MATCH PREVIEW
Sounders FC 2 returns home to face the Rio Grande Valley FC Toros on Sunday evening. The contest marks the second of two meetings between the two sides this season. In June, S2 was defeated by Rio Grande by a score of 3-1. S2 came up short in a 2-1 loss to Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC last Sunday evening at Papa Murphy’s Park in Sacramento. The defeat marks the fifth consecutive loss for S2, who is now in eighth place in the Western Conference and two points below the postseason cutoff line. The Toros enters the match in 12th place with a record of 6-10-4. With 22 points, Rio Grande Valley sits one point behind S2 on the table. The club is coached by Junior Gonzalez, who served as Assistant Coach for S2 last season.
MATCHDAY ¡ #OWNTHE2 | 1
©2017 UNITED SOCCER LEAGUE, LLC, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Sounders Academy standouts benefitting from First Team coaches By Joseph Mondello Prior to the start of the 2017 MLS campaign, Seattle Sounders FC announced that for the first time in club history, six current Sounders Academy players would join the first team for preseason. While this was an exciting chance for supporters to get a glimpse of future stars of the first team, it presented an opportunity to several youth-team standouts to make an impression on Head Coach Brian Schmetzer and the rest of the technical staff. A few months later, it’s plain to see that these young prospects have benefitted from their time with the First Team. And while part of their recent development can be attributed to training and competing regularly with the likes of Clint Dempsey and Joevin Jones, the opportunity to receive instruction from Schmetzer and his staff has been instrumental. And with several of the young Sounders playing the same position as the guys on the technical staff, all of whom played professionally at a high level, it’s an ideal environment for Academy standouts. “We have a well-rounded staff that has incredible experiences,” said Sounders Academy Technical Director Marc Nicholls. “From Gonzalo Pineda, who has played in the World Cup for Mexico, to Djimi Traore, who has won the UEFA Champions League. Gonzalo and Djimi can have on guys like Sam Rogers (U18) and [left back] Jake Morris (U-18) is massive.”
4 | MATCHDAY · #OWNTHE2
For Rogers in particular, working in close quarters with the likes of Traore and Pineda has been a boon to his development. An elite defensive midfielder making the transition to center back with Sounders FC 2, learning from a pair of coaches with vast professional experience has been a catalyst of his rapid ascent from Academy standout to S2 starter. “It’s been great working with Djimi and Pineda, two guys who were some of the best in the world at their positions,” Rogers said of learning from the FirstTeam staff. “It’s great to get insight from them, ask them questions and get feedback so I can work on the little things to improve my overall game.”
According to Traore, Rogers’ growth in recent months has excited the coaching staff about his long-term potential.
union boasting the likes of MLS Cup MVP Stefan Frei and Club Director of Goalkeeping Tom Dutra.
“Sam is a good young prospect,” said Traore. “He’s already shown that he can do the job and he’s improved a lot, but I want to see him continue to start with S2.
“Trey and Sam have both done really well and have progressed a lot,” said Dutra. “It’s really important for them to train with us so they can learn the culture we’re trying to set here, and Stef and Tyler Miller are great mentors and bring the young guys in as one of their own.”
“He has a very, very high-ceiling, and now it’s just a matter of time whether or not he breaks into the First Team,” Traore added. “It’s a long process, but he’s lucky to be in a club where we have some of the top center backs in the country with international experience, for example Chad Marshall and Román Torres.” In addition to Rogers, two U.S. Youth National Team goalkeepers in the Academy eligible for S2 this Season, Trey Muse (U-18) and Sam Fowler (U-16), have been valuable additions in training. The pair of talented shot-stoppers join a goalkeepers
In addition to the coaching staff, the youth-team prospects can emulate the progression and coachability of Homegrown Players Jordan Morris and Aaron Kovar. As fellow Academy alums, they can lean on the established professionals for advice and ultimately follow in their footsteps. Only time will tell if these hypertalented young players will make it as professionals. But with coaches like Schmetzer, Dutra, Traore, and Pineda, they’re in the perfect environment to develop and realize their full potential.
