Sounders: Player by Player

Here is a brief look at the Sounders players, position by position.

GOALKEEPER

Kasey Keller has 102 international caps for the USA, which has won on 53 of those occasions. This includes 47 shutouts. He became the Sounders’ second player when he was signed last August. Now 39, his illustrious club career took him to Millwall (England, 1992-96), Leicester City (England, 1996-99), Rayo Vallecano (Spain, 1999-2001), Tottenham (England, 2001-2004), Southampton (England, Loan 2002-03), Borussia Mönchengladbach (Germany, 2004-07), and back to London where he played for Fulham (England, 2007-08)

Keller is expected to don the skipper’s armband and be team captain. He speaks Spanish and German from his travels and Adrian Hanauer has described him as a ‘great ambassador for the club.’ Kasey himself has vowed that he is here to play and he has looked impressive in training.

Ben Dragavon has been drafted into the squad as a late replacement goalkeeper due to Chris Eylander’s injury. Ben was Chris’s deputy during the lifetime of the old USL Sounders.

Chris Eylander led the USL in saves in both 2007 and 2008. In 2008, the 24 year old made 119 saves and was tied for second in the league with 10 shutouts. He started all but one league game when Ben Dragavon deputised and had a Goals Against Average of 1.14. At press time Sounders FC were considering opening the season carrying three keepers, having taken University of Akron keeper Evan Bush to Argentina with them.

DEFENCE

James Riley, Evan Brown, Nate Sturgis and Zach Scott make up the defensive squad players with any chance of starting today at full back. The 26-year-old Riley brings MLS experience. Drafted from San Jose in Expansion Draft, November 26, 2008, Riley played 94 MLS games for New England and San Jose, scoring one goal adding five assists. With New England, he won the Open Cup in 2007 and finished as an MLS runner-up (2006-07). Riley is solid and dependable and should make the left back position his own.

Nathan Sturgis has been battling to be fit for today’s game and by yesterday appeared to have just made it. He is just 21 and came from Real Salt Lake in November’s expansion draft. He was previously with the L.A. Galaxy from 2006 to 2007. He started all 15 games in his rookie season for the Galaxy and played for the USA Under 20 side in the 2007 World Cup. He has also played for the US Men’s Olympic Team. 2008 was harder for Nathan, getting just two starts at Salt Lake. Nathan can play defence or midfield and his versatility may come in very handy when substitutions have to be made.

At right back if we don’t see Riley, we may find find Evan Brown. Evan hails from Raleigh, North Carolina and at just 21 is another young product of Wake Forest. Selected in the 2009 MLS SuperDraft on January 15, 2009, Brown has no MLS experience but has impressed in pre-season, as a more attacking style right back. In 2007, he was part of Wake Forest’s Championship winning side, and in 2008, Evan started 22 matches and scored two goals with eight assists. Expect to see him team up with Sanna Nyassi down the right wing if the game in Portland is anything to go by.

Zach Scott played for the USL Sounders last season at left back and was a dependable performer at that level. Known as a tough uncompromising player, the Hawaiian native has made 154 appearances for the Seattle Sounders scoring eight goals between 2002 and 2008.

If the Sounders have an area of deep strength it is in the centre of defence. Tyrone Marshall, Patrick Ianni, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado and Tyson Wahl appear to be competing for the starting berths there. Taylor Graham will join them once he has recovered from a foot injury. All indications are that Marshall and Hurtado will start.

Not much is known around the Puget Sound about Hurtado at present. He is a former teammate of Fredy Montero and was a trialist at AC Milan of Italy. At the time of writing, he has never been seen playing in the Pacific Northwest although he is expected to have appeared in the March 12th friendly against Colorado.

At the other end of the scale, we know Taylor Graham very well. An outstanding centre half with the Sounders last year, Taylor at 6’ 4” is the tallest player in the squad. Technically signed as a Signed as Discovery Player on January 21, 2009, he currently has a broken bone in his foot and will be a spectator today. He brings significant MLS experience to the locker room, having played four MLS seasons for Kansas City and New York from 2003-07, appearing in 34 games. He played five games for opening day opponent New York Red Bulls in 2007.

