If it seems like the confetti is still fluttering silently to the turf from the Sounders’ unbelievable 2016, you aren’t crazy.
It was only 84 days ago that the Sounders hoisted the ultimate piece of MLS hardware after Roman Torres blasted his fateful penalty past Clint Irwin to win the club’s first MLS Cup. The offseason for MLS Cup winners is notably short, thrusting teams back into the thick of preseason prep work less than a month after its conclusion. The Sounders were busy shoring up their title-winning starting lineup, adding depth pieces like Will Bruin and Harry Shipp and tacking on Homegrowns Seyi Adekoya and Henry Wingo.
So while it might feel a bit disingenuous to say the MLS season is “finally” back, the 2017 campaign is on Seattle’s trophy-festooned doorstep, waiting to come in.
The Sounders open the 2017 campaign with a Saturday matchup against the Houston Dynamo at BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston (5:30 p.m. PT; Q13 FOX, KIRO Radio 97.3 FM, El Rey 1360AM). The Sounders have struggled mightily in Houston since joining MLS in 2009, and they’ve still yet to win a game on this particular road trip. That includes last year, when the Sounders needed a last-gasp goal to rescue a 1-1 draw during the team’s dramatic late-season turnaround.
The Dynamo are an interesting case study this season. They finished the 2016 campaign a dismal last in the Western Conference after parting ways with coach Owen Coyle early in the season. Interim coach Wade Barrett steered the ship for the rest of the season but couldn’t avoid the rocks, and he was let go at the end of the year in favor of Wilmer Cabrera. He’d coached Houston USL affiliate Rio Grande Valley FC to a second-place finish in the USL regular season, and the former Oscar Pareja understudy in Colorado and Chivas USA head coach was given another crack at a first team.
Cabrera’s coaching ethos is a bit of a mystery, but expect something similar to Pareja. Under Cabrera Houston’s already mined Central America for several promising young attacking lights, namely former Olimpia stars Alberth Elis and Romell Quioto. The Sounders faced both in that wild 2015 CONCACAF Champions League group match at CenturyLink Field that Brad Evans won with a dramatic 97th minute penalty. Elis scored Olimpia’s only goal, and Quioto was on the sideline waiting to come back on after time wasting when Erik Friberg scored the 90th minute equalizer.
In sum, 2017 Houston will most likely look dramatically different than 2016 Houston.
Without a ton of background on Cabrera’s preferred play style (we’ll likely see some variant of a 4-3-3 on Saturday) or history with his lineup choices, it’s still easy to chart exactly how much this team has changed in a couple months. This was Houston’s lineup on the last day of the 2016 regular season.
And this is a rough approximation of how it could look on Saturday.
Still, though, the Dynamo are in the incubatory stages of Cabrera’s project on Saturday, meaning even they’re still picking their way through the weeds to a patch of clearer ground. But without the benefit of much preparatory game film on what that actually looks like, the Sounders will, in some sense, just kind of have to wing it tactically. At least in the first half.
As for the Sounders, not much should change after the first full preseason under the auspices of Brian Schmetzer’s tactical care.
The biggest tactical hinge points for the Sounders have mostly been around left midfield and right back. The right back question might’ve gotten a clearer answer in the Sounders’ last full preseason match against Columbus Crew SC last week in Charleston, S.C. Brad Evans, who hasn’t started for the Sounders since Aug. 28, 2016, was recently shut down for 5-7 weeks due to a calf injury. Evans was expected to compete for the starting gig at right back with Oniel Fisher, but Schmetzer threw a tactical wrinkle into the occasion by starting recently-signed Swede Gustav Svensson at right back against Columbus.
By all accounts, Svensson acquitted himself well despite his natural position being in the central defensive midfield. The Sounders have some cover at that position, though, and Svensson seems like a likely pick to start there with Fisher just emerging from concussion protocol. Fisher should be dressed for Saturday’s match, but expecting Svensson to start there is a pretty safe bet.
Which brings us about to the left midfield.
Throughout most of preseason, Alvaro Fernandez got most of the reps with the first unit, and that seems to be a safer bet than Shipp, who spent the majority of his time on the field deployed centrally. Shipp has plenty of experience on the left, namely last year with Montreal, but with Svensson sliding to right back it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Shipp kept in reserve as a sort of versatile plug to shore up whatever’s leaky in the second half.
That means this is my crack at the Sounders’ first choice lineup against Houston if everyone’s healthy. Keep in mind, Clint Dempsey and Jordan Morris may not start. Dempsey is still building fitness after missing part of 2016 with an irregular heartbeat, and Morris has been shaking off an injury late in preseason.
At least for now, this is the ideal. Allow Nico Lodeiro to cut inside to Dempsey for interchange while Cristian Roldan drives underneath. If Morris can’t go, fully expect Bruin to start at his old homestead. And if Dempsey isn’t ready to start matches yet, I’d expect Lodeiro to swap inside to his more natural No. 10 position while Shipp gets the nod at right mid.
Whatever happens, we’re about to burn off the fog of a short preseason and get our first glimpse at those shiny stars over the Sounders’ jerseys in a regular season match. Welcome back, MLS.
