Soccer season may seem a ways away—heck, it seems like last season barely just ended—but the Sounders are well into their preseason training, and head coach Sigi Schmid had a teleconference with the media this afternoon to discuss his team’s trip to Arizona where they trained for more than a week, and Monday scrimmaged against the Vancouver Whitecaps.
“I think Arizona went well for us,” Schmid said. “I think we got the work done there we wanted to get done in terms of establishing our fitness pace, so I was pleased with that…You’ve got to start building fitness because you’ll also have to give the guys a little bit of time to recover and so forth. We trained this morning—it wasn’t a regeneration morning training, it was a regular training session. We worked on our tactics, on our defending a little bit. We’ll be off Wednesday and Thursday, then we’ll train again Friday, and then we’re off to Florida. So we wanted to get a little break, make sure everybody saw their family, got a couple of days off, regenerate a little bit, and then we’ll get back to work in Florida.”
As Schmid mentioned, the team isn’t home for long before heading off to Bradenton, Fla. to continue its training. In Florida, in addition to practice, Seattle will play several friendlies before heading to Cancun, Mexico for a friendly against Atlante, which is currently the second-place team in Mexico’s top league (the Mexican league, like most soccer leagues in the world, is on a different schedule than Major League Soccer.
That game against Atlante will be an important tuneup for Sounders FC, because on March 7 and 14, Seattle will face Santos, currently the top team in Mexico, in the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals.
By qualifying for the Champions League Quarterfinals last fall, Seattle made for itself a busier preseason. The first regular seasons game isn’t until March 17, which is roughly in line with when Seattle has opened the past three seasons, but unlike those year, Seattle plays meaningful games earlier. That means the players have to get game-ready in less time this preseason.
“There’s only so much you can do because we can’t replicate a league schedule,” Schmid said. “So what we’ve got to try and do is create some games that will replicate at least the intensity that they’re going to have as they go into the game with Santos Laguna. So from that standpoint, the game against Vancouver was good because it was intense, it was a little bit chippy. Right now, Santos Laguna is in the middle of their season. They’re doing very well, they’re in good form and they’re probably the best team in Mexico right now in terms of form and the way they’re playing. So we have to try and make sure we’re sharp when we go into the game because they’re a team that is sharp coming off a lot of league games. We can’t replicate the league schedule, but we try and do little things that try and make it as realistic as we can.”
Schmid also said that the lineup put on the field Monday to start against Vancouver represents what the starting lineup looks like as of now, though it’s important to note that plenty could change. For example, Forward Sammy Ochoa is a bit behind having missed a few days for the birth of a child, and Schmid mentioned left back Marc Burch and winger Lamar Neagle as players who are pushing for starting jobs.
For what it’s worth, Monday’s starting lineup was: GK Michael Gspurning, D Adam Johansson, D Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, D Jeff Parke, D Leo Gonzalez, M Mauro Rosales, M Osvaldo Alonso, M Brad Evans, M Alvaro Fernandez, F Fredy Montero, F Mike Fucito.
Schmid updated an injury suffered by forward Mike Fucito Monday, which yesterday was said to be a puncture caused by a cleat, causing fear of an infection, but today Schmid said it was less serious, calling it a “raking of the cleats” to Fucito’s knee and quad.
Finally, Schmid said more cuts will likely be coming before the team leaves for Florida, though he did not say when they will be announced.
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