Where's the defense?

In 2008 the Sounders were in the USL and were unquestionably a very average team. Their record of 10 wins, 10 losses and 10 ties is pretty damning proof. Their strength was on offense, specifically with Sebastian Le Toux. However, as a team they were in the bottom half of almost every category defensively. And their defensive performance would have been much worse had it not been for Chris Eylander, who deservedly earned his spot on the Sounders FC. The local keeper turned in a season that was nothing short of heroic - 119 saves, the runaway league leader. But to still allow so many goals (36 in 30 games) means that the back line had some serious issues in USL.

Which makes it all the more strange that they are seemingly being counted on to play a major part on the Sounders FC in the much more difficult MLS.

That might be overstating things, but the defense is a huge question right now, and the USL Sounders should not be the answer. Taylor Graham, Danny Jackson and Zack Scott are the three former Sounders who are all getting consideration, with Graham having actually signed a contract. Graham was the most solid of the bunch in USL, but he's had two equally unsuccessful stints in MLS. (In fact, his name is a joke among fans of one of his former teams.) Jackson has played a grand total of 1 game in MLS and is on the downside of his career. And while I like Scott, he was noticably inconsistant even in USL. To think he can adequately make the jump up a league is a bit of an enormous stretch.

Although there are of course other defenders in camp, they only improve the picture marginally. James Riley is the only sure-fire starter of the bunch. Tyson Wahl has started in MLS at Kansas City, but only for 1 year and that was only after regular starter Nick Garcia left. Aside from that, there's Patrick Ianni, a 3rd to 4th string player with the Dynamo, and Nate Sturgis, who's been so hurt that he's missed 70% of the last two seasons. And then there are the college draft picks, but if you're counting on a second and/or third round draft pick to contribute, you're in trouble.

Wahl---Ianni---Sturgis---Riley

That's probably our back four as of right now. That's not a good defense. That's downright Galaxyesque. I might as well write

We---Need---More---Players

At least one more major signing is necessary for this team to be anything close to decent. A center back would be fantastic, or even an outside back to let Wahl play in the middle, his more natural position. And it lets somebody, Sturgis probably, come off of the bench and give us more quality depth. Everything looks a whole lot rosier if we get one more defensive signing. Let's make it happen.

A team of the world

There could be a lot of different nationalities represented on the Sounders FC this coming season. Behold:

Fredy Montero (Columbia)
Osvaldo Alonso (Cuba)
Khano Smith (Bermuda)
Jarrod Smith (New Zealand)
Sebastien Le Toux (France)
Sanna Nyassi (The Gambia)
Steve Zakuani (Congo and U.K)
Freddie Ljungberg (Sweden)

If you want to go even further, Hugo Alcarez-Cuellar, a USL Sounders midfielder, is from Mexico, and recent signee Taylor Graham has played for the Puerto Rican national team (despite his being completely American).

That's a total of four different languages, five different continents and a bunch of completely different styels of soccer. The official website says 'the Seattle Sounders FC will be comprised from the top talent around the world'. While they might be stretching the term 'top talent' a little bit, they've certainly covered almost all parts of the globe.

3 steps to making the Sounders a serious contender in MLS

I've been down on the playoff chances of the Sounders. I've said that the roster needs significant change, and I stand by that. But if said change happens, Seattle could have a postseason contender after all.
(Step zero, of course, is signing defender Jeff Parke and keeping him from trotting off to Europe. If that doesn't happen, no playoffs. Period. This should be priority numero uno for the organization right now.)

What do we have to work with? Well, with Schmid, Hanauer and Henderson, some of the best minds in the American soccer business, for starters. More importantly, there's quite a bit of cash left. Taking the 15 players we have signed, I slightly increased most of their salaries and decreased a few (here's looking at you, Vagenas). I doubled Parke's contract and assumed he signs here, and gave Keller 300k. All told, I estimate we've used about 1.6 million of a 2.3 mil cap. And with a bunch of allocation money remaining, probably in the neighborhood of 400k, the Sounders are in a good position to spend.

The latest sexy hot draft rumor has us taking Akron's Steve Zakuakuani, a striker. He's a guy in the Patrick Nyarko mold, and as such wouldn't be more than a backup next season. He also wouldn't count against the cap. We should add one more former USL Sounder to the team - and bench - leaving 3 roster spots left to make significant upgrades.

1. Central defense. Parke is good, Wahl is ok. But we want better than ok, right?

Solution - sign Roy Miller. This one appears to be nearly done. Miller is a big 24 year old Costa Rican who has a comparable game to Cory Gibbs. A defensive pairing of Parke and Miller would be amazing. Probably the best in the Western Conference.

Cost - since he's likely coming on a loan, I'd guess a relatively reasonable 200k.

2. Striker. Nate Jaqua is a very good target guy, but he can't create and do it all on his own. We don't have the personel to play a Columbus-style 4-5-1 very well, so another man up top is necessary.

Solution - sign Freddy Montero. Haven't we been over this already? The young Columbian has long been rumored to have had his rights purchased by the Sounders.

Cost - whatever it is, there would be allocations used. I'll go with about 200k, with maybe 125k in allocation money as well.

3. Outside back. Unless we're planning on playing someone out of his best position, we only have one at the moment - James Riley. And do you really want to count on Nate Sturgis's body not completely imploding? There's no easy answer for this one, but I've got a creative one...

Solution - sign Tarek Elrich! Who? He's a 21 year old Aussie currently playing for his home country's Newcastle Jets. A member of his U-23 team, he's the best player on a team going nowhere. He's got speed in bunches, vision, and loves to get forward and spur the attack. Exactly the type of outside back Sigi loves. When the Australian season ends in February, he will probably be looking for better opportunities.

Cost - not much. The A-League is even cheaper than MLS, and Elrich could probably be had for around 125k.

---Jaqua -- Montero --
-------Ljungberg -----
KSmith Evans Le Toux
Riley Miller Parke Elrich
--------Keller---------

This lineup, combined with the depth the Sounders would have, would be a top-4 club in MLS. No question. The resources are there to make Seattle a contender. The only question is whether the Sounders are willing to give it a try.