Ahead of the preseason friendly game (kick off 3.30am tomorrow morning) with the Seattle Sounders I spoke to Sounders fan Dave Clark from the Sounder at Heart blog
Q1: What do you know about West Ham United and their fan base?
American soccer fans are split into three main groups: those that follow the major European Leagues (usually EPL with a few top teams in the other leagues), those that follow Liga MX and those that follow American soccer only. I’m in that third group. I don’t know much about West Ham. I haven’t even watched Green Street Hooligans, so I don’t know much about the relationship between hobbits and hooliganism.
Q2: What do you know about the West Ham manager Slaven Bilic and the Premier league in general?
Most of my EPL knowledge comes from following the few Americans over there – particularly former Sounder DeAndre Yedlin. From what little I know about Bilic is that he’s a bit of a tactical specialist and part of the new school of younger, up and comers signed from outside the English system. He’s also on some short lists for the English job, but I’m hoping you take Klinsmann.
Q3: Tell us a little bit about the history of the Seattle Sounders and how it was formed?
MLS is a franchise system, but the Sounders have a history that goes back to 1974. That’s a bit old in US soccer. They were part of the NASL (of Pele/Cosmos fame), the A-League and USL (the second division at the time) and joined MLS in 2009. The team in its various iterations has a largish trophy chest with its most recent significant title being the 2014 Supporters’ Shield (regular season championship).
Q4: If you could have any current West Ham player in your team who would you choose and why?
Payet has been a thrill to watch in the Euros. That and the Sounders desperately need an attacking midfielder.
Q5: Which Seattle Sounders star players should we look out for on Wednesday?
If I’m a Hammer I would focus on Clint Dempsey (former Tottenham, Fulham, current USA) because you can see how he’s maintained form, or not, since he joined Seattle from Spurs. The other key attacking player would be Jordan Morris. At 21 this is his first pro year after playing for Stanford University and the Sounders Academy. Morris has six goals at roughly the halfway point of the season and is already a fringe player for the National Team. Osvaldo Alonso is the defensive midfielder here. He’s got an everlasting battery and is one of the more skilled passers on the team. Alonso is also the most likely to dribble out of trouble.
Q6: Former Hammers Harry Redknapp and Bobby Moore briefly played for the Seattle Sounders in the seventies. What do you know about their time with you?
Redknapp helped the Sounders finish 2nd to the Cosmos in 1977. I’m hoping that he gets the Golden Scarf as a recognition for his contributions to soccer and Seattle.
Q7: Tell us three interesting facts about Seattle.
It was built on seven hills, but then we leveled one of them. The stadium district is built on top of that dirt.We were the taking off point for most of the Alaska Gold Rush. During that boom Seattle went from 80,000 to 260,000 people. There are now 680,000 or so within the city limits and 3.7 million in the metropolitan area. You may think of Seattle as the headquarters of Microsoft, but that’s actually out in the suburbs in Redmond. The suburbs also host companies like Nintendo, Wizards of the Coast, Boeing (unofficial), Costco and more. Seattle itself is the center for Amazon and Amazon and Amazon and Amazon. It seems to be everywhere these days.
Q8: I understand Tyrone Mears plays right back for you and once played for West Ham. How has his career worked out in the MLS?
In his first half season he exploded on the scene looking like a game changer. Now he’s a service right back who is better in defense than attack. Most MLS teams would be happy to have his quality.
Q9: How do you expect the Sounders to set-up against West Ham on Wednesday /Team/formation?
The starters will only play the first half. You will probably see a kind of 4-2-1-3.
Stefan Frei; Joevin Jones, Chad Marshall, Brad Evans, Tyrone Mears; Osvaldo Alonso, Erik Friberg; Clint Dempsey; Andreas Ivanschitz; Jordan Morris, Aaron Kovar
Q10: West Ham and the Seattle Sounders have never played each other. What is your score prediction for the game?
I just want Seattle to not embarrass themselves. Previous friendlies against Chelsea, Manchester United and Barcelona did that. Though the Sounders did put forward a fun 3-3 result against Tottenham in 2014.
My thanks to Dave for his time to answer our opposition Q&A stateside on Independence Day.
Sounder at Heart http://www.sounderatheart.com/ is an 8-year old blog covering the Seattle Sounders. You can follow them on Twitter @SounderAtHeart or on Facebook. Dave’s personal Twitter account is @bedirthan.
The game is being broadcast on TV locally in Seattle JoeTV 7.30pm local time (3.30am UK time)
Local radio stations KIRO Radio 97.3 FM or El Rey 1360AM will also be broadcasting the audio commentary.
Listen to El Rey 1360am Here Might be in Spanish!
Listen to Kiro Radio 97.3FM online Here Select the option to Listen Live
Possibly this link to JoeTV might stream the game at 03.30am but no guarantees http://streema.com/tv/JOEtv