2014 was a very important season in Chad Barrett’s career.
After one relatively unsuccessful year with the New England Revolution in 2013, Barrett questioned whether he would return to his productive ways that saw him score regularly with former clubs Chicago and Toronto FC.
Eventually picked by the Sounders FC in Stage Two of the 2013 Re-Entry Draft, he went on to have a resurgent season, netting seven goals over 26 appearances for his new club.
“My experience here was…I want to say it kind of brought my career back to life, probably brought my spirit back to life,” said Barrett about his first season in Seattle. “After I dislocated my ankle [in 2011 with the Galaxy], it felt like I wasn’t really given a chance and [Sounders Head Coach] Sigi [Schmid] came in here, gave me my chance, and this group really took me in, the guys took me in, the city took me in.”
“I worked really hard this offseason to make myself better because I feel like the city deserves an MLS Cup and these guys want to win one.”
Entering year two with the Sounders, Barrett wants to improve upon his individual stats but is also willing to help the team in any way that the coaching staff determines is his best role.
“More playing time, more goals,” said Barrett of what he’s hoping for this year. “That’s what I’m here for, that’s what they want me to do, and like I said there’s going to be a lot of competition this year. A lot of good players in camp, a lot of good players from last year, so first thing was get through preseason, make sure I can still stand on my two feet. And then after that, I just want to be more of a central figure, whether it’s off the bench all the time, instead of just some of the time…anything I can do to get myself more playing minutes, I’m going to do obviously.
“But if Sigi doesn’t see that as best for the team at that point in time, that’s what he sees.”
Using Barrett in the right situations yielded big results for Sounders FC last season. The 10-year MLS veteran finished fourth in MLS with 0.73 goals per 90 minutes and matched his career-high for goals with a single seven (he scored nine goals in 2008, but played for both Toronto and Chicago). Schmid anticipates more of the same in the campaign ahead.
“I think it’s been good for Chad, and I thought he had a really good season for us,” Schmid said of the year Barrett had in 2014. “I think statistically one of his best seasons when you look at goals per minutes played, I think he was as good as anyone. Now it’s just a matter of him continuing to build upon that and he’s one of the guys that we felt has worked really hard in preseason and came in lighter than he was last year and I think that’s been good for him.
Only 33 days remain until the Sounders take on Barrett’s former club New England in the opening match of the 2015 season. The forward is thankful that he’s still around battling in his 12th season in the league.
“It was a short offseason; it didn’t really feel like we said goodbye to these guys but that’s the way it is,” Barrett joked. “We have a bunch of competitions this year and we’re looking to earn some hardware and we’re trying to win that cup we didn’t win last year.”
