How Sounders Will Manage Hectic Early Season Schedule
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Seattle Sounders forward Jesus Ferreira jogs on the field during a game against Charlotte FC. Credit: Jesus Ferreira/Instagram [/caption]
On January 13, in one of their more significant moves of the offseason, the Seattle Sounders announced the addition of Paul Arriola in a trade with FC Dallas. The move came on the heels of another trade with FC Dallas involving Jesus Ferreira just six days earlier.
With an obvious need for offense after another stellar defensive season for Seattle, these moves would seem to indicate Seattle was prioritizing more scoring, and getting two proven MLS offensive pieces like Arriola and Ferreira definitely would help address this issue and help the front line provide more consistency.
However, another reason that these attacking reinforcements would be valuable for the Sounders in 2025 is because of an increasingly busy schedule, especially at the start of the season.
With CONCACAAF Champions League and the beginning of the MLS season well underway, Seattle is looking to avoid what happened in 2022 when they achieved arguably the biggest accomplishment in team history in being the first MLS side to hoist the CCL Trophy. Unfortuantely, there were some long lasting effects to pouring all their eggs in that basket, with the result being missing the MLS Cup playoffs for the first and only time in club history. Arguments about the MLS calendar and how it fits in to the global game aside, with the main focus at the beginning of the 2022 season being CCL triumph, MLS matches were sacrificed in order to have the first team available for the CCL matches, not to mention injuries, physical and mental fatigue after pouring energy into a cup final one month into the season.
It was clear after the season that wasn’t good enough for the club expectation-wise. Sacrificing one competition for another shouldn’t be an option. Fast forward three years later to 2025 and the Sounders are in a similar situation, but this time with a squad that can withstand the rigorous opening month to the season. With players like Ferreira and Arriola coming in, they won’t just give the football club more depth from a personnel perspective, but from a tactical one as well.
We have seen the preferred team selections in the first round of the Champions League and first two MLS matches, and instead of going with a “first team” and “second team” approach, Seattle has demonstrated the ability to spread first team quality players across both lineups, while also giving the team formational versatility. So far, coach Brian Schmetzer has opted for the familiar 4-2-3-1 formation with Jordan Morris at the nine and wingers consisting of Georgi Minoungu, Paul Rothrock, Albert Rusnak at the 10 for the opening pair of MLS matches. While results haven’t exactly followed with a draw and a loss in the first two league matches of the season, there is undoubtedly enough quality to have confidence in that group moving forward.
The bigger surprise is the lineup that has been chosen for the first two CCL matches of the season, with the biggest change being in formation: a modified 3-4-2-1 with wing backs that utilizes the ability of both Alex Roldan and Arriola to give presence in wide areas and get crosses in while still having defensive responsibilities against the opposing wingers. Pedro De La Vega, who had an underwhelming first season with the club, has been playing underneath Jordan Morris and alongside Ferreira since the two leg tie against Guatemalan side Antigua, and that trio has looked extremely dangerous. While it admittedly hasn’t been the level of competition of MLS sides - at least yet - the new-look formation with the newer players has looked more comfortable so far in the early going.
Even with the lackluster start to the season on the MLS side, it is an important aspect for the Sounders to have the versatility to play in two very different systems with different types of players. This gives the ability not only to match up as Schmetzer pleases, but also to adjust in-game to change things up if the original plan doesn’t work.
Either way, it will be a storyline to watch to see how Schmetzer balances the rotation between the two competitions early in the season with hopes Seattle’s new standouts on offense can put the ball in the net a few more times and help the team weather a brutal early schedule.
