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TUKWILA, Wash. — Some clubs let the players pick the captain. Seattle Sounders have done this at times. In other cases it is the coach who assigns the largely ceremonial role. Sounders do this currently, and most often through their MLS history. Osvaldo Alonso is The Captain. He wore the band while winning MLS Cup. That is historic, meaningful.
He replaced Brad Evans who lost the assignment due to injury, and has yet to get it back. Evans replaced Mauro Rosales, who lost the symbol when the locker room fell apart in late 2013.
Brian Schmetzer didn’t have his captain available against the Earthquakes. His vice-captain, as much as the Sounders have one, was also out (that’s Nico Lodeiro). Schmetzer had several candidates who have worn the band for Seattle, or other teams. Roman Torres ended up getting the assignment.
“The challenge was Brad Evans, who was a captain for a long time, and he’s deserved of being the captain of this team again,” coach said after Monday’s practice. “Ozzie is deserved of continuing to be the captain of this team. I’m looking at Stefan Frei, he could be a captain of this team. Roman, Nico, all those guys, they are all leaders in the team. So, it’s challenging in many ways to [decide] who you give the armband to. But my expectation, whether Ozzie, Nico, Brad, whoever wears the band, that the other veteran guys in the squad do their job and step up.”
Chad Marshall and Cristian Roldan have also been captains in their careers.
“The specific reason for Nico and Roman in lieu of Brad was that I need Brad to just be Brad,” Schmetz continued. “I didn’t want to add any stress — not that being the captain has a ton of stress to him — but I just wanted him to focus on soccer. I think Brad’s performance the last two games has been very, very good. I was very happy with his performances.”
Alonso is going to be out against the LA Galaxy. Could Evans again be captain?
“For sure, for sure. I would like to solidify it in Ozzie’s absence, so I’ll think about it.”