Saturday’s match is quickly approaching. Are you ready to see the Seattle Sounders take on the Columbus Crew on April 20 at the Century Link Field? The match starts at 1:00 PM PT but officials say that it is a very good idea to get there early due to traffic and festivities if you want to make sure you don’t miss a minute of the match. That is one piece of news that fans should keep in mind as they prepare to don their Rave Green and head to the field this weekend.

Something else they should think about, however, is that Sounders Captain Brad Evans will be notably absent from this match. During the last match, he was given a red card and a suspension from this week’s match due to dissent. Plenty of fans are still crying foul over the number of red cards being issued this year in general, but there is no way Evans will be on the field this weekend. So Seattle Sounders Head Coach Sigi Schmid has decided to send in—you guessed it—defender Zach Scott in Evans’ place. Schmid said, “He’s a guy you know you can rely upon and he’s been that since day one. He’s still a competitor.”

Defender Tyrone Mears said something similar. “You know what you get with Zach. He’s going to compete and fight until the end, so it’s a good player to come in.” That said, many fans are upset about the substitution, saying that it’s Schmid’s trademark tactic that often fails. Some say that when Scott is on the field, big mistakes are often made and the Sounders are known to go downhill. On the other hand, some fans say that despite Scott being the oldest veteran on the team, he is still very much a talented player and that no one should write him off just yet.

Speculating about the outcome of a match is a huge part of the fun, but the fans saying that we should not discount Scott just yet do have a point. Sometimes players really surprise you and it really does no good boo hooing over choices that have already been made. It’s better to hope for the best and root the team on without complaints. That said, the complaint fest can certainly take effect once the game is over and the Sounders have lost. Let’s hope that does not happen in the first place and we see a big victory on Saturday.

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