Return of the Rave Green: Sounders look to return to MLS Playoffs, while managing the new heights they’re climbing too
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – 2022 was a year that defined highs and lows for the Seattle Sounders. On one hand, they became the first MLS team to win the Concacaf Champions League in its current iteration and tomorrow will represent North America in the Club World Cup, making history. The rest of the season saw Seattle struggle to remain healthy and look otherwise uninspiring as they drudged towards an early end to their season, missing the playoffs for the first time in their MLS incarnation. With nearly the exact same group returning to Seattle in 2023, and a veteran striker added in Héber, the Sounders are betting that their core can return to the form that has drawn the ire of MLS since the club joined the league. It may be a tough bet to trust, considering some of the aging veterans that Seattle is relying on, but if history repeats itself, the Sounders should be just fine.
Heber could play a huge role in Seattle's attack (Photo by Seattle Sounders FC Communications)
Key losses
Will Bruin: A fan favorite, nicknamed the Dancing Bear, Bruin has been a consistent feature off the bench for years. Admittedly, Bruin has not been able to provide the spark that he’s been called upon for over the past year. Seattle let him go, he’s currently training with Austin FC, and new general manager Craig Waibel decided to look for an upgrade to fill that role of backup striker.
Sam Adeniran: This move shocked a lot of people, as many viewed Adeniran as the young forward that Seattle could use going into the future. Especially with the club deciding not to bring back Will Bruin, Adeniran was seen as a possible solution to the backup striker issue considering his frame and his youth that could have injected Seattle with some energy up top. Craig Waibel and the front office staff decided against it, and Adeniran was traded to St. Louis City SC.
Sam Adeniran was surprisingly traded away this past offseason (Photo by Lindsey Wasson)
Key additions
Héber: The Brazilian forward that has spent the entirety of his MLS career until now with NYCFC is an interesting case. Tied for being the fourth oldest player that isn’t a goalkeeper, fans weren’t necessarily thrilled of the move. They had hoped for a younger option, or perhaps more of a big name. But again, it is a good thing that those folks are on the couch rather than in Craig Waibel or Brian Schmetzer’s chair, as Héber has been effective in the MLS and has already impressed the Sounders coaching staff enough to warrant more playing time than they initially expected.
Sota Kitahara: Kitahara likely won’t see many minutes with the first team and could fall into the same sort of role that many of the young Sounders on the roster have fallen into. That role is being ready for injuries or opportunities to soak up minutes to manage workloads. An important statement from the press conference after Seattle’s last match in 2022 from Brian Schmetzer was that the coaching staff needed to find a better way to implement its younger players into the matches. While that is true, considering that you have five other players that fit into the role Kitahara is, we could see some loaned out to get meaningful minutes while the Sounders still try to jam their championship window open.
Sota Kitahara is another Sounders homegrown player (Photo by Pickett/Sounders FC Communications)
Team strengths
Depth: This was a key for the club in my season preview last season, and if those darn injuries don’t get in the way of it, it should ring true. Having a goalkeeper like Cleveland, someone who could be a starter on several clubs, backup Frei and have at the ready is a luxury. On the backline, being able to swap in a defender such as Jackson Ragen who can still improve as a young player, is a luxury. We’ll discuss the midfield here later, but the point has been made. There is quality up and down this roster. Keep it healthy, and it should at minimum be good for a playoff berth.
Championship pedigree: The Sounders, champions of Concacaf, two-time winners of MLS Cup, four-time winners of the U.S. Open Cup, a supporters shield winner, amongst other things. The core group of Sounders is still hanging around, with the club's all-time leading scorer still around in Fredy Montero. Largely impactful Nico Lodeiro remains around but needs to have a bounce back year. Stefan Frei had an incredible performance through CCL, earning several of the tournament’s awards. Having them around is key towards getting back to the promised land, in terms of both their performance on the field, their knowledge of the game that they can pass along to the younger teammates, and the leadership that they possess to instill confidence in their club.
