the three points and we have to do anything to win the game.”
They’ll have to limit Lodeiro’s involvement for one.
The Uruguay an international has been an inspired summer signing for the Sounders, who reportedly coughed up close to $6 million in transfer fees and will pay him $6.1 million in salary over three-and-ahalf seasons combined.
Transferred from Boca Juniors, Lodeiro has three goals and six assists in seven starts. He’s been in on nine of Seattle’s 13 goals since arriving and he clicked very well with Clint Dempsey, who is now out with an irregular heartbeat.
The Sounders are 3-1-3 with Lodeiro but winless in three since Dempsey’s absence.
“We have to do a very good job on him,” said Caps coach Carl Robinson, who also offered his well wishes to Dempsey, who returned to light training this week but won’t play Saturday, or perhaps again this season.
“Obviously they’ve invested heavily in him (Lodeiro). He makes them tick. We’re going to have be
right on our game to make sure he doesn’t have a major influence.”
Mezquida, who played a key role in Tuesday’s CONCACAF Champions League win in Kansas City, might not feature in Robinson’s starting lineup Saturday. But he’s already chatted to defensive midfielder Matias Laba about Lodeiro.
“I talked to him (Wednesday) night and said ‘Don’t let them play easy to him (Lodeiro),’” said Mezquida.
“All the time, Mati has to be close to him. (Lodeiro) is a smart player. He can make a pass. He can shoot. We can’t leave him when the ball is close.”
Mezquida said the Caps are coming into this game confident after wins in Columbus and K.C.
Confident, too, from their history in front of the big CenturyLink Field crowds. Vancouver is 4-2-1 in Seattle since joining MLS and, oddly, the road team in this storied rivalry has won the last five meetings. The combined score in those games is 11-1 for the visitors, including a 2-1 Caps win there in March on a pair of Pedro Morales penalties (controversial calls, of course).
“I think it’s just the motivation,” Mezquida said of the quirky score lines.
“It’s a derby. You always have to win the derby.”
Neither of these teams are in a good position heading into Saturday. But a win could change plenty. Portland hosts Philadelphia, while San Jose visits Colorado.