On Dec. 10, 2016, the Seattle Sounders pulled into an exclusive club alongside just 10 other members. After eight seasons in MLS, Seattle could call itself MLS Cup champions for all time.
Exactly 56 days later, the Sounders are rebooting the engine to do it all over again.
Saturday represents the first time the Sounders’ full XI steps onto the field in even a semi-competitive capacity since Roman Torres hammered home a penalty in frigid Toronto to send Seattle home with the 2016 MLS Cup. The Sounders stake an important signpost for the 2017 season into the ground on Saturday when they square off, fittingly, against the Portland Timbers (5:30 p.m. PT; SoundersFC.com) from training camp in Tucson, Ariz.
The match against Seattle’s old Cascadia nemesis is one of two in Arizona. They’ll polish off their time in the southwest with a scrimmage against the San Jose Earthquakes on Tuesday (9:30 a.m. PT; SoundersFC.com). The Sounders then return home only to jet off to Charleston, S.C., where they’ll finish the preseason with friendlies against the Charleston Battery, Atlanta United and Columbus Crew SC in the Carolina Challenge Cup.
The first preseason tune-up is almost invariably studded with hiccups and, more to the point, with tweaks and changes. In 2016, then-coach Sigi Schmid used the preseason as a test run to work out the kinks in his newfangled 4-3-3 formation. Don’t expect to see anything similarly seismic this preseason. Current coach Brian Schmetzer is nothing if not consistent, and there’s been no indication he plans on moving off the 4-2-3-1 that won Seattle the 2016 title.
With that in mind, here’s three things to watch for in Seattle’s first preseason match. Even if it is the preseason, expect it to be a bit more heated considering the opponent.
What does the three-across midfield look like?
At least tactically, this is probably the most intriguing question of the preseason. Schmetzer has a ton of options in his high midfield line underneath the striker, and it’s unclear exactly where he’ll go with them. The real outlier is Will Bruin, who was acquired in December as cover for the exodus of Nelson Valdez. The Paraguayan finished the year as a starter with Jordan Morris wide, but it seemed like more of a stopgap to ride the hot hand (Valdez was quite good in the postseason) and to accommodate the team’s Designated Player.
Now that Valdez is gone, how the coaching staff sees Bruin will more or less determine where everyone else goes. If Bruin is a super-sub, Morris will slide into his customary role as the center forward, Harry Shipp will (most likely) fill that wide slot on the left and either Alvaro Fernandez or Aaron Kovar (again, most likely) will be on the other side depending on Clint Dempsey’s health. If Bruin is a starter? Expect to see more of Morris out wide in 2017.
Does Clint Dempsey play?
The biggest question mark of the Sounders’ season is a 6-foot-1 forward from Nacogdoches, Texas. Dempsey has the ability to alter a game, and the fact that the Sounders were as dangerous as they were late in 2016 without him should have Seattle fans salivating at the prospect of adding him back into the attack. After an irregular heartbeat ruled him out for the final third of last season, Dempsey’s since been cleared to practice, has been in full training and is available for minutes against Portland. Schmetzer said on Thursday that “it’s yet to be decided” whether Dempsey will play against the Timbers.
It’s unlikely Dempsey gets a full match, even if he does play. The Sounders have been cautious with their star Designated Player, and that certainly won’t end now. In that sense Saturday will be part of the process, another paving stone on the road to starting games again. We can talk about his deployment — he’s probably an underneath-the-striker guy with Nicolas Lodeiro pinching inside at this point — but right now the Sounders’ simply want to build his fitness.
How do the rookies look?
Guys like Dempsey and Morris and Torres are knowns at this point. None have to sweat their starting gigs, making this time of year more about jelling and regaining 90-minute match fitness. That makes any contributions by those players a little anticlimactic. In reality, it doesn’t much matter what kind of form Morris, who has spent the entire first part of preseason with the United States national team, is in. For the Starting XI guys, it’s more of a horizontal ramp to the regular season than a vertical ladder.
For the rest, this is make-or-break time. I’m particularly interested in names like Dominic Oduro, Henry Wingo and Seyi Adekoya. There are other names of interest — Tony Alfaro and Oniel Fisher, for instance — but the former three are all relatively untested rookies at positions of either immediate need or for purposes of depth. Wingo and Adekoya, the team’s two Homegrowns, are perhaps a bit young to expect starting roles in the near term, but both are comfortable as wide players. Until the Sounders splash for a winger, each could conceivably provide depth in those two wide pegs in the 4-2-3-1 with strong preseasons. Considering the Sounders just had another Homegrown in Morris win MLS Rookie of the Year in 2016, don’t expect Schmetzer to be shy about throwing both to the wolves.
