Nouhou’s antics are testing Sounders’ patience
RENTON — Nouhou is suspended for Wednesday’s game after being ejected from the Sporting KC match for throwing a ball at a fan.
How much longer he’s out is still to be determined. Not only is the league expected to hand down added punishment — which could be announced anytime between now and Saturday — but the Sounders could take some internal action as well.
Playing into that decision are previous incidents involving Nouhou. Against the Vancouver Whitecaps just before the Club World Cup break, Nouhou dragged down an opponent, which forced the Sounders to play down a man for most of the second half. In the following game, Nouhou got involved in an off-ball shoving match that led directly to Botafogo scoring on a free kick. Nouhou was benched the following game before turning in a solid performance against Paris Saint-Germain and again playing well against the Columbus Crew after serving his previous red-card suspension.
“I’m a very patient man, but I do have a limit,” Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer said following Tuesday’s training session. “You can forgive a guy for certain things. If patterns emerge, you think about then you have to come down hard. Where is he in that process? I’ll let you know.”
Underscoring all of these incidents is the reality that Nouhou is the Sounders’ fourth-longest tenured player, having first joined the team in 2017. At 28 years old, he’s logged more than 20,000 professional minutes and has played in a World Cup with Cameroon.
“We talked about leadership,” Schmetzer said. “Talked about keeping who he is, but I need him to mature a little bit. This latest incident he didn’t show signs of it.”
As for what actually prompted Nouhou to throw the ball? On Saturday, Schmetzer said a fan had flipped off Nouhou. Schmetzer apparently followed up though and said he asked both Nouhou and Jonathan Bell, who was standing nearby, if anything racist was said.
“No, there was none,” Schmetzer said. “That was one of the most important things I wanted to cross off.”
In the meantime, Bell appears to be the player who is most likely to get a first crack at filling Nouhou’s spot. Bell has a handful of starts at left back throughout his career and played there off the bench for the Sounders as well. Reed Baker-Whiting also has a fair amount of experience at left back, including a start against Atletico Madrid in which he held his own. Further down the roster, Cody Baker has some experience at left back and Travian Sousa has played there a ton for Tacoma Defiance.
Balancing rest
The Sounders have already played 28 games this season and are heading into another busy portion of the schedule. Invariably, there will need to be some lineup rotation.
Two players seemingly in particular need of some rest are Cristian Roldan and Obed Vargas, who have played the most minutes on the team. Vargas has played about 1,850 minutes while Roldan is close to 2,000.
Danny Leyva, who has played all three central midfield spots, is player most likely to provide some relief.
“I don’t think he’s a true defensive 6, but he’s more of a ball-playing No. 6,” Schmetzer said of Leyva. “He can do both jobs, but he’s a smart kid.”
Schmetzer also name-checked Snyder Brunell and Alex Roldan as players who could fill in at those spots. Brunell’s signing has not yet been officially announced by the Sounders.