Freddie Ljungberg out again for Sounders FC

Sounders FC seeks a win after three straight 1-1 draws, and every week seems to bring with it a new challenge.

The first of the three draws saw the team lose forward Fredy Montero to a red card at Chicago, and he was suspended for the following week. The second draw saw another red card, this time for defender James Riley, and he missed last week's game at FC Dallas. That FC Dallas game saw Sounders FC miss at least four quality chances to score and take control of the match.

Seattle also played without star midfielder Freddie Ljungberg, and lost starting midfielder Brad Evans to a concussion and ankle injury late in the game and defender Zach Scott to a lower abdominal strain. None of the three made the trip to Colorado, where Sounders FC faces the Rapids tonight.

Ljungberg, Seattle's designated player and playmaking center midfielder whose leadership and pace have been a key to the team's success, hardly practiced this week because of the effects of a debilitating migraine.

"It was a more severe migraine attack than maybe the last one he had, so he's still getting a little bit of a dull headache in the afternoon," Sounders FC coach Sigi Schmid said. "So until he's headache free we don't want to push him, and [Friday] he felt a little bit better. He did a little more today, so we expect by Tuesday he should be all right."

Sounders FC (4-2-3) can only hope it wins or least ties without key players. It has managed to hold on to one of the top two spots in Major League Soccer's Western Conference for the first nine weeks of the season.

But another team could catch Seattle this week — either today's opponent, the Colorado Rapids, or the Houston Dynamo.

If Colorado defeats Seattle, both teams will have 15 points in the standings and be tied for second place. A win for the Dynamo in that scenario would make it a three-way tie. So Sounders FC needs at least a draw to remain in second and must do so on the road against a Rapids team that has not lost at Dick's Sporting Goods Park this season and features high-scoring forward Conor Casey.

Sounders FC will get to know the Rapids well — it faces Colorado on Tuesday night in a U.S. Open Cup tournament play-in match at Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila, with the winner getting a berth in the Open Cup field.

"It's not something that anybody enjoys doing, turning around and playing the same team within three, four days," Schmid said. "But that's the way it worked out ... so we get to play them home and away. They're a team that's gotten some good results on the road. Conor Casey has had a good season for them so far. They've gotten good flank play from [midfielder] Terry Cooke and others, and [midfielder] Colin Clark on the opposite side obviously has done a lot of good things for them. So they're a team that you've got to worry about."

Sounders FC spent a lot of time this week working on finishing goal-scoring chances.

"Steve [midfielder Steve Zakuani] has done well in terms of taking people on, but we need do a better job of making sure that those actions bear fruit," Schmid said. "It's great to beat people, it's great to get the ball across, but at the end of the day we need to put it in the back of the net as well."

José Miguel Romero: 206-464-2409 or jromero@seattletimes.com