During their current preseason tour of North America, the Sunderland AFC Black Cats wear the shoe on the other foot. They wear a target. They are the hunted. The admired.

While here, Sunderland wears the tag of Goliath in a matchup against Davids. When the Black Cats return home for their first tour in the English Premier League since 2002-03, they become the star-struck youngsters playing alongside idols and some of the world's best soccer players.

Tonight, the Seattle Sounders become the ones looking up to their foes when they host a young Sunderland team from the Premiership, the league widely considered the best in the world. The exhibition match is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Qwest Field.

"There's going to be a lot of learning in the Premiership, and we can't be scared of the teams we're playing," said Sunderland forward Stephen Elliott, a second-year pro from Ireland. "We have to go in and not be scared of the team we're playing just because of who they are. We cannot be too star-struck. As a player, you have to be able to express yourself out there and not back down.

"Most of us here are kind of new lads with a lot of years left in soccer."

The last time the Black Cats, who have a rich 125-year history, earned promotion into the EPL, they fell out the next season in 2003-04. Last season, Sunderland won its way back in the EPL by capturing the Coca-Cola Championship League.

"We know it will be really hard," said Sunderland defender Julio Arca, one of the team's oldest players at 24. "We won a championship last season, but we know the Premier League has different players and a different quality of player. It will be more difficult for us."

The Argentina-born Arca must stop players he grew up idolizing like Arsenal striker Thierry Henry.

"Almost all of our players have never played in the Premiership," Arca said. "It might be like playing against their heroes for some. When they play right beside you, it's something special. We have a really young team, and most guys are between 18 and 24.

"You have to remember it's the same pitch and there are 11 players."

However, the artificial pitch at Qwest Field won't be what Sunderland is accustomed to playing on.

Sunderland, which plays all of its matches in England on grass, visited Qwest Field for the first time with a stadium walk-through yesterday. Sunderland manager Mick McCarthy was the first team representative to test the FieldTurf surface at Qwest Field.

"We have no artificial surfaces to play on, but we practice on some over there," said McCarthy, who kicked several balls at different angles on the turf. "It will change the game, and we'll have to adapt to it. I'd rather play on natural grass, but we'll manage.

"It's completely different to grass. There's more bounce. You might get a big bounce, but not a bad bounce."

McCarthy likened the FieldTurf and its rubberized surface to that of some golf-course greens that hold approach shots well.

"It checks pretty good," he said. "I wish I could get my sand wedge to check like that."

Notes

• Elliott, Sunderland's No. 2 scorer with 31 points on 15 goals and one assist in 2004-05, missed the team's 3-0 loss in Vancouver on Saturday due to a virus. Elliott is expected to play in Seattle and possibly start. "He'll be involved," McCarthy said.

• Defender Danny Collins (Achilles) and Jon Stead (knee) will likely sit out the match for the Black Cats. Defender Nyron Nosworthy suffered a hamstring injury in the loss at Vancouver and will likely sit out as well.

• The Black Cats, who are 1-1-0 in North America, begin Premier League action Aug. 13 at home against Charlton.

"We're here for training purposes," McCarthy said. "We'll get out of it what we want to. We're just trying to get back into playing."

• A lot of the Sounders players watch EPL matches on Fox Sports World. Now the Seattle players go face to face with the players they admire on TV.

"I know that Ryan Edwards, Preston Burpo, Andrew Gregor and I would go out of our way to watch a Premier League game," said injured Sounders defender Danny Jackson. "You can always learn something, and it's a good two hours of entertainment."