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Brad Smith will join Seattle Sounders training on Saturday, just when he’s needed most. The Australian international was signed last week, but had been unable to train with the Sounders until he completed a 10-day mandatory quarantine.
“I’m looking forward to seeing him at full training,” Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer said on Friday.
The timing of Smith’s return could barely be better as Schmetzer also said a MRI revealed Joevin Jones sprained his ankle and will be out for Sunday’s game against the LA Galaxy. Jones suffered the injury in Wednesday’s game on a play along the endline. Replays seemed to show him twisting his ankle before Pablo Bonilla’s tackle.
Closer look at this, it looks like the injury likely happened before the tackle. pic.twitter.com/8w8YwmvPYH
— Sounder At Heart (@sounderatheart) September 26, 2020
It was not immediately known how long Jones will be out, but in the short term the most likely scenario is Nouhou will start in his place with Smith available as an option off the bench.
Even if Smith is able to win the starting job, he likely has work to do to get to full fitness. Smith has not played since July 22 when he was on loan with Cardiff City and has not even trained with any regularity since then. The last time Smith started was actually in MLS Cup when he helped the Sounders lift the trophy.