Seattle Sounders Vs. Columbus Crew Preseason GameThread
by Jeremiah Oshan on Feb 10, 2011 10:03 AM PST
in Sounders: MLS Regular Season
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The march toward the regular season continues as the Seattle Sounders take on the Columbus Crew at the Westside Complex in Phoenix, Ariz. You can follow live text updates at SoundersFC.com.
The Sounders are coming off a 3-3 tie with Real Salt Lake in which they needed a successful penalty from Fredy Montero in the 110th minute to tie the score. More important than results, though, will be how some of the training camp battles continue to develop.
Among the things to watch will be the play of Erik Friberg and Brad Evans, who appear to be locked in a battle for the chance to start alongside Osvaldo Alonso in the central midfield. On the other end of the roster, there are plenty more competitions. Second-year players like David Estrada, Miguel Montano and Danny Earls seem to be vying with the likes of rookies Servando Carrasco and Juan Cruz and trialists Lamar Neagle, Jonathan Prieto and Seedy Bah for roster positions. Rookie goalkeepers Bryan Meredith and Josh Ford are also likely in a competition for the third goalkeeper spot.
The match will feature three periods (45, 45 and 30 minutes long, respectively). Here's the Sounders starting XI: Kasey Keller, James Riley, Patrick Ianni, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Leo Gonzalez, Alvaro Fernandez, Osvaldo Alonso, Brad Evans, Steve Zakuani, Fredy Montero and O'Brian White.
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I'd like to applaud
whoever got us training games against two teams that have real games coming up soon. So much better to play against guys who are ready to go and against more like their starting XI.
I assume the Columbus starting XI
will be the XI players they have under contract
Nos Audietis
by sidereal on Feb 10, 2011 10:07 AM PST reply actions 3 recs
Defense
Looks like CB is the other hotly contested spot. Sigi keeps trying differant combos of Hurtado, Parke and Ianni. The competition for those spots is going to be fierce.
Yeah and I think it is actually going to come down to what pair plays best together, instead of purely which two guys are the best CB. I mean Parke and Hurtado are better than Ianni in my opinion, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Ianni in because he pairs better with one of them. Should be very interesting.
I keep forgetting about this
But you’re right. Don’t think the starting CB pair is decided.
Editor/writer at Sounder at Heart, North American soccer editor SB Nation and of course follow me on Twitter
by Jeremiah Oshan on Feb 10, 2011 12:02 PM PST up reply actions
I am not sure if I entirely agree with that
I would expect Hurtado to improve as the season goes along. I do not think that he will be 100% back coming off the injury and the further time away from the surgery the better he will get.. So, in the beginning, it may be Ianni and Park. But, by the end of the season, I expect Hurtado to be a starter. He is too good to keep on the bench.
I think you're right
My point is that i don’t think the Sounders have decided whether or not JKH is healthy enough to start on March 15.
Editor/writer at Sounder at Heart, North American soccer editor SB Nation and of course follow me on Twitter
by Jeremiah Oshan on Feb 10, 2011 1:03 PM PST up reply actions
1-0 Columbus
Sounds like a lot of Crew domination from the live blog. We’ll see if they can keep it up once their starters go 60 or they rotate in a bunch of trialists.
Nos Audietis
Actually, ignore that
Schedule on the mls site is shockingly busted. Here’s the Sounders schedule:
http://www.soundersfc.com/Matchday/Download-Schedule.aspx
Nos Audietis
it does when you import it to a calendar though
A sky of blue, a sea of green...(or claret)
by kelliott1527 on Feb 10, 2011 11:18 AM PST up reply actions
Man, it still surprises me how much that 1st week sucks
LA at home on a Tuesday
NYRB away the following Saturday
Probably the best team in each conference in one week separated by a coast to coast flight. Awesome.
All in all I think Sounders ended up with very manageable schedule
Editor/writer at Sounder at Heart, North American soccer editor SB Nation and of course follow me on Twitter
by Jeremiah Oshan on Feb 10, 2011 12:03 PM PST up reply actions
We'll have a post up on the schedule soon
I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
Sounder At Heart
Two good saves by Meredith
He’s still battling for that 3rd keeper spot:
_23: Ball played forward for Jeff Cunningham, but Bryan Meredith charges off his line to smother the ball. Great play by the rookie.
27: Another save by Meredith, this time leaping high for a ball headed toward the corner of the net._
I'm trying to figure out how to carry 4 keepers
I’d be unhappy losing any of them, but I don’t think you drop . . say. . Neagle. . to carry a 4th.
