Coming into tonight's finals MLS game against Chivas USA, the Seattle Sounders likely had two high priorities; evaluate the fitness of Mauro Rosales and avoid injuries. It took all of five minutes for both of the above to go out the window. Mauro Rosales, making just his second appearance and first start since being injured against DC United over a month ago, had to be stretchered off the field and removed from the game after being fouled by Chivas USA midfielder Ben Zemanski.
Rosales stayed on the pitch for nearly five minutes before being taken to the sideline and was immediately replaced by Roger Levesque. Zemanski was shown a yellow card for the challenge, which did not appear malicious but was both clumsy and late. The extent of the injury is unknown at this point though Rosales was walking under his own power on the sideline without any pronounced favoring of his right leg shortly after being removed. Still, with the injury affecting the same knee that was injured in September, there will be a great deal of concern that the same ligaments will have been affected, in which case Rosales will likely be ruled out for the postseason.