Pressure on Nkufo to help Sounders turn around season

When Blaise Nkufo signed with Seattle Sounders FC, things were a little bit different.

Back in March when the signing of the Swiss national team player was announced, it was expected that he would join a playoff-contending team mid-season and help push Seattle to even greater heights than the team reached in its inaugural season.

Instead, while Nkufo finished his season with Dutch club FC Twente, then represented Switzerland in the World Cup, Sounders FC has stumbled to a 4-8-4 record. So now that Nkufo is with the team — he joined the team in Washington, D.C., and could make his debut as soon as tonight’s game against D.C. United — the pressure is immense on the forward to spark a turnaround in Seattle.

“For sure (there is pressure),” Nkufo said in a conference call. “You have it all the time, of course, but now the team is in not so good position. But it doesn’t matter. You can see that the team is strong enough. Today I saw players that really trained well. They show character and I think we can hope for the next game to go back with the three points.”

And Nkufo, who trained with his new team for the first time on Wednesday, knows that a lot is expected not just of him, but of the whole team in the season’s second half.

“I can understand,” he said. “After last season, they want to see the team on the top. That’s not bad. You have to deal with that. I think the team and the players have bigger expectations, too. We just have to find a way to be back in better position and to deal with the expectation.”

All season, as the losses have outnumbered the wins, Sounders FC fans and players alike have pointed to Nkufo’s arrival as a chance for the team to improve. But as much as a 6-foot-2, physical forward with a lengthy track record of goal scoring could provide a spark for Seattle, Sounders FC coach Sigi Schmid has warned against expecting too much out of Nkufo.

“One player is never the savior,” Schmid said. “As you add different parts to (the team), then things obviously can improve. For us right now there’s enough games, there’s enough points there.”

Of course it’s a little difficult to temper expectations when it comes to an athlete who just had a bronzed statue of his likeness unveiled in the Netherlands. Nkufo, the all-time leading scorer for Twente, led the team to its first league title this season, and was back in Enschede last weekend for the statue’s unveiling.

After finishing his final season with Twente, Nkufo started all three games for Switzerland, which didn’t advance out of the group stages, and helped set up the game-winning goal in his team’s upset of eventual champion Spain.

“It was a great experience being in the World Cup,” he said. “You’re playing against the best teams in the world. … This experience will help me handle this new situation, too. It was a great experience. I hope to continue this experience with these young players, too.”

Despite his age (35) and the rigors of a full club season and a World Cup, Nkufo said he isn’t worried about playing the rest of the MLS season. And despite a two-week layoff, Nkufo hopes to make his debut for Seattle tonight.

“Of course, I want to be a part of the team and playing tomorrow,” he said.

Schmid left open the possibility of Nkufo making it onto the field against D.C.

“We still need to get the ITC, international clearance, and we’re hoping that that comes in tomorrow. That would allow him to be on our roster,” Schmid said. “Then, within that, at this point, how many minutes he plays, that’s something we’re still talking about. I don’t see Blaise starting at this point because today was his first time with our team and we want to make sure we present a good opportunity for him and the team. We’ll see if the situation is right for him to enter the game and for him to have an impact on the game.”

Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com.