Football Season Guide

Seattle had a difficult 2022 and they finished only 11th out of 14 teams in the Western Conference. The Sounders had the fewest draws (5) in their Conference and the second highest number of defeats (17), which was the main reason why they ended up missing out on the play-offs by 6 points. Experienced coach Schmetzer is set to start his seventh consecutive season in charge and he opted to hardly change his squad in the off season. With the core of the squad pretty much the same it will be again the same personnel that will be used too. In defence likely to be using 3-man back line in many games, with the current squad having only 2 typical full-backs on the books. This makes the health and form of Nouhou and Roldan crucial if Sounders don’t want problems out wide. Just as last season the main hope in attack will fall on the shoulders of a quartet of veteran South Americans. Captain Lodeiro usually operates with total freedom on the pitch and this should continue. He turns 34 soon though and his load management will be crucial as the season progresses. In attack the newly signed Héber joins 2 other strikers Ruidiaz and Montero. All of them are old guns, the youngest is Héber at age 31, so experience shouldn’t be an issue. They lack speed though and Sounders are again expected to use one of the slowest tempos in the entire MLS.