Sounders FC is rounding into form as the team concludes its final days of preseason in Marbella, Spain.
“Players are getting along really well, the staff likes the group, and obviously the work rate and the work loads are phenomenal,” said General Manager and Chief Soccer Officer Craig Waibel upon arrival at the Marbella Football Center. “The metrics are ridiculous right now in terms of the outputs from this group.”
After partaking in intensive training sessions and friendlies against Aalborg BK and Puskás Akadémia FC over the last two weeks, the team has one final opportunity to showcase the progress they have made on Feb. 5 when they take on Swedish clubs Norrköping and Hammarby in a pair of 90-minute scrimmages. Every single player on the Sounders pre-season roster will get minutes on the pitch.
“Excited to watch,” said Waibel. “I'm just looking to see who's playing well, and who's comfortable. And there's always question marks as we're manipulating formation… Are we possessing in the right parts of the field? Are we getting what we think we're getting out of it? Are we making it up, trying to justify it? So tomorrow, the staff and I will evaluate how honest we're being with ourselves.”
Prior to his visit to the coastal town, Waibel watched footage of the previous friendlies remotely from Seattle. Along with the positive feedback from the team staff, he was pleased with the significant amount of combination play in the final third and the utilization of different spaces and patterns that were contrasting from years past.
This particular preseason has been about cohesion and assessing how the group molds together, according to Waibel. Although it’s a small sample size, the team’s victories in their first two preseason matches showed plenty of promising signs.
Pedro de la Vega, specifically, has been influential on the flank, scoring goals in each of the friendlies.
“Goals are obviously great, they make the biggest difference,” said Waibel. “But some of his combination plays were really fun to watch. We signed Pedro last year, but we're resetting that one because we didn't even get to 1,000 minutes with him [in 2024]. So, it's a big year for him to make sure he's part of it.”
Recently acquired Jesús Ferreira and Paul Arriola have also shown their impact in limited competitive minutes.
“We've seen what we thought we'd see, which is two guys that know the league, that know our team, that know how to come in and join in and not overdo it,” said Waibel. “Both of them are just going to come in and do their job, and in our group, that's an excellent asset to add in.”
To earn two more wins in Marbella would be the icing on the cake for the Sounders as they close out the international preseason in strong form. But tomorrow’s friendlies against Norrköping and Hammarby will only scratch the surface of what the team is capable of producing as they gear up for the competitive 2025 season ahead.
“We've challenged the group to get better, and we have a really nice unit,” said Waibel. “It's a fickle league, but I think this group's built for durability, for longevity and, frankly, consistency.”