MATCHDAY · #OWNTHE2 | 5
2017 SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC PLAYERS POS. HT. WT. D.O.B.
HOMETOWN
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 10 11 12 13 14 15 17 19 21 23 24 29 30* 31* 32 33 34* 35 36* 37* 38* 40* 53* 71* 70* 77* 78* 80 88* 91 92* 99*
GK F M M D M M M M M F F D D F M M M GK D F M M D D GK D F M M D F M M M F M D D F
Woodbury, NJ Nacogdoches, TX Phoenix, AZ Gothenburg, Sweden Douala, Cameroon San Cristobal, Cub Pico Rivera, CA Soriano, Uraguay Paysandú, Uruguay Seattle, WA Seattle, WA Mercer Island, WA Riverside, CA Santa Barbara, CA St. Louis, MO Lake Forest, IL Martinique Seattle, WA Altstaetten, Switz. Panama City, Panama Green Bay, Antigua Fife, WA Ft. Worth, TX Trinidad & Tobago Lititz, PA Scotch Plains, NJ Gonaives, Haiti Kapolei, HI Inglewood, CA Las Vegas, Nevada Seattle, WA Seattle, WA Yaounde, Cameroon Panama City, Panama Edwardsville, Ill. Fife, WA Kansas City, MO Portmore, Jamaica Yaounde, Cameroon Doula, Cameroon
Tyler Miller Clint Dempsey Brad Evans Gustav Svensson Nouhou Tolo Osvaldo Alonso Cristian Roldan Alvaro Fernandez Nicolás Lodeiro Aaron Kovar Seyi Adekoya Jordan Morris Chad Marshall Tony Alfaro Will Bruin Harry Shipp Jordy Delem Henry Wingo Stefan Frei Román Torres Javorn Stevens Lorenzo Ramos Zach Mathers Joevin Jones Brian Nana-Sinkam Bryan Meredith Denso Ulysse Shandon Hopeau Irvin Parra Azriel Gonzalez Sam Rogers David Olsen Guy Edoa Francisco Narbon Charles Renken Victor Mansaray Ray Saari Oniel Fisher Rodrigue Ele Felix Chenkam
6 | MATCHDAY · #OWNTHE2
6-4 6-1 6-1 6-0 5-10 5-11 5-8 6-1 5-7 5-10 5-11 6-0 6-4 6-2 6-2 5-9 5-11 6-0 6-3 6-2 6-0 5-7 5-11 5-11 6-0 6-2 5-8 5-10 6-1 5-9 6-3 6-0 5-8 5-9 5-7 5-11 5-7 5-9 6-0 5-6
195 170 170 155 175 155 165 159 150 155 170 185 190 190 194 145 156 170 195 195 150 150 172 160 185 209 133 158 188 145 182 180 160 150 140 180 150 155 160 165
3/12/93 3/9/83 4/20/85 2/7/87 6/23/97 11/11/85 6/3/95 10/11/85 3/21/89 8/14/93 12/5/95 10/26/94 8/22/84 6/15/93 10/24/89 11/07/91 3/18/93 10/4/95 4/20/86 3/20/86 5/9/98 1/29/97 4/14/94 8/3/91 1/1/95 8/2/90 11/20/98 12/1/98 8/18/93 5/24/01 5/17/99 2/5/96 6/14/97 2/11/95 12/10/93 2/22/97 4/18/95 11/22/91 3/2/98 12/8/98
PREVIOUS CLUB
Northwestern (NCAA) Tottenham Hotspur (ENG) Columbus Guangzhou R&F (CHI) Sounders FC 2 (USL) Charleston (USL) Washington (NCAA) Chicago Boca Juniors (ARG) Stanford (NCAA) UCLA (NCAA) Stanford (NCAA) Columbus Cal State (NCAA) Houston Montreal Sounders FC 2 (USL) Washington (NCAA) Toronto FC Milionarios (COL) Hoppers FC (AG) Sounders FC Academy Sounders FC 2 (USL) Chicago Stanford (NCAA) San Jose Real Hope (HT) Sounders FC Academy FC Kaiserslautern (GER) Sounders FC Academy Sounders FC Academy Seattle (NCAA) Rainbow FC Bamenda (CAM) FC Cincinnati Saint Louis FC Sounders FC Academy Tulsa (NCAA) New Mexico (NCAA) Rainbow FC Bamenda (CAM) Rainbow FC Bamenda (CAM)
*Signed to a S2 Contract ** Out on loan
NO. NAME
2017 SOUNDERS FC 2 USL STATS POS Player
GP MIN
