The Dynamo host Seattle Sounders FC at 4 p.m. on Sunday in the final home game of the regular season and the club's tenth season celebration, presented by Novo Nordisk. Limited tickets remain and are available here. Here are five players to watch from Seattle.
Clint Dempsey
The proud native of Nacogdoches, Texas is the only American to score at three FIFA World Cups, including Brazil 2014, when he scored 29 seconds into the opening match against Ghana to set an American record. Dempsey is second on the U.S. national team’s all-time scoring list with 48 goals and served as captain from 2013-15. He scored 50 goals at Fulham in the English Premier League from 2007-12 and spent a year at Tottenham before returning to MLS with the Sounders in August 2013. Dempsey has eight goals and nine assists this year after recording 15 goals and 10 assists last season.
Obafemi Martins
Martins was runner up in the 2014 MLS MVP vote, trailing only Robbie Keane for the award after recording 17 goals and 13 assists. A veteran of the 2010 World Cup with Nigeria, Martins (39 caps, 18 goals) led the way as the Sounders won the MLS Supporters’ Shield and U.S. Open Cup in 2014. This season, he has 14 goals and five assists while missing two months with a groin injury. The 30-year-old has a well-traveled resume, with stops at Inter Milan, Newcastle United, Wolfsburg, Rubin Kazan and Levante before signing with Seattle in March 2013.
Nelson Valdez
Seattle found added another World Cup veteran with Valdez, 31, who signed as a Designated Player with the Sounders on Aug. 7. Valdez (68 caps) has played at two World Cups: 2006 and 2010, when Paraguay reached the quarterfinals. The attacker has spent over a decade in the German Bundesliga during spells with Werder Bremen, Borussia Dortmund and Eintracht Frankfurt.
Osvaldo Alonso
Alonso defected from Cuba during the Gold Cup in Houston in 2007 and signed with the Charleston Battery of USL. He joined Seattle in 2008, a year before its move to MLS, and has been a mainstay since, appearing in 192 games in seven seasons. Alonso is a three-time MLS All-Star and earned MLS Best XI honors in 2012.
Gonzalo Pineda
Alonso’s central midfield partner, Pineda is in his second year with Seattle after a long career with some of the biggest clubs in Mexico, including Chivas Guadalajara, Cruz Azul, Peubla and Tigres. Pineda, with 44 caps for the Mexico national team, possesses a wide range of passing and played at the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
