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Sounders hope to remain perfect vs. Wizards

Apr 11, 2009 - 2:23 AM By Paul DiGiacomo Stats Senior Editor

Kansas City (1-2-0) at Seattle (3-0-0), 10:30 p.m. EDT

SEATTLE (AP) -- The Seattle Sounders sure aren't playing like an expansion club.

With the best offense and defense in MLS in its first year in the league, Seattle FC looks to open with a fourth consecutive victory when it hosts the Kansas City Wizards on Saturday night.

The Sounders got the attention of other teams in the league with a 3-0 home win over New York - which played for the MLS Cup last season - in their inaugural match March 19. They earned another shutout at Qwest Field the following week, beating Real Salt Lake, 2-0, on March 28.

Last weekend, Seattle's run was expected to come to an end on the road against Toronto, which lost just twice on its home field last season. Instead, Sounders goalkeeper Kasey Keller came away with his third straight clean sheet, 2-0.

The Sounders (3-0-0) lead the league with seven goals and are the only club not to allow one. Seattle is the first team in MLS history to record shutouts in its first three games of existence and is 62 minutes short of a league-record scoreless streak to start the season.

"I can't do it without guys willing to put their bodies on the line for 90 minutes, and that's exactly what everybody is doing," Keller said. "Guys are really working extremely hard to make sure that we don't concede goals and, if we continue with that attitude, we have a very good chance of having a very good season."

Seattle won last week despite the absence of forward Fredy Montero, who has scored an MLS high-tying three goals. Montero did not travel because of what the team said was flu-like symptoms, but the King County prosecutor's office in Seattle confirmed it is reviewing a woman's report that Montero raped her twice last month.

That gave Freddie Ljungberg a chance to make his first MLS start, and the 32-year-old midfielder scored his first goal in the league.

"It was a perfect scenario for me," said Ljungberg, who had 72 goals while appearing in 328 matches for Arsenal of the English Premier League from 1998-2007. "I couldn't have written it better. It's nice to score in my first game as a starter in MLS."

Seattle coach Sigi Schmid, who helped Columbus win the MLS Cup last season, said he expects to have Montero available for this match.

Kansas City (1-2-0) picked up its first win of the season last Sunday, 2-0, over San Jose. The Wizards had allowed five goals in dropping their first two matches, causing coach Curt Onalfo to shake things up.

His retooled lineup got the job done at both ends of the field, as defender Aaron Hohlbein scored his first career goal and Kansas City held the Earthquakes to one shot on goal.

"The last couple of weeks, we weren't playing up to our ability," Hohlbein said. "We knew coming in that we had to have a good performance today. We came out confident and played the way we knew we could play."