Nos Audietis
Unforunately, the Sounders have to cut one of them
I really don’t envy Sigi that decision. Both sound like they’re playing their hearts out and each brings something different to the team. Ford makes better reaction saves while Meredith has better distribution and decision making coming off the line.
What if they dropped Boss?
I know Boss is older and has been around more, but he’s only appeared in one MLS game his entire career (and that was as an injury sub.) I don’t think it’s completely out of order to suggest that perhaps Ford and Meredith could be better than he is.
Honestly, I don’t know that Boss’ level of experience counts much over these rookies, given how limited his experience has been on the MLS stage.
I really doubt the Sounders are going into the season without a semi-experienced backup
And I have no reason to believe Ford/Meredith are better than Boss as of today.
Editor/writer at Sounder at Heart, North American soccer editor SB Nation and of course follow me on Twitter
by Jeremiah Oshan on Feb 10, 2011 1:16 PM PST up reply actions
You probably know more than I do about their merits
I am mainly saying that on paper, I don’t really think that Boss’s experience counts for a whole lot. And coming out of college, it seems like Meredith in particular was more highly regarded than Boss was out of college.
If Boss was dropped and Keller got injured for an extended period of time, then he’d have to go to the IR, and we’d probably try to find someone better than Boss anyway.
I also don’t really quite understand the repurcussions of dropping someone like Ford. Would the Sounders keep his MLS rights? If they retain his rights, then there’s really no reason to keep him on the roster.
Here's how I understand it
The Sounders would have to put whoever they cut through waivers. If no one offers him a senior contract, the Sounders would retain rights for about a year.
Editor/writer at Sounder at Heart, North American soccer editor SB Nation and of course follow me on Twitter
by Jeremiah Oshan on Feb 10, 2011 2:14 PM PST up reply actions
Last Period Line-up
Final period lineup for Seattle: Josh Ford, Scott, Leone Cruz, Wahl, Michael Tetteh, Seedy Bah, Carrasco, Jonathan Prieto, Miguel Montano, Neagle, Estrada.
Only 28?
Not good news from Matt Gaschk. I thought we would be able to fill all 30 spots with players at camp. Having only 28 spots really makes it hard to keep Prieto and Neagle.
They’ll likely start at 28 – the final two spots are reserved for homegrown players and I don’t see us signing one before the season starts – though I know ours are a lot better than some of the other ones around the league who are being signed.
I'm giong to triple check on that
It isn’t mentioned in roster rules, and it wasn’t mentioned to Jeremiah when he researched the roster rules post.
I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
Sounder At Heart
Yeah, this is a little weird
Not what I’ve been told. But Matt is very reliable.
Editor/writer at Sounder at Heart, North American soccer editor SB Nation and of course follow me on Twitter
by Jeremiah Oshan on Feb 10, 2011 12:04 PM PST up reply actions
Joshua
mayers mention the same thing about only 28 max and 2 have to be home grown players. I read the 2011 roster rules at least 3 times and never said about 2 having to be home grown players only.
Here's what I have on very good authority
Supposedly the roster is really 30. Adrian did say during a conference call around the draft that it was 28+2, but I’ve been repeatedly assured by FO personnel that he misspoke and it’s 30. I read the rules as it being 30. So, maybe something is going to change and we’ll find out it’s really 28, but I just exchanged an email with someone who should really know who assured me it’s 30. So, we’re going to continue going with 30 until we know better.
That said, there is a chance the Sounders could go with 28 as a way of saving some money. This may be the part of the rule that Matt was referring to: "Clubs may elect to leave up to two of these roster spots (25-30) vacant and use $35,000 for each empty spot as allocation money." That would make sense.
Editor/writer at Sounder at Heart, North American soccer editor SB Nation and of course follow me on Twitter
by Jeremiah Oshan on Feb 10, 2011 1:05 PM PST up reply actions
Thanks
that does explain it better if Seattle goes with only 28 players. But that does change who will makes it and who doesn’t if they are only going with 28 players.
Thanks for triple checking
I was surprised when I saw Gaschk post the 28+2 number. I’d much rather the Sounders have the choice of using the last two spots rather than having them vacant. My hope is they’re able to play with the cap enough that they can use the last two spots on some of the promising younger guys.
Highlights are up
The MLS ones are better—they actually show the goals. Fucito looks like he has a couple nice plays that didn’t connect. Still hard to tell exactly what happened with the own goal.
The Sounders highlights have plenty of Sigi and Levesque.
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