No pressure for Nico Lodeiro.
The Sounders FC captain simply needs to slip back into the starting lineup, grab hold of the reins from center midfield and get Seattle back on a winning streak. The Sounders would also prefer that to begin Saturday with a road matchup against the Columbus Crew.
Lodeiro did leave the Sounders (8-5-5) on a loss when he joined his Uruguayan national team in May. He helped lead the country to a quarterfinal finish in the Copa America tournament held in Brazil.
While away – with at one point nine other teammates also playing with their national teams – variations of inexperienced Sounders lineups have lost three of their past four MLS games.