RENTON — Two games into his full return, Stefan Frei’s status as the Seattle Sounders No. 1 goalkeeper still seems a bit precarious.
Asked what should be inferred by Frei starting consecutive games, the second of which was on short rest, Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer was somewhat noncommittal.
“He’s the No. 1, right now, for sure,” Schmetzer said. “It’s a competition. We need results.”
It’s not so much that Frei has played poorly as it is that he’s left the door open. Frei has now played four games since returning from concussion, having allowed a total of eight goals.
Andrew Thomas, in the meantime, has allowed just two goals and posted five shutouts in his past seven starts. As impressive as he’s been during that stretch, Thomas also allowed nine goals in the first four starts after taking over for Frei.
Pedro de la Vega working through ‘tricky’ injury
Pedro de la Vega was a full participant in Friday’s training session, scoring several impressive goals and generally looking very good. That was a welcome sight given that he’s failed to even make the bench for the Sounders’ last two games.
Schmetzer said they had hoped to have de la Vega available on Tuesday against Inter Miami, but that the staff made a last-minute decision to hold him out. Schmetzer would only commit to de la Vega joining the team on their trip to Austin on Sunday.
“He’s dealing with a pretty tricky knee injury,” Schmetzer said. “It’s a lot of pain tolerance, but then if you push them more, play them more, it becomes painful. If you take time off and he doesn’t keep as active, it hurts.
“Tendonitis isn’t easy to fix. We’re working to get him healthy as fast as we can.”
After a somewhat slow start to the season, de la Vega has five goals and an assist in his past 10 appearances.
A different Austin FC
This will be the Sounders’ second match against Austin FC, but a lot has changed since that first meeting. The Sounders’ win kickstarted a stretch that saw them go 10-2-5 and win Leagues Cup. Austin has gone 5-2-3 across all competitions, which included a dramatic extra-time win against Minnesota United that pushed them into the U.S. Open Cup final.
A big part of both teams’ push has been a resurgent offense. Over their last eight league games, the Sounders lead MLS with 20 goals scored, while Austin is tied for fifth with 16.
“They’ve played much, much better,” Schmetzer said. “That’s going to be a confident team.”
