TUKWILA, Wash. – Leo Gonzalez has been unable to fully train all week, and the left back’s status for Saturday's matchup with the Colorado Rapids (4 pm ET; MLS Live Free Stream of the Week, UDN) was called “touch and go” by Seattle Sounders head coach Sigi Schmid.
“He’s got a little bit of a hamstring tweak, so for him this weekend is up in the air still,” Schmid said following Thursday’s training session, in which Gonzalez did not participate. “He’s gotten a lot better, so we wanted him to go into the gym today and see how he is.”
Assuming Gonzalez isn’t able to play, that likely clears the path for Dylan Remick to return to the starting lineup for the first time since March 29. Remick started the Sounders’ first four matches while Gonzalez recovered from offseason surgery. The Sounders went 2-2-0 and allowed four goals in those matches.
“Dylan has played well and showed he’s ready to play,” Schmid said. “Leo has come in and done a good job. But I feel very confident we have two very good left backs.”
Left back is just one position that appears to be less than set. Although midfielder Brad Evans has been a full participant in training for almost two weeks and is coming off a solid performance, his return to the starting lineup is not guaranteed.
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Keeping in mind that it’s still early in the season, Schmid suggested he may err on the side of caution when deciding how to use Evans this week. Evans missed four games with a calf injury that forced him to leave a match early back on March 15.
“We’ll make a decision going into the game where he’s at fitness-wise,” Schmid said. “We want to make sure he’s completely over this and healthy. We don’t want to push him too hard too early and bring it back. But everything he’s done this week he feels good about.”