Tyrone Marshall brings experience and lots of it. Brought in from Toronto FC in February 2009, in exchange for allocation money, Marshall has represented Jamaica 59 times since 2000. He has scored twice, including the game-winner against Trinidad and Tobago in the final round of the 2002 FIFA World Cup. His experience at most recent expansion club Toronto will be useful with 40 games for them after leaving the LA Galaxy in 2007. He made his MLS debut in 1998 with the Colorado Rapids but played once before being sent to Miami in a trade.

Tyson Wahl is 6’ 2” and 185 pounds. As a natural left footer, Wahl has already been used to swing in free kicks from the right as Schmid prefers inswingers to outswingers at set pieces. This means his height can be absent from the penalty box. From Newport Beach, California, he arrived from Kansas City in November 2008’s expansion draft. Last season, he started alongside Jimmy Conrad in central defence, starting the first nine games of the year, and the final seven regular season games and both postseason matches for Kansas City. Many were surprised to see Kansas let him go and it seems his natural left foot may assist his case for playing time in Seattle.

Patrick Ianni is a 23-year-old who like Nate Jaqua came from Houston Dynamo. He was a member of the United States Olympic team in Beijing but didn’t see any action. Perhaps more usefully for Sounders FC, he was part of Houston’s 2006 and 2007 MLS Cup championship teams. He started 10 games for the Dynamo and came on as a substitute in another seven. Given the strength is depth in this position, Ianni may have to fight hard to get playing time, but much of that hangs on the speed of Taylor Graham’s recovery and how impressive the currently unknown Hurtado turns out to be. If neither is fit, Ianni would be a solid alternative.

MIDFIELD

Sounders FC have a veritable artillery of options in midfield. We start with Sweden’s Freddie Ljungberg. He won’t be fit to start on opening day, but there are significant hints from Sigi Schmid that he may make the bench. Karl Fredrik “Freddie” Ljungberg was born on 16 April 1977 in Vittsjö, Hässleholm, in southern Sweden. He started his career at Halmstads Bollklubb in Sweden’s Allsvenskan. Halmstads, known as HBK, are a very successful club given their size. There he played 79 games between 1994 and 1998. He made his debut for Sweden on January 24, 1998 ironically against the USA. He didn’t score but netted the first of his 14 Swedish goals against rivals Denmark some months later.

Overall, he played 71 times for Sweden. He may be best known here for his career at Arsenal in the English Premier League. He played 328 games, scoring 72 goals for the North London side. His career flourished and he became a regular fixture in both that Arsenal team and Sweden under both Tommy Söderberg and Lars Lagerbäck. The last high point of his Arsenal career came in 2006, in the Champions League Final in Paris. Despite a persistent ankle injury Ljungberg played in the 2-1 defeat by Barcelona. After an injury hit season for West Ham in 2008, he represented Sweden in the European Finals last summer. He is currently undergoing preventative hip surgery.

In his absence, Sounders will rely on Fredy Montero, Sanna Nyassi, Stephen King, Seba Le Toux, Roger Levesque and Brad Evans to provide the attacking ammunition from midfield.

Fredy has been a pre-season sensation, with manager, colleagues and media all raving about his performances. The Colombian, who will turn 22 in July, has been scoring goals for fun in exhibition games but believe me, there is more to him than statistics. Fredy can dribble round defenders, leaving them standing, and has a vision that enables him to supply passes to teammates lurking in goal scoring areas.

Standing just 5 ft 9 1⁄2, Fredy played for Deportivo Cali and Atlético Huila in Colombia making 64 appearances and scoring more than one goal every two games. He may be Sounders penalty taker, and expect to see him pushing others aside at free kicks. Fredy has made three appearances for Colombia but this is certain to increase. He may even become the first ever Sounders FC player to represent his country while a Sounder.

