The reacquisition of Neagle (r) has not soothed Chris LaRoche’s fears about the departures of Montero and Parke
Photos: Mike Russell and Scott Marsh
Sounders v.2013 – I Still have a Bad Feeling
by Chris LaRoche
I’ve been waiting for the dust to settle before opining on Sounders v.2013.
The off-season is nearly over and the dust still hasn’t settled. Rumors keep flying, and Sigi is almost purposefully confusing. Even winning the Desert Diamond Cup with a squad of reserves and trialists doesn’t calm my nerves. It’s like we’re coming out of hyper-drive into an asteroid field, and … what’s that small moon over there?
That’s no small moon, that’s los Tigres de UANL. Except on this occasion the rebels (Traore) won’t rally in time and the Death Star (Tigres) will destroy their secret base on Yavin IV (Champions League).
Why am I so nervous?
Because we started the off-season by off-loading two pillars of our team: Montero and Parke.
Problematic they may have been for different reasons, but they were one of the best forwards and defenders in the league.
Parke’s performance landed him an appearance on the USNMT (granted, the B-squad, and his age will probably keep it at that, but an appearance nonetheless).
Montero –we should hope for reasons of good karma- will take the next step on what could be a great career: winning the Copa Libertadores with Millonarios, securing his slot on the Colombian national team which loses to the USA in the World Cup Final.
In the hierarchy of MLS soccer, Montero and Parke are both above the norm; they should be replaced with equal or better players.
The Sounders have some excellent MLS-caliber players, but that’s the problem: they are still “MLS-caliber” players.
Over the years, we’ve always managed to augment the roster with higher caliber players.
At a minimum, they had national team experience (Marshall, Gonzalez, Johansson), or played in a league considered top flight (Rosales, Tiffert). In the best cases, they brought World Cup experience (Flaco, Nkufo, Johnson). Sometimes they came to us with copious amounts of all three (Keller, Ljungberg). Alternatively there were young talents with at least the potential of achieving those goals (Montero, Zakuani, Alonso).
The Sounders have some very good MLS players: Ianni, Estrada, Burch, Rose, Caskey, etc. But it’s these “better than MLS” players that got us into the CONCACAF Champions League and into the MLS playoffs*.
Getting rid of top-quality players (Montero, Parke) and replacing them with “good”, or even ‘very good’ MLS players (Scott, Estrada) is not a recipe for victory, especially against non-MLS teams, like Tigres.
In the middle of writing this, Sounders announced the signing of Djimi Traore. That’s good, but in order to have a successful run at the CONCACAF Champions League, they should have done this by mid-January to familiarize the new players with the team.
And we still need a high-caliber forward. Instead, we get Neagle. I like Neagle. He’s a home-town hero. He’s shown incredible growth since first joining the team, growth augmented by stints in Finland and Canada.
In fact, he’s arguably the best MLS player to have ever played in both Finland AND Canada. But that’s not what we need.
The Quakes won the Supporters Shiled but Could not Withstand the Galaxy Play-off Juggernaut
Photo: John Hefti
We need a top-class striker.
We have excellent midfielders, but none of them top-class up at top. I opined last month that such a player is Freddy Adu: admittedly not realistic nor perfect, but meets the requirements. I don’t think Sigi got the memo.
You can kiss any dreams of CCL success goodbye.
You can expect the first few months of league play to be rocky, perhaps even with more ties and losses than wins.
Some of the more short-sighted fans will be utterly distraught by June. Hold your breath (again!) that we catch a big fish in the summer transfer window.
But will that be too little too late?
We’ll easily make playoffs, but will miss the Supporter’s Shield by several points.
We’ll lose in the playoffs, probably to LA (the Empire striking back, yet again).
And we’ll finish the season with a big dust storm of fan outrage wondering why we didn’t win it all, hoping for a return of a world-class striker, a Jedi if you will.
Rinse and repeat in 2014.
*If you think the Sounders were going to/should have won either the Supporter’s Shield or the MLS Cup in their first four years, you’re delusional.
February 25, 2013 at 10:37 am
I agree that the CCL is a write-off this season, although I don’t think its for lack of trying to find the right pieces. The salary cap issues we were left with at the end of last season forced us to do some shuffling off-season in the name of parity that made a solid CCL run against a very very difficult draw (All Liga Mx teams, all the time) nearly impossible.
However, from an MLS perspective, I’ve seen most other teams in the west (and East to some extent) weakening as well. LA, RSL, Colorado clearly. Portland improved, but it was hard not to.
