Good News: Looks Like Seattle Sounders Will Have Brad Evans, Alvaro Fernandez Available
by Jeremiah Oshan on May 26, 2011 10:28 PM PDT
in Sounders: MLS Regular Season
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The weather hasn't been the only thing gloomy around Seattle these days. With Wednesday's loss to FC Dallas, it appears that many of use who make up the Seattle Sounders fan base have turned on one another. Finally, though, there appears to be some good news: Brad Evans and Alvaro Fernandez should be available for Saturday's against Real Salt Lake.
Fernandez has apparently not been called up to the Uruguayan national team. And Here's what Sigi Schmid had to say about Evans:
"[He’s] doing better. He trained today. There was a chance we could’ve put him on the bench yesterday but we felt if something happened early and he had to play extended minutes yesterday it could set him back again. He’ll definitely be, I think, within the 18, don’t know yet if he’s going to start or not."
Both players could potentially start, which could be just what the Sounders' offense needs. In the six matches in which they've both played, the Sounders have scored nine goals and gone 2-1-3. In the seven in which just one has played, they've scored just four goals and gone 2-3-2. It's also worth pointing out that the Sounders have gone 3-1-4 and scored 12 goals in the eight matches Evans has played.
There might not be a direct correlation, but they do seem to be complementary players. In any case, it's a glimmer of hope, right?
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Healthy players...?
Just what the doctor ordered. Now only if OBW could hit a treadmill!
by DW Sounder on May 26, 2011 10:56 PM PDT via mobile reply actions
Can we get E.T. in here
for Zakuani? ouuuuuuch…..
The Sounders
are having to walk a very fine line right now (the difference between winning and losing) and every healthy body gives us more options. Man it would be nice to go through a nice spell of good health.
I feel bad that he didn't make the cut for his country
but very selfishly, I’m happy to have him available. VERY happy to potentially have Evans back too.
Perhaps
with most of their mids in the offseason in Europe, it didn’t make a whole lot of sense to call Flaco down just for a friendly in the middle of his season?
Didn't really think of it that way
I hope that’s the case. That would be cool for him to get a callup again.
by chrisperry1983 on May 27, 2011 1:29 PM PDT up reply actions
and its also a warm up game for copa.
so its kinda like tryouts for copa
Not usually a huge fan of Evans...
But right now he certainly makes this club better and I’ll be excited to see him out there.
As for fans turning on eachother
WTF are you talking about? Some of us are just pointing out some serious flaws in our game and demanding results. That is perfectly normal. I would be more concerned if the losing and the injuries reduced our fan base to apathy.
What am I talking about?
I’m assuming you didn’t read the most recent postgame thread.
Nothing crazy, but, yeah, I’d say tensions are high. Not saying it’s wrong, just stating a fact.
Editor/writer at Sounder at Heart, MLS editor SB Nation. Follow me on Twitter
by Jeremiah Oshan on May 27, 2011 10:05 AM PDT up reply actions
No, the personal attacks on the readers and writers is clearly wrong
I’ve also tried to clean the comments up there, and think i got most of the violations.
Also, Ryan you do note the irony in some one pointing out that fans are turning on each other and then you turn on him?
I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
Sounder At Heart
I'm not turning on anybody, especially the team
I’m probably one of the more critical commenters on this blog, but for the record my support for the team is unshaken. I’m at every match screaming my head off. And that will be true even if we lose every game the rest of the way. (I can’t stand front runners, like those jerks who live around here who will show up this weekend at the Ms games wearing Yankee hats.)
My frustration with the Sounders management is heightened because they have a quantifiable advantage over the rest of the league in terms of fan support and revenue. I realize there are limits to what the team can do with the revenue. Nevertheless that cash is there to be spent. It is also a fact that the two clubs who do spend more than us are at the top of the table.
Also, I don’t want the Sounders to be like the rest of the sports teams in Seattle where mediocrity is not only tolerated but protected. Seattle fans and the Seattle media tend to give our teams the benefit of the doubt for bad performance. As a long suffering Ms fan, it drove me crazy when people rushed to defend Griffey the last two years when it was obvious he was done. The Ms were on a downward spiral for years before frustration boiled over in the form of apathy and a disappearing fan base.
