Sports can be a harsh business. Injuries and time take our players from us, and in American sports expansion drafts add to potential ways to lose players beyond just reirement, trade and purchase. The Seattle Sounders did not protect their 2017 captain. Osvaldo Alonso apparently took to social media in response.
— Osvaldo Alonso (@OzzieAlonso) December 11, 2017
He is retweeting and liking messages of support. He has not offered more original words beyond:
I hate it when people use you for what they want. Then they just push you aside like your [sic] nothing. But they keep you close just in case they need you for something.
Back in the 2015-16 offseason, relatively new to the Seattle Sounders, Garth Lagerwey tried to trade Alonso, but found no takers. Alonso’s next few years were strong, when healthy. Ozzie’s health was such that he need more than a dozen pain shots during the 2016 MLS Cup win.
2016 was also the season that he took over the captain’s armband from Brad Evans, who lost it while not healthy and never regained it. Nicolas Lodeiro is the second most frequent wearer of the band, though Stefan Frei, Clint Dempsey, Chad Marshall and Cristian Roldan have also been captain. Roman Torres is frequently captain with Panama.
Alonso is one of three Sounders originals (2009 players) left on the roster. Brad Evans and Lamar Neagle are both free agents. Alonso could be on a new team when the Expansion Draft takes place. There is a possibility, even if small, that those who brought us amazing moments from 2009 to present are gone. If Alonso, Evans and Neagle all go, it will be hard on fans and players alike.