Martinez and Zak are both adds that we already had and couldn’t make much use of.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say that after watching our preseason matches, I’m cautiously optimistic even in the absence of a DP striker. I don’t think we’ll win the Supporters Shield, but I think we’ll be close. I think we’ll at least make the Conference Final again. (Which, now that I look at it, is the same thing the article says above with with the spin that this is actually a positive)
Oh, and the Open Cup? I’d love to say we’ll make the final again, but its a knockout competition and lets be honest, nobody can keep up a regulation time undefeated run THAT long. I expect we’ll miss out on the USOC final this season, but not by much. Somehow out of nowhere we suddenly seem to have as good or better depth in our roster as we did the last couple years.
February 25, 2013 at 1:00 pm
Side note: I purposefully excluded the Open Cup out of my assessment, because simply it’s easier to win. The roster changes won’t have that much of an impact, as opposed to CCL.
February 25, 2013 at 10:53 am
Chris, you have many many good points here. I’m not sure that the FO wants to be a winner of anything. They have what they want, a full house and a competitive team, but there is a lack of that extra something to put the management in a situation where they want, need and desire to lift silverware. Until the FO gets serious which their not then what you have written here has already happened and like you said will repeat again and again, just like it already has.
The Sounders must be a Twilight Zone Team always stuck or lost in some sort of foggy limbo.
It is a shame.
February 25, 2013 at 11:35 am
I love the Sounders and I enjoy watching the team play but Tigres is going to rape them. Alan Pulido, Hugo Rodriguez (both winners of the Toulon tournament and Panamerican games), Jonathan Espericueta (World Champion with U-17), Jonathan Bornstein, Jose Francisco Torres (both US national players) and Taufic Guarch (Third place on world cup U-20, 20 games in Spain) are all on the bench for Tigres. Any of them would be a main player in the Sounders. Now let’s talk about the main players El Tito Villa, Carlos Salcido, Lucas Lobos, Torres Nilo, Juninho, Hugo Ayala, Danilinho, Damian Alvarez, Luis Garcia and Elias Hernandez. All of this players have experience with their national teams, some are staples in the National Team and all have a lot of experience playing in Libertadores. On top of all this you have one of the most successful coaches in the history of Mexican league and the chances seem slim. Tigres is the leader on the Mexican league and it’s playing a lot better that any team in that league. The Sounders have no player that can mark the difference and are coming from a break. In the end this is Soccer and weaker teams have won against stronger teams but let’s not hold our breath for a win.
February 25, 2013 at 1:25 pm
Thanks for the run-down of Tigres. I knew they were at the top of MX, but didn’t have such a breakdown. Considering how little I follow Mexican soccer, I’m doubly concerned when I recognize more than half the names you mention (and I’ll trust you on the other half)
Uff.
Part of that breakdown just reinforces my point: in order to compete at the highest level, you need to the highest level players.
I would to throw out that MLS could do something about this. Afterall, Garber does want MLS teams to be internationally competitive. Two things he could do:
1: Loosen the cap requirements so MLS teams can spend what they need to be competitive. (I realize that this is a huge issue that I know very little about, so I’ll just leave it at that).
2: Push CCL back a few more weeks so that MLS teams will have at least played a few competitive games together. It’s bad enough that we’re out-classed, but such a high-level match so early in the season is an advantage Mexican teams don’t need!
February 25, 2013 at 11:40 am
Was I worried about central defense when we traded Parke? Yes. Am I frustrated that we seem to have about a 50% failure rate with DPs? Yes, again. Am I worried about losing Montero’s playmaking/goals? No, because they also come with a guy who pouts/jogs when he isn’t involved and who goes on scoring droughts for several games at a time. All that aside, most teams have question marks when the season opens. How those questions are answered will go a long way towards deciding if you are Nostradamus or Miss Cleo.
Assuming you’re right, I guess we can all just give up now since we have no chance of winning this year. No point in going to the games – tell the ECS to save their voices. Tell Portland and Vancouver that we’re skipping the Cascadia Cup this year.
Except that sometimes teams are more than the sum of their parts. Those “better than MLS” quality players don’t grow on trees and if they aren’t how there how fair is it to criticize for playing the hand you’re dealt? Who’s to say Estrada, Zakuani, or Neagle aren’t ready to take a big step up? Players can improve over the life of their career; teams can come together and achieve greatness, despite what the critics think. If that weren’t the case, we could just simulate everything on the computer and not bother even playing the games.
I’d rather hold on to some optimism prior to a single game being played. Hopefully we havea few months in front of us before starting with the mantra of the Seattle sports fan, “just wait until next year!”
February 25, 2013 at 1:15 pm
A minor point that I omitted from my article: I think we DO have some potential stars: Estrada started off great last year until his injury; Zakuani has always had promise, and I’m still hoping for him to rebound and continue his trajectory; Rose and Caskey both had great seasons last year; every time Neagle goes away, he comes back better. So yes, I’m hoping one of them steps up, but Sounders have a long history of hoping someone steps up to be a great, solid second striker: Jaqua, Fucito, LeToux, Ochoa, etc etc. Thus, my hope is restrained.
