RENTON – Up until the Seattle Sounders were knocked out of Concacaf Champions Cup, the team had a fairly tidy arrangement with their goalkeepers. As head coach Brian Schmetzer has continued saying to this day, he’s got two starting goalkeepers: Andrew Thomas starts in league play, while Stefan Frei took over for CCC matches. With no more CCC matches for Frei to play in, Seattle’s longtime starting GK looms a little larger behind Thomas.
“Stef had a good tournament and it was unfortunate, because he was super motivated,” Schmetzer said after training on Friday. “Andrew is super motivated because he knows that Stef is really good and he’s got to do the work to stay the number one.”
Thomas has performed excellently through the opening seven games of the season, five of which have come on the road. The Sounders are 5-1-1 with a +7 goal difference while only giving up three goals along the way. Thomas and Seattle’s defense have kept five clean sheets during that run, putting Thomas in a tie with Daniel of the San Jose Earthquakes for the most clean sheets in the league behind Hugo Lloris’ seven while Thomas has put up a league-best save percentage of 88.5%.
Putting in the work to back up those performances isn’t an issue.
“Andrew doesn’t get any off days. Not that he would take them,” remarked Schmetzer, “because I think his mentality is great. That’s why I like him. That’s why Tommy [Dutra, Sounders goalkeeper coach] likes him. It’s just part of being a pro."
To Thomas his good performances are just a small part of the whole team’s success.
“It’s been a collective effort,” Thomas explained to gathered media after training. “We’ve defensively just been incredibly solid no matter who we’ve put in the backline. The intensity that every person has been bringing is contagious, and limits chances to not great angles or thing from distance and clearances off the line, etc., so that intensity that every single person’s been bringing is the reason for the success.”
Thomas is enjoying that success, along with the opportunity to get on the field regularly.
“It’s nice hearing the final whistle and ... thinking that I’ve got a game coming up at some point soon,” he explained. “You immediately start getting ready in a slightly different way for the next one. I’m enjoying it. It’s fun playing consistently and hopefully there’s a lot more to come.”
As long as Thomas keeps up the work and the performances along with it, and the Sounders keep playing like they have been that “more to come” will include more than just appearances and starts.
“The only thing you control is your own results,” the starting GK remarked. “So as much as other teams might be doing well, we know that our style of soccer is good enough to win games and win trophies.”
The high standards the club hold and the internal competition and drive to keep improving among the team mean that there aren’t just hopes for success but expectations.
“The expectation and the thought s that if we do what we know we can do across the season, it should end up with good results. So [we] don’t worry too much about the other teams and focus on what we’re doing and getting better every game, and that’ll put us in a good spot.”
Injury updates
- Several players were either training off to the side or inside while the rest of the team was on the field. Schmetzer specifically addressed Albert Rusnák and Cristian Roldan’s situations, saying that Roldan was in concussion protocol after taking a ball to the top of the head in training earlier in the week and was “definitely ruled out” for Saturday’s match against FC Dallas. As for Rusnák, Schmetzer explained he was dealing with “a little bit of hamstring tightness,” before elaborating that “if it was a playoff match I’d probably start Albert, but it’s not a playoff match, so I’m going to take a little gander as I walk in there to see if Albert wants to play or can play, and I’ll make a decision.”
- Paul Arriola has been listed as "out" on the injury report and is dealing with an adductor injury.
- Ryan Sailor and Kim Kee-hee are both in a two-day-on, one-day-off pattern with training as they work their way back from injury and the medical staff gauges their recovery and fitness ahead of any return to the field. Stuart Hawkins, who made his first match day squad appearance of the season last weekend but didn’t see the field, is fit and will play with Tacoma Defiance on Sunday when they host LAFC II.
