Sounders Eddie Johnson's injury not as bad as originally thought

Seattle forward Eddie Johnson has an outside shot at playing in leg one of the MLS playoff semifinals and a much better chance in leg two, Sounders coach Sigi Schmid told reporters on Tuesday. Johnson was pulled from Sunday's loss to the Los Angeles Galaxy with a tight hamstring, and an MRI on Monday showed that his prognosis wasn't as bleak as expected.

"It's a slight tweak. It's not nearly as bad as we initially thought," Schmitd said, according to Sounders at Heart. "We wanted to go easy with him today and see where he's at tomorrow. It's slight, not nearly as bad as we had feared it might be and there's an outside chance on Friday. And for sure the second game shouldn't be a problem."

Meanwhile, Jeff Parke said that he would be ready to go for Friday's game against Real Salt Lake. Patrick Ianni and Leo Gonzalez are likewise recovering from their injuries on schedule. Parke pulled himself out of Sunday's game as a precautionary measure.

Johnson said after Sunday's 1-0 loss to the Galaxy that he didn't want to force anything and pulled himself from the game. He said there was a crap in his hamstring that he felt on several long runs up the field.

Johnson scored 14 goals in 24 games for the Sounders this year.