RENTON — Add Jesús Ferreira to the seemingly ever-growing list of key Seattle Sounders on the injury list.
The midfielder came out of Sunday’s game in the 36th minute with a hamstring injury. An exact timeline for his return is awaiting a second opinion, but Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer admitted “it’s not a good one” when addressing the media on Tuesday.
What makes Ferreira’s injury particularly frustrating is that he had been remarkably durable since joining the Sounders ahead of last season, despite coming in with a somewhat spotty injury history.
“This was another one that just came out of left field,” Schmetzer said. “Jesús has been pretty robust.
“Again, we’re talking about things like what are they doing in the weight room? What are they doing on the field? Did they sprint too much? Did they not sprint enough? We’re combing through all that.”
Ferreira’s injury will leave the Sounders without at least six otherwise likely starters for Wednesday’s game against Austin FC. That list includes Hassani Dotson, Jordan Morris and Cristian Roldan, all of whom trained on Tuesday but were ruled out for Wednesday. Schmetzer said he was optimistic all three of those players would return perhaps as soon as Saturday’s game against FC Cincinnati, or at least by the Chicago Fire match on Aug. 29.
In the meantime, Schmetzer reiterated that the team is taking a serious look at its training habits and processes even if broader structural change will take longer to implement.
“You can’t change things immediately, because injuries are cyclical,” he said. “Now, if you ask me that at the end of the year, we’re going to have some hard conversations, and there’s been some hard conversations already, yes.
“Some of those tweaks might be made because of what we talk through and what we are concerned about. But an overall overhaul of the entire program is not on the books, at this particular moment. I am not taking that off the table, I am just saying it’s not going to happen now.”
Transfer incoming?
Asked if he was frustrated that it has taken this long to get any outside signings into the team, Schmetzer shot back "Maybe stuff hasn’t leaked out yet. Maybe you guys aren’t doing your job. So maybe you guys need to dig a little deeper."
