Even after bidding farewell to five players, the Seattle Sounders' list 39 players as participating in training camp as the team begins activities in Casa Grande, Ariz. The five players who were let go were Sounders academy product Darwin Jones, University of Washington product Abdul Aman, goalkeeper Tyrel Lacy, invitee Jonathan Prieto and an unnamed trialist. Injured players O'Brian White and Michael Tetteh also didn't travel to Arizona as they receive treatment in Seattle.
Replacing those players were several expected names. Adam Johansson is meeting his new teammates after his stint with the Sweden national team kept him out of the first couple weeks of training. Also joining the team are recent draft pick Wes Feighner and Honduran trialists Ever Alvarado and Harlinton Gutierres. Jamaican trialist Andrew Vanzie, who until now was with the team as an unnamed trialist, has been officially added to the training camp roster.
In all, things haven't really changed that much since camp opened. The competition for spots, especially at the tail end of the roster, is still fierce and there doesn't appear to be any clarification as to who will be the Sounders' backup goalkeeper.
Taking a quick glance at the roster (the full version is after the jump), I'd venture to guess that about 23 players all but have their spots assured. That leaves 16 players fighting it out for the remaining 5-7 spots. Any number of factors could come into play, and there's a chance a few of these guys could continue to train with the team even if they don't make the roster.
Sounders FC Training Camp Participants
Goalkeepers: Josh Ford, Michael Gspurning, Bryan Meredith, Andrew Weber.
Defenders: Ever Alvarado, Marc Burch, Andrew Duran, Wes Feighner, Leo Gonzalez, Harlinton Gutierres, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Patrick Ianni, Adam Johansson, Jeff Parke, Tim Pontius, *Michael Tetteh, Zach Scott.
Midfielders: Osvaldo Alonso, Jason Banton, Servando Carrasco, Alex Caskey, David Estrada, Brad Evans, Alvaro Fernandez, Roger Levesque, Lamar Neagle, Mauro Rosales, Andy Rose, Amadou Sanyang, Michael Seamon, Christian Sivebaek, Andrew Vanzie, Steve Zakuani.
Forwards: Cordell Cato, Mike Fucito, Fredy Montero, Sammy Ochoa, Babayele Sodade, *O'Brian White.
*Stayed in Seattle for Rehab