The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Seattle up for challenge to repeat as MLS champ
SEATTLE— Brian Schmetzer has long exhibited an insatiable urge to raise the expectations for the Seattle Sounders.
Nothing seems to be changing even though the Sounders enter the upcoming season as league champs. There’s always the challenge of trying to become the fifirst MLS teamto repeat as champion in nearly a decade.
“We know as a coaching staff, the team, they’re going to be out for us,” Schmetzer said. “But I actually tried to just say, ‘Look, we’re going to try and do a little bit more here, a little bit more there, a little bit smarter over here,’ just so we can raise our own standard and not worry about what are teams going to do against us.”
In a way, Seattle fulfilled its destiny a year ago. The team with arguably themost successful expansion launch in league history, the Sounders fifinally earned a chance to host the MLS Cup final while also playing in the game. They rewarded the nearly 70,000 spectators there that day with a 3-1win over Toronto.
That means Seattle begins this season — which starts today hosting Chicago— with a second star on its crest and an even larger target within an improving and expanded MLS.
“When I came here to Seattle, I say that I want to win every trophy,” captain Nicolás Lodeiro said. “This year we have a great opportunity.”
Seattle’s goals for the season had stretched beyond the borders of the league with the desire to become the fifirst MLS team to win the CONCACAF Champions League under its current format. Those hopes came to an ugly end Thursday when
Seattle was eliminated from Champions League competition by CD Olimpia of Honduras. The Sounders gave up a tying goal in the closing minutes and were eliminated on penalties. Seattle was the only MLS club not to advance to the quarter finals.
Seattle will still have a chance to make a mark in the region by competing in the Campeones Cup against the champion of Mexico’s Liga MX.
But ultimately Seattle wants to be the first team to repeat as league champions since the LA Galaxy in 2011-12. The Sounders nearly accomplished that feat after winning their first title in 2016, reaching the final a year later before losing to Toronto.
Repeating this year would be helped by avoiding what happened at the start of the 2017 season when Seattle languished near the bottom of the Western Conference before getting hot the second half of that season. With the new MLS playoff format that proved highly beneficial for Seattle last year, a sluggish start can be difficult to overcome.
“The lessons I learned over the last couple of games will be a driving force for us to move forward,” Schmetzer said.
The elimination by the Honduran club highlighted the biggest concerns for Seattle going into the season: a defense that saw three major players depart.
Roman Torres, Kim Kee-hee and Brad Smith, along with midfielder and MLS Cup hero Victor Rodriguez, all moved on in the off season. The losses have turned one of Seattle’s strengths in its title run into one of its bigger concerns.
“We built that team uplast year, and we didn’t have to do a whole lot. That team was pretty baked. We were mature. All our chips were in themiddle, and we were ready to go,” general manager Garth Lagerwey said. “This year ... we just have some natural turnover. That happens. A lot of times I’ve had the good fortune to win a couple of these before, and that off season after you win is always the roughest off season because everyone gets recruited.”