The Seattle Sounders may have fallen to Cascadia rival Vancouver Whitecaps FC on Wednesday night, but the young players on the squad showed there’s plenty to be excited about with the future of the team.
Homegrown Players Aaron Kovar and Darwin Jones teamed up with Generation Adidas and University of Washington product Cristian Roldan for the first Sounders’ goal of the preseason in Tucson, Ariz.
Kovar had the assist and Jones pounded home a confident finish to the far post for the team’s only goal of a 2-1 loss.
“Tyler had a really good ball into Cristian, and Cristian is always looking to go forward, which is what makes him such a great player,” Kovar said. “He found me on the half turn, and more times than not, Darwin’s going to bury that.”
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Kovar then netted one for himself against FC Tucson in the teams’ 45-minute scrimmage to cap the night, and he believes things are really coming together with the new squad.
“Guys are clicking,” Kovar said. “It’s preseason so there’s going to be some rough patches but it’s such a talented group, we’re going to do just great.”
Head coach Sigi Schmid was impressed with Jones as well.
“We want him to turn the corner on the flanks and I thought he had some really good looks.” Schmid said. “He had a good goal.”
Jones, meanwhile, attributed his early preseason success to watching the team’s three veteran forwards - Clint Dempsey, Obafemi Martins, and Nelson Valdez.
“The best thing is to learn as much as I can from them day in and day out and try to translate it to the games,” Jones said.
