International competition commences for the resurgent Seattle Sounders FC this week, with an important MLS match sandwiched in between the two legs of the CONCACAF Champions League preliminary round series.

Unbeaten in its last four matches in all competitions, Sounders FC hosts El Salvador's AD Isidro Metapán on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. PT.

That interesting international test will be promptly followed on Saturday night by an important MLS test.

Seattle moves back into league play, visiting the San Jose Earthquakes at 7 p.m. PT.

The outcome of the Champions League series will be decided in San Salvador on August 3 at 7 p.m. PT. Both games against Metapán will be nationally televised on Fox Soccer Channel.

The Sounders with a 6-8-4 league mark and 22 points, continue to close ground on the eighth and final MLS Cup Playoffs position last week, beating Colorado, 2-1.

Seattle has won two in a row and has not lost in its last three league starts dating back to July 11. The four-game unbeaten run in all competitions commenced with a 2-0 win over the L.A. Galaxy in a U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal on July 7.

Sounders Coach Sigi Schmid following Tuesday’s practice focused on Metapan and the challenge of international competition:

“Obviously we have been doing our research and we’ve found out a lot of things about them. They are a team that has been successful probably over the last four seasons in their league.

It’s the same coach that coached against me in [2006 or 2007], when we played them in Columbus at the end of the year. He has been the same coach for the past six or seven years there. [Luis] Suarez’s brother, the Suarez from Uruguay, plays for the team. He [Paolo Suarez] is one of their key players. Odir Flores is another key player for them. [Mark] Blanco has got like 24 goals over the last season and a half for them. He is a dangerous, attacking player.

They are a team that we have an idea of their shape. We have an idea of their organization. We have seen a couple video tapes of games that they have played. I have talked to some El Salvadorian people that I know who have given me some information. They played a game in L.A. on the weekend against the Hollywood Hitmen, a PDL team. So I talked to people that have seen that game. So we have a fairly good idea as to what they are about.”

Schmid then turned his attention to the challenge of a non-MLS team:

“Obviously when you play against a team it’s always for the players they have a better idea of what is this player going to do. So you can mention to the players [Paolo] Suarez or [Odir] Flores or [Mark] Blanco, it’s a name and it’s a guy running around on film. It’s not necessarily somebody they have played against.

When they get matched up they can sort of eyeball them and it makes it a little bit easier for the team. They are a team that works very hard. That has been the trademark of what everybody says.

They are a team that battles for every loose ball and that fights for everything, every square space on the field. They are a team that defends well, that’s how they sort of pushed forward and brought themselves into prominence in the El Salvadorian league. And they are a team that’s been able to score timely goals. So it’s going to be an exciting game. It’s going to be a good game.”

It will be an interesting period involving an important MLS road test against the San Jose Earthquakes sandwiched between two contests with Metapan at home and away respectively.

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