I don’t want the Sounders to get to a point where they slowly spiral downwards. We should demand better from the front office and from the guys on the field. Right now we aren’t getting the results we want. It is true that injuries are a huge factor right now. But I’m not sure that a full strength Sounders team could have beaten Dallas, Portland, or LA. Even with Zak and Evans we are still smaller, slower, weaker, and less organized and less skilled than the best teams in the league.
The fans are giving the club tremendous financial and emotional support. Yet there is a huge delta between our expectations and the path that the team is currently on. Given that delta it is completely understandable that tensions should be high.
Look at pre-season expectations
and this statement just isn’t true
Even with Zak and Evans we are still smaller, slower, weaker, and less organized and less skilled than the best teams in the league
Seattle was picked to be 4th behind a team without a big name DP and the two “super clubs” and right amongs clubs like Dallas and Colorado. Part of that was because the healthy Sounders are the anti-thesis of what you think they are.
I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
Sounder At Heart
by Dave Clark on May 27, 2011 10:43 AM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
I am sure that at full strength we could beat anyone
Zak would be an All-star if healthy. Evans, if healthy, could have replaced Rogers on the USMNT roster; he’s been that good for us this season. OBW was looking like he was starting to live up to his potential before this freak blood clot issue.
Even besides that, we’ve seen Sigi draw up a new playbook. It was only finishing that prevented us from taking points from Dallas, plus a perfect run & finish from Shea. Play that LA game 5 times, and I’d bet we’d win two, lose two, and tie once. Saunders played out of his mind, we only had a couple of defensive breakdowns, and we found out that day that one of our DP players was retiring, forcing our only healthy TF into a surprise start. We were at our least healthy against PDX, and though they were at basically full strength, we were still better in duels, possession, and shots.
If we play like crap against a weakened RSL (even though it’s on the road), drift into the transfer window, and don’t see any meaningful improvements made to the team, then I will be pissed. Right now, it looks to me like Adrian and Sigi are doing they best they can with what they’ve got to work with. We’ve gotten results, and by PPM we are on track for the playoffs. I have faith in the FO, and like I’ve said before, I like our chances.
There have been many unforeseen circumstances
So I won’t be pulling my torches and pitchforks out just yet. At least afford Adrian & Co. until the end of the transfer window to make improvements, if there aren’t any on the pitch before then.
I think we have enough talent right now to play at a high level. It will just come down to eleven players being healthy at the same time for more than one match, I think.
No Pitchfork Here
My pitchfork is still in the barn. While we aren’t living up to preseason expectations, we can certainly make it to the pits (transfer window) in pretty good position.
June will be a telling month. Yes, we can’t beat top teams, but we have Fire, Whitecaps, Toronto and Revolution upcoming. All very win-able games. We win all those, and even if we lose all our other games, we’re mid-July around a 1.3 PPM. Win or tie a few of the other games, and were over 1.5. Not a bad position to make a late season charge (with new transfer window players).
More concerned about keeping the team spirit together than losing a few games to top (or hot) teams — reading another blog, it sounds like the locker room might be a bit of shambles. I wonder if that had a factor in Nkufo’s departure – at the end of his career, why make sacrifices (play a style he didn’t like) for a dysfunctional team? When you’ve got coin in the bank, it just isn’t worth the hassle. I’ll never get close enough to the team to know if that’s the case, but if it’s true, that’s pretty damning for Sigi and Adrian. Drafting is a crapshoot, you can’t control injuries, sometimes the ball bounces the wrong way….but you have significant influence on what happens in the locker room and comrauderie.
by InternetCharlie on May 27, 2011 4:14 PM PDT up reply actions
Not sure how much I buy the locker room shambles part
What was described in that article seems like a pretty normal locker room, especially one that isn’t winning.
Editor/writer at Sounder at Heart, MLS editor SB Nation. Follow me on Twitter
by Jeremiah Oshan on May 27, 2011 4:28 PM PDT up reply actions
Also keep in mind the consequences of the playoff setup
10 out of 18 teams will be making the playoffs, and then all bets are off. So as long as the Sounders aren’t one of the worst 8 teams in the league and they can get hot at the end of the year, how they struggle now is mostly irrelevant.
Which is one of the criticisms of the playoff structure. But it’s working for us now.
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