The Sounders’ first playoff match against Real Salt Lake at 7 p.m. Friday will be a national TV affair available regionally on ROOT Sports and locally on KONG 6/16. An earlier story said incorrectly that it will also will be seen on NBC Sports Network, which is blacked out in the region.
The second game of the Western Conference semifinal match will be Nov. 8 at Sandy, UT. Kickoff is 6:30 p.m. PT. A year ago, RSL eliminated the Sounders in the first round with a 3-0 win at home, followed by a 3-2 defeat in Seattle.
Obviously we need to win at home and we need to get something on the road, coach Sigi Schmid said after the 1-0 loss to the Galaxy Sunday. We are at home first — last year it was the opposite — so we need to do the same kind of job that they did on us last year.”
The Sounders are awaiting word on MRI results on Eddie Johnson’s hamstring injury, which forced him from the game in the 43rd minute. Defender Jeff Parke was also taken out early because of a hamstring problem
“We took Parke out just out of precaution, because he felt a little bit tight so we wanted to make sure nothing went wrong there,” Schmid said. “It is something where we have to see what players are available to us. Salt Lake have some guys with injuries as well. We are going to put out 11 players they will put out 11 players and they will decide it.”
The next round of playoffs, the conference championships, will also be decided by two-leg aggregate goals series for the first time. The winners advance to MLS Cup 2012 Dec. 1 hosted by the finalist with the better regular-season record
Tickets for Friday’s game are available by visiting www.SoundersFC.com or by calling 800-745-3000. All playoff tickets will be distributed via Ticketmaster’s TicketFast print at home service.
