RENTON — From Paul Rothrock’s perspective, Tuesday marked the dawning of a new beginning. He meant it more ways than one.
Perhaps the biggest element was his own return to full training after a bit of a false start last week. Rothrock had missed the previous eight weeks with a hamstring injury, and was held out of Saturday’s game after coming down with an ailment that forced him to miss the final training session ahead of the match.
“There’s a good feeling in the training ground right now,” Rothrock said. I don’t know if you guys got to watch today’s training. Great training today.”
Rothrock returns just in time for the Seattle Sounders’ regular-season finale against LAFC on Saturday. The Sounders currently sit in 10th, but understand that a win is likely to move them into playoff position as it only requires one of the three teams just ahead of them to drop points. All three of the LA Galaxy, Portland Timbers and Colorado Rapids are on the road.
“I think it’s do or die,” Rothrock said. “The last six months have been hard for us, for our supporters, for me personally. So putting all of that angst and energy into this last game and whatever I can contribute.”
But Rothrock’s sense of a new beginning is much bigger than his own personal journey. Part of that is the team meeting the Sounders held in lieu of watching game film on Tuesday. Coaches asked players for some suggestions to improve training sessions and immediately began implementing some of those ideas.
“I think that you know we’ve had to have some more honest conversations this week,” Rothrock said. “People have had to get some things off their chests, and I always think that it is going to result in a net positive.
“Credit to Brian and the staff. They were willing to be vulnerable in this moment and say, ‘Hey, give us feedback here.’ And I think people were willing to give it. We talked about a number of principles, accountability, and trying to make trainings more competitive and whatnot as well.”
The good vibes stretched well into Tuesday evening, too, and left Rothrock even more invigorated.
“Yesterday was a good day for America as well,” Rothrock said. “I’m going to take some of that inspiration, too. I don’t want to get too political, but that was exciting as well. I feel very excited about this week.
“I think we have a group that can still pull off something special. I’m definitely thinking that way. I’m believing that way. You saw something yesterday, too, where a lot of people didn’t believe that was going to happen and it did.”
