You know your training camp is long when it's split into phases. Seattle Sounders FC began its fourth and final phase of training camp Wednesday, returning to Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila after intermediate stops in Arizona and Spain. It had been a month since Seattle took the field at its own training facility, with the previous two weeks spent on the coast of the Mediterranean in La Manga, Spain.
The length of the training camp was a topic of conversation Wednesday. Veteran goalkeeper Kasey Keller had to stop himself from saying the camp was "too long" before clarifying that his teams in Europe favored shorter camps.
"For me, I'm used to about five or six weeks ... but then I'm also used to an extra two months added to the season," Keller said. "It's nice the first couple weeks, because you don't get killed. You know you have nine weeks to build your fitness levels."
"At the same time, what we've just gone through -- being on the road for four weeks -- and then we still have three weeks left before the first game seems a pretty extended period of time."
While the team is happy to be home after extended stints away from friends and family, impending roster cuts still hang over the team.
With no resolution yet on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement, the team is still carrying nearly everyone it had invited to camp. With the labor situation still undecided, the expected roster cutdown of March 1 to 24 players was extended, and as a result locker room spaces were tough to come by in Seattle as a whopping 31 players turned up for practice Wednesday.
"It's a problem obviously for Adrian (Hanauer) and Chris (Henderson) and myself because you're not quite sure what the cap is right now, what the roster sizes are going to be, etc," said head coach Sigi Schmid. "So you're sort of shooting in the blind."
New faces for the Seattle crowd included Kevin Souter and Ellis McLoughlin. Souter is in camp after being waived by Kansas City while McLoughlin, who is currently under contract with Germany's Hertha Berlin, is looking for a new club. The local product, who spent one year at Seattle's Bishop Blanchet High School before going to entering U.S Soccer's residency program, said after practice that he has his club's permission to try out for other teams and that he hoped to catch on with Seattle.
Mike Seamon, Seattle's second round draft pick, is using Villanova's spring break to get back into camp, while Gonzaga's Tye Perdido is still in Spokane.
Schmid is holding on to as many players as he can, but players and their agents are starting to make some tough decisions about the 2010 season. For players out of contract, the opportunity for regular playing time with a lower division team could trump the chance of sticking on Seattle's roster. Even with CONCACAF Champions League games coming in late summer, there might not be enough playing time for everyone, especially in the glutted positions of defense and midfield.
"It's tough to make this roster because we do have a good core that we developed last year and we want to hold onto that core of players," said Schmid. "But you're always looking to expand upon it and make it better."
Andrew Winner is a contributor to MLSnet.com.