M Zach Mathers F Irvin Parra F David Olsen D Brian Nana-Sinkam F Felix Chenkam M Ray Saari M/D Sam Rogers D Riley Grant D Nouhou F Seyi Adekoya F Paul Rothrock M Lorenzo Ramos D Denso Ulysse M Charles Renken M/F Shandon Hopeau F Azriel Gonzalez M Henry Wingo D Rodrigue Ele D Khai Brisco D Christian Koontz F Milo Barton F Javorn Stevens M Jamie Dimitroff D Jackson Ragen M Dylan Teves M Guy Edoa M Camilo Santiago D Ethan Lotenero F Alfonso Ocampo-Chavez M Cameron Martin F Victor Mansaray M Aaron Kovar D Joe Hafferty M Kei Tomozawa TOTAL
G
A SHT SOG FS
FC
YC RC OG
13 1061 7 2 27 16 34 16 2 0 0 17 1343 5 2 34 12 51 36 6 0 0 20 1401 4 1 27 13 23 21 1 0 0 20 1750 3 2 7 4 22 16 1 0 0 8 420 3 0 10 6 6 14 2 0 0 18 1525 2 4 11 4 29 23 5 1 0 16 1440 1 0 4 2 13 15 0 0 0 12 949 1 0 2 1 5 17 0 0 0 6 450 1 0 4 1 3 7 0 0 0 7 299 1 0 1 1 2 1 1 0 0 1 23 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 17 1038 0 2 2 1 13 15 2 0 0 7 660 0 2 0 0 1 7 1 0 0 11 768 0 1 6 1 12 5 1 0 0 11 619 0 1 8 3 9 10 0 0 0 7 250 0 1 2 1 4 4 0 1 0 3 180 0 1 2 1 3 1 1 0 0 9 754 0 0 3 1 12 16 3 1 0 9 450 0 0 0 0 4 3 0 0 0 4 360 0 0 0 0 1 4 1 0 1 6 268 0 0 1 0 4 5 0 0 0 7 184 0 0 4 0 2 4 0 0 0 5 131 0 0 1 0 3 6 3 1 0 3 118 0 0 1 0 1 2 1 0 0 2 116 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 105 0 0 2 1 2 3 0 0 0 2 93 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 1 90 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 90 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 63 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 62 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 45 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 30 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 12 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 21 1890 30 19 198 73 271 267 27 3 2
GOALKEEPER STATS POS Player
GP MIN
GK GK GK
12 1080 24 32 .571 7 630 14 28 .666 2 180 6 13 .684 21 1890 44 73 .624
Tyler Miller Bryan Meredith Sam Fowler TOTAL
GA SV
SV%
GAA
W-L-D
2.00 2.00 3.00 2.10
5-5-2 2-5-0 0-2-0 7-12-2
PKA PKG SO 4 2 0 6
2 2 2 2 0 0 4 4
MATCHDAY · #OWNTHE2 | 7
2017 SOUNDERS FC 2 USL REGULAR SEASON SCHEDULE & RESULTS DAY
DATE
OPPONENT
KICKOFF (PT)/ RESULTS
Sun. March 26
Sacramento Republic FC
L, 1-2
Sun. April 2
Portland Timbers 2
W, 2-1
Sat.
April 8
at Whitecaps FC 2
L, 0-3
Sat.
April 15
at LA Galaxy II
L, 1-2
Sat.
April 22
Real Monarchs SLC
W, 3-1
Tues. April 25
San Antonio FC
L, 2-3
Sat.
April 29
at Switchbacks FC
W, 3-2
Fri.
May 5
Portland Timbers 2
W, 2-0
Sat.
May 13
at San Antonio FC
D, 0-0
Sat.
May 20
at Reno 1868 FC
L, 0-6
Sun. May 28
Sacramento Republic FC
D, 2-2
Sat.
June 3
LA Galaxy II
W, 3-0
Sat.
June 10
at Toros FC
L, 1-3
Mon. June 19
OKC Energy FC
W, 3-2
Sat.
June 24
at Orange County SC
L, 3-4
Sat.
July 1
at Whitecaps FC 2
W, 2-0
Sat.
July 8
at Real Monarchs SLC
L, 1-4
Sun. July 16
Orange County SC
L, 1-2
Thurs. July 20
Swope Park Rangers
L, 2-0
Sun.
July 23
at Sacramento Republic FC
L, 0-2
Sat.
July 29
at Switchbacks FC
L, 1-2
Sun. August 6
Toros FC
6:30 p.m.
Sun. August 13
Whitecaps FC 2
6:30 p.m.
Fri.
at Portland Timbers 2
4:30 p.m.
Wed. August 30
Tulsa Roughnecks FC
7:30 p.m.
Sat.
September 2
at Phoenix Rising FC
7:30 p.m.
Sat.
September 9
Reno 1868 FC
7:00 p.m.
Sat.
September 16 Switchbacks FC
August 18
7:00 p.m.
Wed. September 20 Phoenix Rising FC
7:30 p.m.
Sat.
at Tulsa Roughnecks FC
5:00 p.m.
Wed. October 11
at Swope Park Rangers
5:30 p.m.
Sun.
at OKC Energy FC
3:00 p.m.
October 7 October 15
8 | MATCHDAY · #OWNTHE2