It’s been quite a return to the lineup for Harry Shipp.
Since recently recovering from an ankle injury and working his way back into the mix, the Seattle Sounders midfielder has rewarded Head Coach Brian Schmetzer with his play. Shipp has scored twice in his last three matches in all competitions and played a stretch of four matches in 10 days.
“I feel like I’m at a place to contribute a great amount to this team,” Shipp said after training on Tuesday. “I’m someone who doesn’t judge myself on stats, but it’s some nice validation. I’ve put in some good work the last three or four weeks in training and gotten rewarded for it.
“Personally I’m feeling good and confident,” he continued, “and hopefully I’ll get another goal or major contribution this weekend to help the team win.”
Shipp’s time away from the game was also an opportunity to reflect and evaluate his own performances. He credits his introspection for helping his recent run of excellent form on the pitch.
“I took some time to think about what could separate myself,” Shipp said. “What could I bring that may be a little bit different than other guys we have? We have a lot of guys who are technically gifted, and for me that’s the baseline, being technically clean, but I went back and thought, how could I move without the ball, how can I create space, how can I work hard to create space for others and be willing to do the things that other guys on the team either aren’t willing to do or don’t prefer to do?”
Shipp will have another chance to continue his run of form on Saturday when Seattle welcomes the Chicago Fire, Shipp’s first MLS team with which he signed a Homegrown contract, to CenturyLink Field (7 p.m. PT; JOEtv, YouTube TV, Univision-Seattle, 950 KJR AM, El Rey 1360 AM | TICKETS). The team has turned over considerably since Shipp left Chicago in 2015, but he’s still aware of the talent the Fire have and how dangerous they can be.
“Chicago’s a talented team, they’ve got some guys who can score goals,” Shipp said. “For us, it’s about being good in possession, pressing in their half of the field to try and win the ball instead of winning it 70 yards from our attacking goal.
“We’ve got some stuff to build off from our last home game,” he added. “We need a win, we need three points, so hopefully we’ll get that.”
