“At least someone in Seattle can catch a football,” is probably not the off-camera joke that made Lamar Neagle laugh
Photo: Alex Caulfield/SoundersFC Communications
Lamar Neagle is tired of beating up on his colleagues!
Speaking to Sounders FC Communications after playing the first half in the 5-0 win over UCLA that kicked off Sounders FC’s 2015 season, he said:
“It’s nice. In pre-seaon, you’re there beating up on each other for a month. It’s nice to actually play somebody different and connect with your teammates instead of playing against them.”
Sounders’ goals came from five different individuals. Obafemi Martins, Lamar Neagle, Chad Barrett, Kenny Cooper and Michael Azira netted with assists credited to Andy Rose, Aaron Kovar, Marco Pappa and Gonzalo Pineda.
Defender Tyrone Mears, ex Portland keeper Troy Perkins and Homegrown Player Darwin Jones made their Sounders debuts.
Neagle noted that ll of those forwards were with the club last year and this continuity had its advantages:
“Obviously our offence with the goals that we scored last year and we saw a lot of the same guys. We still have the same movements and we still have the same connections.There wasn’t a lot of (transfer) movement of forwards in the off season, so – yeah- we still have the same connection.”
His view is an interesting juxtaposition with the view of Alan Hinton who, in the latest episode of Hinton Unleashed, observed:
“Sounders don’t need to make a lot of change but historically if you don’t upgrade, you go backwards.”
Many would say that having a player of the quality of Lamar Neagle acting as a back up to top stars Clint Dempsey and Obafemi Martins is a show of depth, especially when you have veteran bruisers like Chad Barrett and Kenny Cooper challenging from 4 and 5 when injuries and suspensions request them to start.
That pool of forwards can be compared to the benchmark club, LA Galaxy, who are Sounders next opponent; a game which Neagle called “Just a process, one more measuring stick for pre-season”.
It’s always good for a striker to score in the season’s first goal although describing his ‘looping header’ goal, Neagle was hardly trying to blow his own trumpet:
“Little bit scrappy in the box off a corner kick, and it came back out to Pappa, He put it back in the top and it just found the other corner.”
Nonetheless, despite coach Sigi Schmid’s annual plea to people not to get carried away with a good pre-season, few will complain about the goals and assists being shared so widely around the squad and a clean sheet.
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Sounders 5 : 0 UCLA
FIRST-HALF SOUNDERS FC LINEUP
Stefan Frei; Tyrone Mears, Brad Evans, Chad Marshall, Leo Gonzalez; Marco Pappa, Gonzalo Pineda, Andy Rose, Darwin Jones; Lamar Neagle, Obafemi Martins
Substitutes not used: None
SECOND-HALF SOUNDERS FC LINEUP
Troy Perkins; Oniel Fisher, Zach Scott, Guest Player, Guest Player; Guest Player, Micheal Azira, Guest Player, Aaron Kovar; Chad Barrett, Kenny Cooper
