Brian Schmetzer will be the first one to joke that early in his tenure as Seattle Sounders head coach, he was accused of not wanting to play his younger players. His starting lineup in Seattle’s 2016 MLS Cup win over Toronto FC at the end of his first interim season in 2016 had an average age of almost 28 years old.
Compare that to Schmetzer throwing in the likes of 16-year-old Obed Vargas into the Sounders’ historic 2022 Concacaf Champions League Final just six years later, and it’s clear how far this franchise has come in a relatively short amount of time.
“We had like 13 veteran guys, and the choices were pretty easy,” Schmetzer said of his 2016 squad. “The senior players, experienced players, were better. Now, as the roster has kind of shifted to a blend of younger and older guys, the younger guys are getting more opportunities.”
This reflects a larger shift of the club’s ethos over the past decade, investing more money and resources into both the Academy and MLS NEXT Pro affiliate Tacoma Defiance as a viable pipeline of talent to help players matriculate. Whereas an influential player like DeAndre Yedlin or Jordan Morris would appear in the organization as rare gems, the club is putting systems into place to ensure that process is replicable.
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“They’ve done such a great job at the Academy level, with the scouting [Head of Academy Recruitment] David Lara and then [Director of Development] Wade [Webber] and [Technical Director] Henry [Brauner] just really incorporating the pyramid setting,” said Sounders First Team Assistant Freddy Juarez. “Our Academy has done a really good job of educating our players, so when they get to us, they’re not done with their development, but we’re starting at a better spot. They’re already at a pretty good level where we can continue that development.”
That consistent churning of talent has not only helped the club find success on the field, but also on the global transfer market. Within the last 12 months alone, the Sounders earned up to $1.6M in General Allocation Money from the Colorado Rapids for Josh Atencio, over $1M from Liga MX’s Club Necaxa for Danny Leyva and the recent blockbuster sale of Vargas to European giants Atlético Madrid for a club-record fee of over $3M plus incentives and a substantial sell-on clause.
Part of this development includes exposing the Academy and Defiance players to higher levels of competition and assessing them to see where they’re at. They’re tested in the Sounders’ own environment first, and once they prove they’re ready, then opportunities for playing time follow. Bringing them to preseason camp is a useful way to give them valuable minutes in high-level matches without the added weight of wins and losses.
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“All the [Academy] players we know have quality, but let’s see them against competition,” said Juarez. “Without those pressures, it’s more of, ‘Let’s see if they can actually handle themselves against very good players.’”
This tactic has helped usher in a new cohort of talented youngsters, including Academy products Snyder Brunell and Stuart Hawkins, as well as Kalani Kossa-Rienzi, Osaze De Rosario and Georgi Minoungou, who developed in Tacoma before earning First Team roster spots.
“They all need a little more seasoning, but they all have tremendous starting points,” said Schmetzer. “The young guys are always full of energy. They’re always eager to learn…The young guys go 100 miles an hour every day, and it’s a joy to coach young men like that. It’s a really good side of our job.”
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There are no moral victories, however, and Schmetzer and his staff won’t play anyone who isn’t ready to not just hang with the First Team but be real contributors. Schmetzer feels it’s his responsibility, as someone who has spent decades in the organization, to instill that championship attitude, especially as the Sounders open their 2026 MLS campaign on Sunday at home against the Colorado Rapids (6:15 p.m. PT; FS1, Apple TV | TICKETS).
“Schmetz always talks about the Pacific Northwest…it’s a relentless scrapper’s mentality where we don’t give up,” said Juarez. “[The younger players’] training habits—they’re the first ones at the facility. They train extremely hard, and they still help us put away the stuff after training. It’s just a very motivated, strong mentality player that is the foundation.”
Added Schmetzer: “It’s understanding the culture of winning…It’s just making sure that everybody understands what our history is, what the culture of the club is: winning. Competing and never quitting, some of the things I always talk about.”