Gambian Sanna Nyassi showed what he could do last year. A very young 20, he was signed as a free agent on September 5, 2008 but had been loaned out to the USL Seattle Sounders during the previous months. Signed from a club called the Gambian Ports Authority, with whom Sanna won the Gambian league in 2006, he will play on the right side of midfield and cause havoc for opposing defences. He hasn’t yet represented Gambia at full international level, but he was in the squad for the World Under-20 Cup in 2007 which was played in Canada. He played twice.

Brad Evans was brought from Columbus by his former coach, Sigi Schmid. By the time the Crew had reached the play-offs, he was very much on favour and played in all four play-off games including the final. He scored six goals and remarkably four of them were game winners. Even up till then, it is clear that Brad is a ‘son of Sigi’ with Schmid selecting him to start 18 games overall for the Crew in 2008 that finished 11th at the 2005 World Youth Championships in Holland.

Stephen King led Maryland to 2005 NCAA Championship, scoring 15 goals on the season. He can be classed as either a midfielder or an attacker. He played 20 times for Chicago. Even more impressively, he started all 93 matches played at Maryland over his four-year career. Stephen will turn 27 just before the season starts and at 5’ 8” is one of the smaller players on the squad.

If those are the options as attacking midfielders, Osvaldo Alonso and Nathan Sturgis (if not needed in the back four) will be the more defensive players protecting the back four.

Alonso came from the Charleston Battery where he was the rookie of the year in 2008. He had 17 caps for Cuba when he defected during the CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament in 2007. He seems at his happiest when playing just in front of the back four. Alonso started 31 games in all competitions last year being a solid regular for the Battery. He scored two goals in Charleston’s successful U.S. Open Cup run, helping the Battery reach the championship final, where they lost to D.C. United.

FORWARD

Steve Zakuani comes from the Arsenal youth set up. Born in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo), Steve’s family moved to London when he was young. Steve was Sigi Schmid’s first overall draft pick in the MLS Superdraft in January and was a player much in demand by other clubs.

Steve is 21 and led NCAA Division I in scoring with 20 goals in 2008. Another Akron product, he scored 20 goals while appearing in all 23 games for them. In London, he played with the Arsenal youth team until age 14 (1997-2002). Steve will most likely play on the left side of midfield.

Nate Jaqua arrived from Houston, and it was no surprise. He had long since indicated his desire to return to the Pacific Northwest. The 27-year-old was with Houston six years, and previously was with Chicago Fire, LA Galaxy and SC Rheindorf Altach in Austria. He has scored 32 MLS goals which makes him comfortably the top MLS scorer in the squad. With three caps for the US National team, Jaqua is many people’s favourite to be the top scorer for Sounders this year. He is a true target man in the English style and his height will cause trouble at corners too.

Sébastien Le Toux holds the distinction of being the first ever MLS Sounders player. He was announced as such on May 8 2008 and proceeded to represent the USL Side with distinction last season. Seba, as he is known, played more minutes than any other outfielder, scoring 24 goals in 54 league matches over the two USL seasons. Adept as either a goal scoring forward or an attacking midfielder, he has played on the right hand side of midfield in practice games so far. Born in Mont-Saint-Aignan, France, Seba has fallen in love with the US and has declared his desire to play for them at international level. In France, he played for FC Lorient between 2004 and 2006.

Jarrod Smith has been hit by injury in the run up to the season. A native of New Zealand, he was brought from Toronto in the expansion draft, having played for Hawke’s Bay United in his homeland. He made six starts for Toronto and has played for New Zealand. He has been placed on the Disabled List for the first six games.

Roger Levesque, a native of Portland, Maine, is an enormous fan favourite of the old Sounders faithful. The 6’ 1” Stanford graduate has been a Sounder for six years, and was a late signing, penning the contract with Zach Scott in the last fortnight. He scored 34 goals in 144 appearances with the Seattle Sounders. In recent games, he has appeared both on the left side and the right side of the forward line.