Sounders Preseason schedule: Camp opens on January 25, includes trips to Arizona and South Carolina

The Seattle Sounders will officially open training camp on Jan. 25 and only remain in Seattle for less than a week before leaving on the first of two preseason trips, the team announced on Tuesday. In previous years, the Sounders had trained locally for at least a week and had also started earlier.

But with no CONCACAF Champions League dates to worry about, the Sounders are apparently not in as much of a hurry to get things going. It's also entirely possible that the team will have less formal sessions prior to the official opening of camp.

The Sounders will leave for Tucson, Ariz. on Jan. 29. While there, the Sounders will play preseason matches against the San Jose Earthquakes (Feb. 5) and Portland Timbers (Feb. 8) at Kino Sports Complex before returning to Seattle on Feb. 9.

After training for about 10 days at Starfire, the Sounders will leave for Charleston, S.C. where they will compete in the Carolina Challenge Cup for the first time in team history. They have games scheduled against the USL-Pro's Charleston Battery (Feb. 22), Houston Dynamo (Feb. 26) and D.C. United (March 1), where the will hopefully have a full complement of players.

They'll conclude their preseason with about a week of training at Starfire ahead of their season opener against Sporting Kansas City (March 8).

Full preseason schedule

2014 MLS Combine

January 10-14 - Central Broward Regional Park, Lauderhill, Fla.

2014 MLS SuperDraft

January 16 - Philadelphia Convention Center, Philadelphia, Pa.

Preseason Training Camp Starts

January 25-28 - Training at Starfire Sports, Tukwila, Wash.

Preseason Training Camp - Tucson, Arizona

January 29-February 9 - Training at Kino Sports Complex, Tucson, Ariz.

February 5 - Sounders FC vs. San Jose Earthquakes at Kino Sports Complex - 11 a.m.

February 8 - Sounders FC vs. Portland Timbers at Kino Sports Complex - 6 p.m.

February 9 - Return to Seattle

Preseason Training Camp - Charleston, South Carolina

February 19-March 2 - Training at Charleston Battery Training Complex, Charleston, SC

February 22 - Sounders FC vs. Charleston Battery at Blackbaud Stadium - 4:15 p.m.

February 26 - Sounders FC vs. Houston Dynamo at Blackbaud Stadium - 2 p.m.

March 1 - Sounders FC vs. DC United at Blackbaud Stadium - 2 p.m.

2014 March to Soccer Opening Match

March 8 - Sounders FC vs. Sporting Kansas City at CenturyLink Field, Seattle, Wash. - 12 p.m.

*Dates and times are subject to change