Too early to panic, but worrisome signs in Seattle

Andrew Winner

<div style="float: right; width: 200px; padding: 10px;"><table style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;">
<p><strong>Road Trip to First Kick</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="//league-mp7static.mlsdigital.net/mp6/FirstKicklogo_250x123.jpg" alt="" width="180" height="90" /></p><p>
Starting March 6, join MLSsoccer.com’s <strong>Jackie Pickering</strong> and <strong>Nick Firchau</strong> as they travel from LA to Vancouver, checking in on all the West Coast teams, meeting with fans, and stopping into adidas HQ in Portland to pick up the game ball for First Kick on March 15 at Qwest Field.</p><p>
<img src="//league-mp7static.mlsdigital.net/mp6/pickering-small.jpg" alt="" width="90" height="90" /><img src="//league-mp7static.mlsdigital.net/mp6/firchau-small-mug.jpg" alt="" width="90" height="90" /></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div>TUKWILA, Wash. – It’s far too early for a sense of panic in Seattle. But there’s certainly not too much to be happy about after the Sounders dropped their second game of the Cascadia Summit Sunday evening, a 3-2 loss to expansion Vancouver.

“It's like I said before, maybe we are getting this out of our system before the season starts because it's all cyclical,” Sounders head coach Sigi Schmid said after Sunday’s match. “It all ends up evening out at the end of the day, so if we are having a bad run right now we will have a good run at some other time.“

A nice sentiment, but those aren’t the type of answers Sounders fans want Schmid to be giving, regardless of the match. After losses to regional rivals Portland (by a score of 2-0) and Vancouver in the preseason Cascadia Summit, the Sounders boss has no choice but to search for the positives.

Depending on where you stand, Sounders FC’s on-field results at the three-day event ranged from disappointing to extremely worrisome. To wit:

Four soft goals allowed in two games
No goals scored by a starting striker
Unconvincing performances by each of the team’s top two goalkeepers
A possibly serious injury to Michael Fucito

Combined, the results didn’t show a team that was ready to compete for a Supporters’ Shield in 2011. Far from it, Seattle looked more like the expansion team alongside Vancouver and Portland.

In his postmatch comments Sunday, Schmid echoed previous statements about the lack of scoring punch. He also condemned goalkeepers Kasey Keller for a soft goal on Friday night and Terry Boss for two more on Sunday.

“Goalkeeping-wise, Terry Boss has got to do better on the second and third, and Kasey had to do better on the first Friday night,” Schmid said.

There are still some roster adjustments to could be made in the coming days. However, Schmid and GM Adrian Hanauer both expressed confidence in the current group of players.

“You could get rid of some players or trade some players,” Schmid said, “but at this stage, I believe in the group we have, I think the group we have sitting in the locker room is a good group, it's a talented group and I think it's a group that's capable of playing good soccer.

“Right now, we haven't shown it. We've made some woeful mistakes, I think they'll be the first ones to admit that, but they need to step out the next time and show that our belief in the group is warranted."

Hanauer admitted his stomach was in knots after the losses, a feeling echoed by Schmid. Instead of using the word disappointing, Schmid spun the forgettable weekend as “motivating weekend.” He said that his team will remember these games when it meets Vancouver or Portland in games that count in the standings.

Roger Levesque (above), Sunday’s standout with a goal and an assist, offered his assessment on the weekend’s games.

“We have talented players and a good squad, it’s just a matter of getting players on the same page and playing to our strengths,” he said. “A few bumps in the road, but nothing to get too worried about.”

Notebook:

It’s too early to know the extent of Fucito’s injury, according to Schmid.

"When you have an injury like that, he's got a pull of the adductor I think, so you really don't know until the next day,” the Sounders coach said. “You've got to go about 24 hours and see how much it bleeds or how much it swells, then we'll know the extent of the injury, but we don't think he's torn it or anything like that."

Meanwhile, Hanauer offered an update on 30-year-old Argentine Mauro Rosales, who is currently training with the Sounders:

"We're talking with Mauro and we would like to sign him,” the GM said. “We're hopeful that we can get that sorted out, but it'll take a bit. Hopefully this week we can come to some resolution."

Seattle Sounders FC