Seattle’s championship pedigree may need to kick in for them to regain their form (Photo by Rod Mar)
Team weaknesses
A stale attack: The Sounders attack after Concacaf Champions League lacked punch. It wasn’t like the Sounders loss to Real Salt Lake in the 2021 playoffs when it seemed like no matter how high quality the chance is, it seemed that there was invisible force field in net that prevented Seattle from scoring. No, the Sounders just simply couldn’t build out of their midfield. It’s been hammered into obscurity at this point, but Joao Paulo’s injury was a domino of negativity that not only spelled big loss for himself, but playing Rusnak and Roldan out of position, etc. Schmetzer has said that the coaching staff is working on integrating a new attack to rejuvenate the club, and if they can effectively execute that, Seattle should be just fine.
Lack of an attacking presence from the left back spot: One of the numerous interesting storylines amongst the Sounders players in 2022 was Nouhou. Coming off some World Cup qualifying matches that had Nouhou looking like a potential jewel in the transfer market, there were some high expectations from the Cameroon outside back. While there were repeated attempts by Nouhou up the left side of the pitch, not many of them resulted in anything meaningful towards the Seattle attack. While Nouhou did finally break through and score his first MLS goal, the Sounders will either need him to be better when contributing to the attack or find a way to get better production up the left side.
A busy season: This one could’ve been used last season as well considering that the Sounders participated in Concacaf Champions League and the U.S. Open Cup. It remains true this year as well, with a prime example being tomorrow’s Club World Cup match against Al Ahly SC. While tournaments and success in them are examples of the way that the Sounders are making their mark in history and displaying their prowess, they do have a wear and tear on the club. Look at the night that the Sounders became champions of Concacaf. Joao Paulo suffered a season-ending injury. These extra matches do add to the stress on the body, so managing workloads and keeping an eye on the players' health is an obvious key.
Two leaders of the club, Nico Lodeiro and Stefan Frei, are looking for good years in 2023 (Photo by Liv Lyons)
Biggest question
The biggest question for the 2023 Seattle Sounders FC is whether they can get their key core players to return to the form that helped this club win MLS Cup in 2019 and more recently CCL last year. Having players like Nicolas Lodeiro, Stefan Frei, Raul Ruidiaz, as your most veteran and legendary players, returning to even a “good” form, the Sounders will be better than the majority of 2022. Seeing Jordan Morris and Cristian Roldan in a rejuvenated attack, getting the 2021 version of Albert Rusnak, if Obed Vargas can return to his 2022-preinjury form, and if they can get anything positive out of Héber, then the juggernaut is back.
Seeing the backline re-establish themselves will be important, as there were far too many boneheaded mistakes made by such a talented group. Alex Roldan has come into his own well, Yeimar was a finalist for defender of the year in MLS just a few years ago, and Nouhou is a sound defender overall. Jackson Ragen is a talented young defender, but even he had learning curves visible throughout the course of the year.
Centreback Jackson Ragen has promise as a talented young defender, but still has work to do (Photo by Mike Fiechtner)
Important storylines for this season
Midfield synergy drives a rejuvenated Seattle attack
The Sounders midfield is loaded with talent, the discussion has often been (outside of keeping everyone healthy) how to line everybody up. With Joao Paulo back in the fold and nearing full health, most of the midfield unit should be able to sort itself out. Albert Rusnak and Cristian Roldan both had to play out of position and even shuffled around the field over the course of the season after Paulo went down with a season ending injury in the Concacaf Champions League final. Getting consistency and efficiency out of a group that won’t need to deal with figuring out what spot they’ll play is a huge contributing factor to the club’s success.
Héber provides a spark off the bench, or perhaps even in the starting lineup
Héber was acquired via trade this past offseason as Seattle looked for more of a reliable, proven backup striker. The club needed somebody to pick up some slack when Raul Ruidiaz may be out, or perhaps just to have another weapon up top, and opted to not bring back the veteran Bruin as previously mentioned. The move was scoffed at by some due to the age of the Brazilian, but he’s impressed the Sounders coaching staff enough that they have consider changing formations to get him more playing time. A good sign for a player that must have an impact on this years squad.
