As the Seattle Sounders First Team navigates its 2022 MLS season, the foundation for the future of the club will continue being laid with the Tacoma Defiance.
The 2022 season will mark a transformative year for the Defiance on multiple fronts. Most notably, after spending the club’s initial years competing in the second-division USL Championship, this season will mark its first as part of the recently established MLS NEXT Pro league
The advent of MLS NEXT is a turning point moment for player development in the country, as every MLS club will now have an affiliate team devoted entirely to creating a pathway for players from their developmental academies to their first team. While Seattle have already used Defiance in that capacity to great effect as a member of the USL Championship, Sounders Vice President of Player Development Henry Brauner said MLS NEXT can only serve to increase the opportunities and resources available to the next generation of young talent.
“I think there’s going to be more opportunities for the young players, there’s going to be different challenges for our young players, which is a good thing because we always want to challenge our young guys,” Brauner said. “I think we’re going to be able to get a lot of benefits and a lot of positives.”
Over the past two years, Seattle have begun to reap the benefits of the club’s youth development pathway, as players like Danny Leyva, Josh Atencio, Reed Baker-Whiting and Obed Vargas have all signed with the First Team and started to command MLS minutes. All four started their professional careers with Tacoma after ascending through the youth ranks, proof of concept for the Sounders and Defiance head coach Wade Webber.
Vargas’ early-season emergence for the Sounders in 2022 is but one example of the type of ascendance that is possible. The 16-year-old Anchorage, Alaska-native has been a revelation since signing with the Sounders from Defiance during preseason, starting and playing 90 minutes in each of Seattle’s first three Concacaf Champions League matches while also making three additional appearances in MLS play.
“We are so happy and proud of him,” Webber said of Vargas. “He’s an example of what can happen if you trust a young guy and you give him support and you put a team around him that’s talented. Obed is not playing with a bunch of kids on the first team right now, he’s playing with internationals – men who are twice his age and have done this for a long time.”
The move to MLS NEXT will have different wrinkles than the USL Championship, both in terms of the competition and the schedule.
The season will only be 24 games as opposed to the 32-match schedule of the USL, which will reduce fixture congestion and give teams four days of training before gamedays. That should serve to allow the players to maintain their rhythm and lineup consistency. On top of that, the shorter season also increases the importance of every game, with less time on the back end to make up points should you fall behind.
“That added pressure of not having as much time to sort out our problems, we have to be good now,” Webber said. “From a coaching perspective, that adds a level of tension that can be good for development.”
The club will also be moving the majority of its home matches back to the First Team’s training facility, Starfire Sports Complex, while some will also be played at last year’s homefield of Cheney Stadium in Tacoma.
The matches at Starfire will put the club back at the site of some of the club’s most memorable matches, where many epic clashes in the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup took place, enhanced by an intimate atmosphere that puts the crowd right on top of the action.
“I think there’s a nostalgic sense of [Starfire], said Brauner. “There’s been some pretty good moments at Starfire Field 1. We want to continue to have exciting moments and good moments.”
On the field, player development remains the top priority. But coming off a markedly improved finish on the USL table in 2021, the goal for Tacoma is to continue to combine the development of the individual players with positive results on the field.
“Could we win a [championship] and produce [players]? That is the dream,” Brauner said. “I hope we can do that this year within MLS NP and produce players while also challenging for potentially a title. We want the best of both worlds, that’s what we’re working towards. “
