League could submit revised Club World Cup bonus offer soon

RENTON — Three days after Seattle Sounders players’ pregame display prompted a heated response from team owner Adrian Hanauer, midfielder Cristian Roldan admitted the uncertainty around the split of the the Club World Cup prize pool continues to be a significant issue as the team prepares to face the Vancouver Whitecaps on Sunday.

The start of the Club World Cup is 10 days off, leaving precious little time for the sides to come to an agreement.

“With everything going on, it’s a huge distraction for us,” Roldan said following Wednesday’s training session. “We’re playing the best team in our league. We should be focused on that. Unfortunately, we have some other things to deal with.”

That other thing is players’ contention that they deserve more than the $1 million bonus guaranteed to them in the current CBA. In March, FIFA announced that each MLS team would receive $9.55 million, with an additional $1 million for each group stage tie, $2 million for each group stage win, $7.5 million more if they get out of the group stage and tens of millions more if they continue to advance.

Representatives from both the league and the MLS Players Association confirmed that the two sides have been at least discussing these concerns for months. The MLSPA insists that league negotiators have been promising a formal proposal was “imminent” for nearly as long. The league apparently felt as though they were still assessing exactly what the players wanted.

There are signs that an offer could arrive as soon as Thursday, with indications that the league understands the importance of further incentivizing the players by giving them a percentage of the performance bonuses along with the money they’re already guaranteed.

As frustrated as Roldan is that it has taken this long to get here, he also indicated that the players are looking forward to moving on as soon as an agreement is reached.

“I think it’s out of character for all of us to act the way we are right now,” Roldan said. “Sometimes we wear our emotions on our sleeve. We see that on the soccer field, we see that off the field as well.

“We don’t see any of this as a viewpoint to hate each other. We just want this to get resolved. This is all about trying to figure out the most fair deal for everybody. I think the league understands that this deal that’s currently on the table is not fair. We need to find a middle ground and I think that’s important to acknowledge.”

Jordan Morris nears return

Jordan Morris was a full participant at training and Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer said he expects the forward to at least be available against the Whitecaps. Morris has missed the past seven games and 12 of the past 14 with a hamstring injury.

International duty

Reed Baker-Whiting (USA U20s), Osaze DeRosario (Guayana) and Stuart Hawkins (USA U19s) were all absent from training after getting called into international duty. With the Sounders looking particularly thin at centerback, they had hoped to keep Hawkins but their request was denied.

Shallow at centerback

With Hawkins on international duty and Kim Kee-hee (calf) and Yeimar Gomez Andrade (hamstring) still recovering from injuries, the only two healthy and available natural centerbacks are Jackson Ragen and Jon Bell. Ragen was on a minutes restriction last week, but Schmetzer expressed some hope he’ll be 90 minutes fit this week. Leo Burney, who was signed as a Homegrown Player this offseason, is a natural centerback, but was placed on a season-long loan to Tacoma Defiance and can only be called up as an “emergency hardship.”