Neither Sounders forward Clint Dempsey nor center back Chad Marshall travelled with the team to Houston, and neither will be available for this evening’s match against the last-place Dynamo.
Wednesday is the middle portion of Seattle’s stretch of three matches in eight days, with a rematch against the Portland team it is still chasing in the Western Conference standings looming on Sunday.
“In the case of Clint and Chad, we need to be cognizant of how we’re managing the overall group during such a busy period,” interim coach Brian Schmetzer said by way of an explanation. “Having just played an emotionally and physically challenging match on Sunday, we kept both players back in Seattle as a precautionary measure.