Sounders Depth Chart - 3XIs "Give Me A Call"

Much of the theme last week was about the depth of the Seattle Sounders FC and how Sigi Schmid has crafted a 3-1-1 +4 start with a variety of players. The team is younger than last season and at the same time Sigi seems to be more willing and/or forced to play that youth early in the year.

The month of May with an appetizer this Saturday and the Third Round of the US Open Cup on May 29th Seattle has 9 matches in 32 days. The theories about depth will be tested. Then the team gets a bit of rest with only a Reserve Game and the 4th Round of the Open Cup in the first two weeks of June. May will be fast. It will be fury. It will see even more variety in lineups. Already Sounders fans saw 19 players earn starts in First Team play.

Some things we've learned so far are that Alex Caskey may start in a wide role, but he's comfortable in the band of three working left, center or right using a frenetic pressure after turnovers, providing dead ball service and willing to shoot from distance. Roger Levesque is now a utility guy working the entire right side in any band. Whether he starts or not his ability to fit into roles on an ad hoc basis effectively extends the bench by one. After David Estrada's quick start at forward he's back into the advanced midfield band, but interchanging up at times.

Andy Rose may have passed Mike Seamon for that Brad Evans role. Seamon is now seeing more time in wide positions, where in practices his on the run crossing seems well suited. Rose offers a more defensive posture from the CM, but still nabbed a goal in the Reserve win over Chivas USA.

But the biggest shift from the last depth chart is probably in the centerbacks. Where at the start of the season Jeff Parke and Jhon Kennedy Hurtado were clear starters Patrick Ianni is the one who has started every match. Parke who lost his starting job in non-injury circumstances has played in every match. Hurtado missed some time with in an injury, but is also showing a few issues with lateral movement and his attempts at risky tackles back in CCL play led to at least one goal.

The Marc Burch v Leo Gonzalez battle seems to have settled into Leo's favor, but Burch is still seeing time. While concerns about Burch's playing time back when he was acquired may be justified, his service is better than reported. This revelation leads to Burch playing as a left mid adding some defensive presence and height while shifting the tactics from left side short interplay to more balls over the top or across the area.

In May the call will go out. The XIs will change. The gameday 18 will have variety. No matter who gets the call, it seems that players are more ready to enter the field and contribute.

Let's review the structure. The title of the post is a play on 311. Don't read too much into it, maybe a little though. The top half is the role at which we see the player getting the most starting minutes in competitive (non Reserve) play. It also now shows players in bold who would be in that ideal 18. Players in orange are currently injured and not training fully (Alvaro Fernandez and Brad Evans are both expected to be ready for Saturday's game.). The lower portion is ranking of players in roles with regards to flexibility. Bold is an indicator that said player would be a starter in that role on a majority of MLS sides. Standard script means that the player could start in secondary competitions on a team with a chance to win. Italics means they would be a reserve role or emergency usage. There is a also a table showing a short list of possible Homegrown Player signings. These are roughly ranked, but primarily it is a list of names so you can get use to these names. Several of these players will play for Sounders U23s.