The Sounders begin the unofficial “second half” of their season this week following a mid-term break, but will be doing it without star forward Clint Dempsey after he was called up Sunday by the U.S. Men’s National Team for Gold Cup quarterfinals duty.
On the positive front, midfielder Cristian Roldan has been sent back from his USMNT stint and will join the team ahead of Wednesday’s resumption of Major League Soccer regular season action against D.C. United. The Sounders manged to go 4-2-2 their previous eight matches ahead of the two-week Gold Cup break and remain perched right on the playoff red line between qualifiers and non-qualifiers.