The Seattle Sounders came into their matchup against the LA Galaxy with some headwinds against them. Coming off two disappointing home draws, and with Nicolás Lodeiro and Stefan Frei out for the foreseeable future due to complications from existing injuries, the last thing head coach Brian Schmetzer wanted to deal with was the loss of one of the early front-runners for Defensive Player of the Year. But that’s exactly what the Sounders were looking at, as centerback revelation Nouhou was held out of action due to what was described as tightness in his adductor.
The late injury meant that recent signee AB Cissoko would make his debut in the highly anticipated matchup in Carson.