RENTON — Arguably the Seattle Sounders’ deepest position could be getting a serious test early in the season.
Although too early to tell if he’ll also miss any games, Paul Rothrock was absent from Tuesday’s training session while getting his right ankle examined.
“He got his foot dinged up a little bit,” Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer said. “We’re just eliminating that there’s nothing else wrong.”
While not yet a crisis, Rothrock’s status is especially notable given the injury bug that has hit the Sounders’ midfield. Already out are wingers Pedro de la Vega (knee) and Jordan Morris (quad), while Georgi Minoungou remains questionable after missing Saturday’s match with a foot injury.
Minoungou is expected to return to training on Wednesday, but does have a small fracture on his foot. After undergoing a battery of tests, doctors cleared Minoungou to return to the field but his availability will depend on his pain tolerance.
“We’re going to ramp Georgi up and if he can tolerate training,” Schmetzer said. “Hopefully he can because we’re getting light on players.”
If neither Rothrock nor Minoungou are able to play on Saturday, the next candidate to start would likely be Snyder Brunell. The 18-year-old is a more natural central midfielder, but did look good playing briefly on the wing when he entered the RSL game.
Cleaning things up
After watching film of the RSL loss, Schmetzer was still frustrated with what he felt were some missed opportunities on offense and some soft goals on defense.
Schmetzer seemed particularly frustrated with the second RSL goal, which saw Zavier Gozo get behind the backline on a relatively simple ball over the top and Ariath Piol tap it in after getting to the backpost unmarked.
Asked to explain what happened, Schmetzer noted several failure points that started with the giveaway in midfield. Rothrock was then slow to close down Philip Quinto, who made the pass that sprung Gozo. Nouhou was somewhat out of position after getting sucked up field, but Schmetzer was most frustrated with the other three defenders, who he said needed to be about 10 yards closer to the near sideline. Yeimar Gomez Andrade, in particular, wasn't able to catch Piol because of his positioning.
"It's individual and it's group defending that wasn't good in that moment," Schmetzer said. "It's something we as coaches have to take responsibility for. The back four have to get that right. If want to back up my own words of getting back to 2024, I have to make sure they're ready."
Doesn't mind the boos
Albert Rusnák spent five years at RSL and enjoyed a fair amount of success. But that hasn't earned him much grace from their fans, who booed Rusnák loudly, especially early on in Saturday's game.
That doesn't bother him in the least.
"Honestly, I enjoy it," Rusnák said. "It's part of the game and the fans over there feel that way. It's fun.
"But that's also why the loss hurts a little bit more. We keep shooting ourselves in the foot when we're there."
