TUKWILA, Wash. – Following their 2-0 home triumph over the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday, the Seattle Sounders have kept it loose.
The team took an off-day to tour the Joint Base Lewis-McChord military base on Monday, a trip that Sounders head coach Sigi Schmid said was a welcome way for his players to spend some time away from the game.
“I think they had a good time [at the base],” Schmid said following Tuesday’s practice. “They were great with the things that they allowed the guys to see. I think all the guys were pretty impressed by the things they do there, for sure.”
The Sounders also went through a light regeneration session on Tuesday that saw some players play soccer tennis and others play a six-on-two possession game. Forward Oalex Anderson and defender Joevin Jones even tried their hands at goalkeeping, saving free kick attempts from regular ‘keepers Stefan Frei and Tyler Miller.
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“We said we wanted to have a light practice today,” Schmid said. “We wanted to enjoy ourselves. Certain guys had to do a little bit of work. But the rest of the guys, we could get the work done at the beginning in the warm-up, get some ball touches in, then do what they needed to do.”
With Tuesday’s recovery session in the books, however, the Sounders now must turn their focus to their upcoming business trip: A weekend jaunt to Frisco, Texas where they will take on Western Conference rival FC Dallas. It will mark Seattle’s first match of the season against FCD, which eliminated the Sounders from last year’s MLS Cup playoffs in the Western Conference semifinals on penalty kicks.
It will also be a homecoming of sorts for Sounders attacker and Nacogdoches, Texas-native Clint Dempsey, who is coming off a matchup with San Jose that saw him score his first open play goal of the season.
“I think [Dempsey] had a very good game against San Jose,” Schmid said. “Because they play more of a 4-4-2, he was able to play a little bit higher. He found the space behind the midfield and in front of their backline. Credit [midfielder Erik] Friberg because he found him in there.”
The Sounders hope Friberg can carry over his strong play against San Jose to Dallas as well. Since returning to the lineup against Columbus Crew SC as a substitute on April 30, the Swedish midfielder has looked spry, tallying a nifty assist on Dempsey’s opening goal against the Earthquakes.
“That’s one of the qualities he has,” Schmid said of Friberg on Tuesday. “The ability to see those passes. Certainly, the time he was injured, we obviously missed that. Everybody has a little bit different strengths, different qualities and that’s certainly one of his qualities that he brings.”