February 25, 2013 at 11:41 am
While I realize that pieces like this are designed to get page views and foster discussion, I find it kinda tiresome.
I don’t consider myself a Sounders-kool-aid drinker, but damn, we just went through one of the shortest post seasons in sports and already you’re throwing cold water on a campaign that hasn’t even begun yet!
SSFC’s front office and and ownership has accomplished a lot in the previous four years with significant barriers to overcome due to the MLS being a capped league and in the fact that Seattle is not a top five market.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Very few teams (if any) outside of LA and NY have “world-class” talent. Montero’s signing was the result of excellent scouting and a bit of luck. We always knew he’d eventually move on and the team was gracious enough to let him raise his international profile by going back to Colombia and try break onto the national team. Parke didn’t want to play for Seattle in the first place, but he put in his time and was able to go back East to be closer to family and start one of his own.
Seattle and MLS in general are doing well. But Seattle isn’t the best team in MLS, although they have the potential to be. And MLS isn’t even the best league in CONCACAF, although who knows? Maybe someday soon it will. So acting as if a couple of big signings will turn The Sounders into a team on par with Liga MX’s best is sorta dumb.
But what if they do win in CCL?
The Sounders might play out of their minds. The might get a lucky call…a lucky bounce. Someone on the team might have an exceptionally great 2013. Stranger things have happened in sports. No one expected SJ to tear it up like they did last season.
I’ll conclude by saying this: I believe that as of RIGHT NOW, as of this moment, SSFC has as good a chance as any to win the Supporters Shield, The Open Cup and MLS title. I believe the FO will make a significant signing this year.
Until the dust settles and it’s all said and done, there’s no reason to believe otherwise. THIS is why I’ll watch. This is why I’ll keep the faith.
To call such thinking naive, or to dismiss the season before it even starts, would mean there’s no point whatsoever in being a supporter.
Otherwise, why bother?
February 25, 2013 at 1:58 pm
Well said brother.
Cheers,
Beaux
February 25, 2013 at 12:11 pm
The 2013 Sounders are set to have one of the best defenses in MLS. It would have been nice to keep Parke, but he wanted to go. Joseph and Traore are more than enough defensive Umph to replace Parke.
On offense, 2013 Sounders have more of an identity with playing Eddie Johnson leading up top. There won’t be a a style schism between Montero’s hold-up play and EJ’s direct play.
Ironically, the biggest area in flux this year is actually the midfield. Is Tiffert gone? Will we play two defensive mid fielders? Where will Mario play? Is Zakuani ready to start on the left wing? Where does Evans fit in to all of this? How many minutes should Rosales play per game so that he doesn’t break down physically before the play offs?
In short, don’t worry so much. This is going to be a great year to be a Sounders fan.
February 25, 2013 at 12:40 pm
I agree with this article 100%. I knew going into this season that it was going to be a very difficult one, a year to test the strength of our fans and management. That being said, the main reason for it is the lack of money. We’re short on cap space, we have three DPs, one of which has yet to prove himself, and we’re in general short on resources. Arguing that we need a world-class striker is all well and good but the argument is invalid if we have no money to buy a quality player like that. Also I think you’re not giving enough credit to Caskey or Rose. They’re great young players who I believe have a lot of potential and we should’ve tried to sell at least one of them in the off season. This year is going to be a hard year to be a Sounders fan, but it’ll show the league how loyal we are and how we’re really the best fans in the league.
February 25, 2013 at 1:27 pm
. . . (Montero, Parke) and replacing them with . . . (Scott, Estrada) . . .
?
More like replace Montero/Parke with Mario/Traore/Shalrie. Mario is as promising now as Montero was in the spring of 2009.
Contrary to Adrian’s comment, good players do grow on trees, and the SSFC need to become arborists. As I understand it, homegrown players come on the cheap as well.
Assuming Alonso stays here, Rosales stays healthy, and the club culture doesn’t descend into civil war in the locker room (a lot of ifs, but no more than any other club), there is no reason for panic.
As much as I am a self described pessimist, this isn’t the season for pessimism. It is the season where every team in the league is tied for first, and all we have to do is fight to keep it. In any case, I leave pessimistic preseason prognostication to the experts. As a fan/supporter, I plan to tow the line of biased optimism.
-Sound of Mind (rebranded;)
February 25, 2013 at 1:44 pm
“I leave pessimistic preseason prognostication to the experts. As a fan/supporter, I plan to tow the line of biased optimism.”
Fantastic line. Sums up the right way to approach the season for me. Cyber pint on its way.
February 25, 2013 at 2:37 pm
A well written piece, Chris. Do you play as well as you write?
February 25, 2013 at 7:31 pm
Har har, Mr Pigott old friend. But you’ll be tickled to know that why, I did indeed play against a Sounder last week. She kicked our arses. Don’t know if I should be proud, embarrassed, or pissed off she played co-ed rec.