With Albert Rusnak back in his natural position, another piece of Seattle’s midfield is in place to set up what should be a productive year (Photo by Sounders FC Communications)
Roster overlook by position group
Goalkeeper: Stefan Frei, Stefan Cleveland, Andrew Thomas, Jacob Castro, Wallis Lapsley
This group shouldn’t see any surprises. Stefan Frei is the starter here, and Stefan Cleveland proves to be a key backup that is more than capable of stepping in as a starter as needed. Cleveland will likely get his fair share of starts throughout the course of the season when the performance staff deems that Frei should get a day off.
Defender: Kelyn Rowe, Yeimar Gomez Andrade, Nouhou Tolo, Xavier Arreaga, Alex Roldan, Ethan Dobbelaere, Abdoulaye (AB) Cissoko, Jackson Ragen, Joe Hafferty
The backline really shouldn’t see too much difference from the past season, but the interesting aspect should be how much playing time Jackson Ragen gets. The young centreback showed some solid flashes throughout the course of the 2022 campaign but also displayed that he still has room for growth. Alex Roldan, Yeimar, and Nouhou should all continue to hold their standard spots down, but after last year's struggles and mishaps, maybe Schmetzer and company decide they need a shakeup.
Midfielder: Nicolas Lodeiro, Joao Paulo, Albert Rusnak, Cristian Roldan, Josha Atencio, Danny Leyva, Sota Kitahara, Reed Baker-Whiting, Obed Vargas, Dylan Tevees, Ethan Dobbelaere
This is where everything begins and ends for Seattle. When the midfield was struggling for Seattle, which was basically from mid-season through the end, the Sounders struggled to generate anything meaningful when it came to their offensive attack and overall looked bland. There was no attacking flair, Lodeiro failed to generate anything outside of converting the penalty kicks that he was given, Rusnak had to deal with playing out of position to Joao Paulo’s injury early into the season. Roldan played like an MVP candidate in the early part of the season before having to deal with hernia surgery. Obed Vargas proved to be a very exciting youngster for Seattle before he had a season-ending back injury. And then, there is the group of young players that the Sounders are still trying to pick and plug into the lineup, trying to give them game action while also trying to topple the best teams in the land. Figuring this group out is the key to winning titles for Seattle.
Forward: Fredy Montero, Héber, Jordan Morris, Raul Ruidiaz, Leo Chu
Raul Ruidiaz is the clear-cut top dog amongst this group, as the Peruvian goal scoring machine just (not so) simply must stay healthy to provide immense value to this club. Héber is a promising player, considering the comment we have mentioned a few times about potentially seeing a formation change due to his impressive performance. Jordan Morris and Leo Chu are two players that the club generally needs more out of, but they are in differing situations. Since joining the club in 2021, Chu was initially viewed as an exciting young forward that could develop into a scary weapon for the Sounders. Whether it be battling for playing time amongst a talented forward group or simply not getting the bounces, Chu is still looking to truly break out. Morris just signed a five-year extension, after only scoring one goal over the last 12 matches of the season. Morris must be better than that and sustain it over the entirety of the campaign to instill confidence that his long-term deal was not somewhat of a mistake.
Jordan Morris is looking to have a bounce back season (Photo by Mike Fiechtner)
2023 overlook
The Sounders are beginning the calendar year with a daunting task, as they take on an incredibly talented Al Ahly side that has great experience in the Club World Cup. If they can vanquish the strong, Egyptian side, they have a “David vs Goliath” scenario when they take on Real Madrid. Outside of the Club World Cup, the MLS regular season poses the standard challenges that it always does. Priority number one is staying healthy, but the Sounders will need to add some spice to the dish they’re preparing for the season if they want a successful ending. The status quo is not acceptable anymore, clubs know what to expect from Seattle. That being said, I have faith in this club's ability from top to bottom to make the adjustments needed to return to the form MLS fans around the country have dreaded.
Cover photo by Pickett/Seattle Sounders FC Communications