Sounders coach Sig Schmid has said that his club’s time in Florida this week is about games.
Well, the games start this afternoon, as they face Orlando City SC (with it’s very cool crest). Judging from what Schmid said last week, it’s like that it will mostly be Sounders reserves going against the USL Pro side.
Unfortunately, I’m going to be out of the office this week. However, you can get good updates from the SoundersFC.com website. And even in my absence, our sports editor will try to keep this blog fresh. So we should have a game …
Here’s a report from the club as training gets going in Florida:
BRADENTON, Fla. – Seattle Sounders FC boarded an early morning flight on Saturday and traveled across the country for the next phase of preseason training. Sounders FC will train at the IMG Soccer Academy in Bradenton, Fla. for the next 10 days. The club also trained in Florida during the 2011 preseason.
The coaching staff and 33 players were met by 40-degreee weather and a strong wind as they took the fields at IMG Soccer Academy for the first time on Sunday morning. The morning session began with
If Seattle lands NBA and NHL franchises, it would join roughly half (remembering two MLS teams in LA, and depending on how you do the counting) of the MLS markets in hosting the four other major-league sports:
Here’s how the other MLS markets share their territory:
Four other major pro sports: Chicago: NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL Colorado: NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL Washington DC: NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL Dallas: NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL New England: NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL New York: NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL Philadelphia:
The Sounders fly off today for Florida, so I’m not sure we’ll be getting any club news today.
However, here are a few interesting thoughts from coach Sigi Schmid, left over from the Friday media session:
Coach Sigi Schmid
On if the rookies have to adjust from being on the college schedule) “It’s always a little more difficult because they get in their rhythm of the seasons that they’ve had in college. So now you’ve got guys that are in here, [who], by the time we get back from Florida they’re about seven games into their regular season at that point. They usually don’t hit the wall, if you want to call it that, until usually about May or June, and that’s really when they hit the wall. Right now, everything is still new, everything is still excitable and so they’re okay for right now.”
On if he’s happy with the roster trimming process so far) “Yeah. Obviously, we’re moving forward. There are a couple of guys that, even in the last group, that we liked, and we’ll keep our eyes on. We’ll keep monitoring them. We just felt, at the moment, we were okay in certain positions. But there’s still a couple of young guys that we think have potential and we’ll keep our eyes on them as we move forward.”
On if there have been any surprises in camp so far) “Anybody who plays well is always a good surprise. From that standpoint, everybody is putting in a really good effort. We’re trying to make some decisions on some players. David Estrada is a player that we’ve pushed Read more »
With rumors of a new arena in Sodo, and the potential re-entry of the NHL and an NHL team into the market, we asked general manager Adrian Hanauer today what two new major sports teams in town might mean to the Sounders.
“I don’t know,” he said. “But thankfully, it’s not in my hands. Generally as a Seattle guy, anything that improves the quality of life in the region, the development in the city, I’m in favor of. And if there’s competition, we just have to rise to the occasion and be good competitors and good partners.”
We got to speak to Sounders coach Sigi Schmid and general manager Adrian Hanauer today, for the first time since the Sounders revealed their series of preseason friendlies leading to the start of CONCACAF Champions League and the MLS seasons.
Here’s some of what they had to say:
HANAUER on making the Community Shield a free event: You know we always like to shake things up and do things a little differently and keep our partners around the league on their toes. We wanted to raise money for our charity partners, and it just seemed like it’s easier …
There’s been a recent flurry of Sounders news regarding games — newly scheduled games, re-scheduled games — here’s a quick reminder:
*The club leaves Saturday for Florida, where these games await: Monday, February 13 – 1 p.m. Training Game v Orlando City SC; Wednesday, February 15 – 8 a.m. Training Game v Columbus Crew; Thursday, February 16 – 7 a.m. Training Game v U17 U.S. National Team;Sunday, February 19 – 1 p.m. Training Game v Florida Gulf Coast University; Wednesday, February 22 – 4 p.m. Training Game v Atlante FC, Cancun, Mexico
*Jaguares de Chiapas of the Mexican Primera Division will provide the opposition for the Community Shield match Feb. 29 at CenturyLink Field. Admission is free, but donations for the club’s charity partners will be accepted at the gate. Gates will open an hour before the 7 p.m. kickoff, and seating is first come, first served through the lower east bowl.
*The Sounders announced that about 14,000 tickets have been sold for their CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal home match against Santos Laguna on March 7. Tickets are available at SoundersFC.com.
Single-game tickets for the MLS season go on sale at 10 a.m. Monday … also Read more »
Th Sounders have one more day off before returning to practice tomorrow at Starfire and then flying off to Florida on Saturday.
While awaiting local developments, here are a few items of note:
* The USA men’s national team has announced that it will face five-time World Cup champion Brazil in Landover, Md., on May 30. The match will be shown on ESPN2.
* Colorado traded MLS Cup hero Macoumba Kandji to the Houston Dynamo for a conditional draft pick in a move that is seen as opening space for a potential big addition. Click here. (For all the upgrades in the West this off-season, here’s a good overview of what’s been happening in the East.)
* Speaking of the Rapids, how about this plan to include the names of season-ticket holders on the team jersey.
Finally, here’s a piece from the University of Washington, with reference to recently released Sounders supplemental draft pick Abdul Aman:
The Huskies men’s soccer team had four players drafted or signed by MLS teams this year, tying for the most ever drafted from the team in a single year, and the most since four players were also drafted in 1998. Brent Richards, Jacob Hustedt, Jamie Finch and Abdul Aman were all picked up by MLS clubs.
