Editor's Note: As the Seattle Sounders' MLS regular season opener draws closer, SoundersFC.com contributor Will Parchman will take a look at the team position by position every day this week, leading up to the team's match against Sporting Kansas City at CenturyLink Field on Sunday (4 p.m. PT; FS1/KIRO 97.3 FM/El Rey 1360AM). In the third part of the series, Parchman looks at a defensive group that returns as elite unit in MLS.
The Seattle Sounders’ decision to move Brad Evans to a full-time role as a center back before the 2015 season was a bold strategy born from a measure of necessity.
Evans had proven his adaptability in the past, but the Sounders needed center backs. The Sounders’ captain was the natural choice, regardless of whether or not that had been his role before.
After some early hiccups, the move turned out to be prescient. Evans ultimately settled next to Chad Marshall, and the two combined to anchor one of the stingiest defenses in MLS in 2015.
At least on that front, nothing changes in 2016. At least not yet.
Even throughout the team’s struggles last summer, the defense was never really the problem. No team in MLS gave up fewer than Seattle’s 36 goals allowed through the regular season, and there’s little question the back line is in an even better place in 2016. The only alteration came at left back, where Sounders coach Sigi Schmid replaced the rotating platoon system of Dylan Remick, Leo Gonzalez and Oniel Fisher with explosive Jamaican international Joevin Jones, a more natural fit on the left side and one of the steals of MLS offseason.
It’s early, but Jones certainly looks as though he’s ready to bring stability - and a bit of attacking panache - to a position that essentially completes the Sounders’ back line. It may be getting older, but there are few reasons to think this defense shouldn’t be up to the standard it set last year.
Part of that has to do with Evans. The center back was vocal this offseason about his confusion surrounding the team’s acquisition of human rock wall Román Torres last August. The signing seemed to put Evans in an untenable position, and indeed, Torres and Marshall partnered together multiple times before Torres was lost for an extended period with a torn ACL last September.
That saved Schmid the headache of figuring out where to fit Evans in a fully healthy scenario. If Torres is fully healthy, Tyrone Mears keeps his form on the right and both Erik Friberg and Osvaldo Alonso continue playing as they are, a deserving first-choice player would find his way to the bench.
A devastating run of injuries hasn’t allowed that scenario to present itself. Schmid hasn’t had a 100-percent healthy roster in more than a year, and the team begins 2016 with Torres still on the shelf rehabbing. He likely won’t return until sometime this summer, which again saves Schmid from figuring out what to do with his center backs. At least for now, three-time MLS Defender of the Year Marshall and Evans are the choice for the first few months of the season.
That stability should help Jones settle in on the left. From his early appearances, Jones clearly prefers to push tempo down the left flank, overrunning the attacking third while relying on his speed to track back and cover. Since Marshall tends to shade to that side of the field, it’s imperative those two develop a sense of connectedness early. Marshall isn’t immobile, but remember that he’s a 6-foot-4, 190-pound aerial specialist. He’ll need flank help.
The final piece Sounders fans can be excused for already taking for granted is Mears. The 33-year-old right back was a rock last season, logging more minutes than anyone on the team in 2015 and taking to MLS like a duck in a placid pond. Mears was so steady, in fact, it was easy at times to forget he was even there. Attacks tended to avoid his side of the field if at all possible, shifting the focus to the other flank when his was tied off. And that was relatively frequently.
Last season, the Sounders’ first choice defense was the best in MLS with a makeshift left back situation and a converted center back who’d never played the position before. This year, they’ve added one of the league’s most competent left backs and put a full season of defensive experience in Evans’ back pocket. He even played some at both fullback positions last year and moved back to his familiar place in central midfield in spot duty.
Schmid will deal with Torres’ return when it happens. For now, the Sounders charge forward into 2016 with the confidence that its defense, while aging, remains one of the league’s most productive.
