RENTON – Yeimar Gomez Andrade won’t return until after the World Cup, Seattle Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer confirmed. After examining Yeimar’s MRI again this week, the Sounders have determined that it makes sense to bring him back more slowly than they had originally planned. He has not played since suffering a hamstring injury on March 7 against St. Louis City.
“It’s healing, but the risk-reward to push him to get back for one game against LAFC vs. just waiting and kind of making sure he’s 100% for the second part of the year makes more sense,” Schmetzer said following Friday’s training session.
A big part of Schmetzer’s willingness to be patient is that the Sounders’ previously shaky centerback depth has been bolstered considerably. Not only has Alex Roldan emerged as a “revelation” at centerback and Tino Lopez has proven himself to be a capable starter, but Kim Kee-hee and Ryan Sailor have also fully returned to training.
“It’s just nice to have bodies back,” Schmetzer said.
The Sounders are so deep at centerback, in fact, that Stuart Hawkins appears to have been relegated to Tacoma Defiance for now. The young centerback came into this year with the expectation that he’d enter the Sounders’ regular rotation, but a couple of different injuries have kept him from fully integrating.
Although he’s now fully fit, he has yet to make a gameday roster.
“It’s unfortunate he got injured because I was going to give him some opportunities and it hasn’t happened,” Schmetzer said. “He’s got to fight for minutes.
“It’s a pretty crowded position now. So, the outlook is I still think he has a ton of potential, he’s a really good kid, I loved the way he works out here … so we’ll see.”
Still looking for a No. 9
Schmetzer has used three different starters at the No. 9 this season. Although all three players have scored at least once, none of them have scored in a match in which they started at the No. 9. Jordan Morris scored his goal in a game he started at right wing, Danny Musovski got both of his goals off the bench and Osaze De Rosario got his goal off the bench, too.
Morris is likely to get the start against San Diego FC, but Schmetzer still doesn’t think anyone has established himself as the clear starter.
“I want someone to make it their own,” Schmetzer said. “They all have different profiles. It might come down to me changing the way I coach a little bit.”
Schmetzer explained that his normal method has been to choose the 11 players who are either the best or have been playing the best regardless of the opponent. Given the Sounders’ depth, Schmetzer indicated he might need think about things differently.
“With this group of players, the difference between bottom to the top of the roster is smaller,” he said. “Now I have some tactical flexibility to play one way against one team and maybe this guy fits better over here; maybe there’s a deficiency where we think we can take advantage. We’re thinking about that kind of stuff as well.”
