RE: MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER CONTEST #11: distributing the post's SBD rewards (10 SBD min.) & more than 100,000 in POCKET!
Lodeiro is ok but I would have selected Bruin if he was an option. Lodeiro will likely be playing deeper in the miss field with Ozzy and Svensonn out, so he's likely to be doing a lot of the creating and earning assists rather than goals. Although Bruin isn't a great playmaker or creating hours own chances, he's on a goal scoring tear right now and is the most likely to be scoring right now. I'm calling at least one Dempsey goal in Seattle though for the second leg, for sure. If Alonso was in he'd be holding the defense and letting Christian Roldan do what he does in the attacking mid so well, making him goal dangerous too... but as it stands now he's hoping to be holding things down defensively to let Lodeiro take the more attacking roll from the back mid.
Whitecaps have a bad defense, but our offense is missing a lot of pieces for today's match. They have been doing well with Freddie Montero (Sounders legend by the way), but our defense is top friggin notch and Stefan Frei is possibly the best keeper in MLS. Only way I'd be concerned is if Chad Marshal is injured for today's match; that would be a huge hit for Seattle's lineup.
I could see today ending as a low scoring draw or Sounders scoring a late winner from Neagel or Bruin making it a 1-0 win. Just limit Vancouver's chances on set pieces and we'll be good.
Thanks for the input! Looking forward to watching tonight's game!