Where we stand

With about 20 days until the first Sounders training camp gets underway, there are still huge chunks of the roster to fill out. 10 spots remain unclaimed. Now, five are more or less spoken for, with 4 picks in the college draft and one player (who will in all likelihood be forward Junior Garcia) from the Sounders Super Search.

I’m going to make a couple of safe assumptions. I’ll say that the Sounders keep all their draft picks, and that their first overall pick makes the 20-man senior roster. Because if he didn’t it would be an awful pick. I’ll also say that Garcia, plus the other 3 draftees, make up the 4-man developmental roster, whose salaries do not count against the cap. Which still leaves room for 5 more on the senior roster. Throw Chris Eylander into the mix as the backup keeper, and that’s 4 major spots left to fill.

But how do we need to fill them? Add some attackers, defenders, starters, bench depth? To try and answer that, here’s a look at our best possible lineup with only our current players.

---------Jaqua--------
--Ljungberg—Evans—
KSmith—Vagenas—Le Toux
Riley—Parke—Wahl—Sturgis
----------Keller---------
(King, JSmith, Eylander, Nyassi)

That’s bad. Honestly, it is. Looking at that, we have 3 players who are clearly above average MLS talents at their positions (Keller, Ljungberg, Parke). Of those, one is injured, one is 38, and one might not sign with Seattle. Two others are around average (Evans, Jaqua). While Nyassi and King could be good sparks off the bench, the majority of the roster aren’t dynamic players, the ones who can control a game. What happens when Ljungberg is out? There’s nobody to carry the team. Jaqua needs service to score, Le Toux won’t transition to the MLS level immediately (if at all) and Khano Smith is less reliable than the Seattle Metro bus system.

Put simply, this is not a playoff contending team. Not even close. And there has to be significant additions to the roster over the next 20 days to get us there.

Leaders of the attack

Going into the 2008 MLS season, the Colorado Rapids were expected to be a mediocre team just contending for a playoff spot. The Columbus Crew were supposed to be on the outside looking in at the playoffs and Toronto, well, Toronto FC were widely predicted to be in a battle with San Jose for the label of 'worst team in MLS'. 

Of course, all three teams have started off very brightly, and the common factor can easily be found. Each has a dynamic central attacking midfielder pulling the strings: Columbus has Guillermo Barros Schelotto (shown here), Colorado is led by their prize offseason acquisition Christian Gomez, and Toronto just recently picked up the mercurial but extremely talented Amado Guevara (who just turned in a 2 goal performance, leading the Canadian club to their third straight win). Each of those players is definitely in the All-Star running, and all are very exciting to watch. 

Which brings us to Seattle. For 2009, the Sounders will be bringing up a few players from the USL side, and sprinkling in several more from the expansion draft. But neither of these routes of player acquisition is going to bring in a dangerous attacking midfielder, and if the Sounders run a diamond midfield (which the most likely coaching candidate, current Seattle coach Brian Schmetzer, does), the importance of this position will be magnified even more. In their worldwide search for a Designated Player and other international talent, Adrian Hanauer and co. would be wise to make filling this position their number one priority. 

Our MLS Predictions

For those not in the know, or those distracted by the naming of Seattle MLS (vote Sounders!), the 2008 MLS season begins tomorrow. Obviously we're well qualified to make these predictions, since we watched about 8 games overall last year. And these are going to be totally biased for our likes/dislikes of certain teams (say goodbye to the playoffs, Dallas!) Still, for the record and for all you Seattle soccer fans who somehow know less about the league than we do, here's how we think each team in MLS will finish.

WESTERN CONFERENCE
Houston Dynamo - 1st
Chivas USA - 2nd
Colorado Rapids - 3rd
LA Galaxy - 4th
FC Dallas - 5th
San Jose Earthquakes - 6th
Real Salt Lake - 7th

EASTERN CONFERENCE
1st - DC United
2nd - Chicago Fire
3rd - New York Red Bulls*
4th - New England Revolution
5th - Kansas City Wizards
6th - Columbus Crew
7th - Toronto FC





*Seriously, are they 'Red Bull New York' or the 'New York Red Bulls?' Their official home page lists both, for crying out loud.

Breaking News: There Isn't Any!

A name announcement is almost certainly 1 to 2 months away, but that doesn't mean we have to stop talking about it. Especially since there's been a dearth of actual, honest news about Seattle MLS in the last, oh, since the team's been announced. So here's sort of a summary of the names that might be on the table. Oh, and don't be scared that we're going to end up as the Seattle Sockeyes with a grey-and-pink kit... if one of these names below isn't picked, we'd be shocked.

Seattle Sounders - The seemingly obvious one. At least for the fans - the ownership group is probably leaning towards something new. Doubt this happens.

Seattle Sounders FC (or SC) - Sort of a compromise... the traditional FC notation in addition to keeping the Sounders name. If we had to place a bet, it'd be on this. 

Seattle FC - A nice, harmless international-sounding name... but with FC Dallas and Toronto FC already in the league, would this really be a serious choice? ...yeah, it might be. It rolls off the tongue nicely, for whatever it's worth.

Seattle United - See above, thanks to DC United. The key with these names-without-nicknames is that USL supporters could continue using 'Sounders' as an unofficial nickname.

Inter Seattle (Seattle International FC) - We're unconvinced that this is really an option, but it does fall in line with the worldly theme Hanauer and co. seem keen on. 

Can rivalries be 'created?'

One of the greatest things about soccer is the rivalries... feuds like Rangers-Celtic and Milan-Inter that surpass anything American sports have to offer. MLS has its share, as well. There's no love lost between New York and D.C. United, and the hatred San Jose fans have toward Los Angeles is nearly unmatched in U.S.A. professional sports.

On the other hand, there's the Rocky Mountain Cup. Put in place a few years ago when Real Salt Lake entered the league, this 'competition' pits them against the Colorado Rapids, their geographic neighbors some 400 miles away. And new for this year is a fabricated rivalry between Columbus and Toronto. (Maybe call it the "Suck Cup?")

Seattle, when we enter the league, will have no natural rivalries, with the closest teams geographically about 12 hours of driving away. The former USL rivals of the Sounders, Vancouver and Portland, don't have a realistic chance of entering MLS for at least 5 to 8 years. So would it be better to create a rivalry shortly after entering the league, which would provide some boost to fan support and interest, or wait and see if something develops naturally?