Following an early departure from Leagues Cup, the Sounders have been taking advantage of their recent downtime as they look to right the ship in their last stretch of MLS regular season matches.
“Obviously disappointed that we're out of Leagues Cup\], but I think it’s just time to move past it, regroup mentally and physically, and get everything right for the next game because MLS is our concern now,” said defender [Alex Roldan.
Last week’s training sessions were all about going back to the basics and honing in on areas of improvement before getting into more specifics surrounding the team’s upcoming August 20 match against Atlanta United.
“We’re just re-emphasizing some of our principles of play both in our attack and how we defend for these training days,” said Head Coach Brian Schmetzer. “It’s been a lot of work on the tactics, different looks, and different variations on what we've done.”
Seattle’s break from games also meant the opportunity for the players to rejuvenate and relax on their own for four days, before making their way back to training early last week.
Schmetzer described the team as “refreshed,” since coming back.
“A break did this group some good…Recharged the batteries,” he said. “I think we have a revived group but a committed group.”
The Rave Green currently have ten regular season matches left with four at home and six on the road. While the remaining fixtures won’t be easy, the team is optimistic about their chances — especially after last week’s preparations in training.
“We're all confident in what we can do when we're at our best,” said Roldan. “It's just all about perfecting those small errors that we keep making in these games.”
And the team is determined to carry that confidence all the way to the ultimate trophy opportunity of the year: MLS Cup.
“We want to do well, and we want to win another trophy like we did last year CCL\],” said midfielder [Albert Rusnák. “The only trophy left competing for now is the MLS Cup, so that's what we will try and win.”
