The Sounders will receive their first preseason test Saturday when the team plays a pair of scrimmages against European opponents. The matches will be the first outside of training for star midfielder Joao Paulo since tearing his ACL last spring.
The Sounders will play Austrian side Wolfsberger then Swedish club Hammarby Fotboll. The games will be at Dama de Noche Football Center, which is a few minutes east of where the Sounders are holding training camp in Marbella, Spain.
The friendlies are the sole opportunities to tinker with tactics against an unfamiliar opponent before the Sounders play a loser-out FIFA men’s Club World Cup match in Morocco next week.
“One competitive game will be just fine for us as long as we’re able to play 90 minutes and be fit enough,” said Sounders midfielder Cristian Roldan, whose team played two intersquad matches in Tukwila earlier this month. “In a perfect world, I would love to be in the middle of the season and feeling great and fit. But the reality is we have four weeks to prepare for this (FIFA) game, and we’re playing the cards that we’ve been dealt. That’s our mentality. We don’t have any excuses going into this game.”
A key question the Sounders need answered is how much Joao Paulo will be able to contribute to the team’s plans. The Brazilian was an MVP finalist during the 2021 MLS season and suffered his injury during the CONCACAF Champions League winning match at Lumen Field in May.
Joao Paulo remained with the club for his entire rehabilitation process and recently told Portuguese podcast SoundersCast that he’s approximately 95% recovered. He added that physicians would prefer he wait the standard nine months before playing a full 90-minute match, which would be the league opener Feb. 26 against Colorado.
Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer said Joao Paulo will play one of the matches Saturday. The medical team, as well as performance, will determine how many minutes he’ll remain in the lineup.
“We’re really pleased that he’s coming along well,” Schmetzer said. “Any minutes I can get him on the field are going to be critical for success not just in these games but for the remainder of the season as well.”
FIFA not announcing the Club World Cup destination until Dec. 16 hampered the Sounders’ ability to schedule more scrimmages to gear up for the tournament. Most teams had their schedules set, including the Vancouver Whitecaps FC, who were in Spain earlier this month, losing 2-1 to Wolfsberger in a scrimmage.
“By the time we got all of our logistics for this Club World Cup, a lot of those opportunities went to the wayside,” Schmetzer said. “I’m happy with the 60- and 75-minute intersquad scrimmages that we had. Now we’re just going to push the group out to 90 minutes to make sure their fitness is there.”
Broadcast info
The Sounders will play the winner of the Club World Cup opener between New Zealand’s Auckland City or Egypt’s Al Ahly on Feb. 4 in Tangier. FIFA didn’t confirm, but cable programming guides show the broadcast for the Sounders’ match starting at 8:50 a.m. on FS2. Soccer’s governing body said all of the tournament’s matches will be streamed on FIFA+.
We hear you
Roldan wasn’t part of last week’s assembly at Renton High School where the Sounders revealed Providence Swedish as a marquee sponsor and official medical partner, but he and teammates know about the backlash. All the training gear seen on social media sites have the not-for-profit health care organization’s logo emblazoned across their chests.
The club’s biggest supporters’ groups issued statements expressing frustration and citing concerns with Providence’s policies as it relates to abortion rights, treatment of transgender people and low-income patients. In a statement responding to the outcry, the Sounders reiterated their “unwavering” support of human rights, including those for transgender people and women making health care decisions for themselves.
“Since 2015, I’ve been with the Sounders and they’ve had great core values,” Roldan said. “They’ve worked in the community really well and for us, it’s about going back to those core values and trusting that the Sounders are going to do well.”
Schmetzer, who prides himself on being a member of the Emerald City Supporters, the largest supporter group, echoed the club’s commitment.
“Not everybody is going to agree on this, but what I feel we’re going to do is we’re going to move forward and we’re going to move forward with an open mind,” Schmetzer said. “We’re going to listen and we’re going to try to look for opportunities to serve people in our community. That’s the best way I can put it.”
Been here, done that?
The Sounders traveled to Spain in 2010 for a preseason tournament in Murcia along the Mediterranean Sea. But keepers coach Tom Dutra said this is a different vibe.
“The cool thing is we’re here for a reason, not just preseason,” Dutra said. “Now, yes, this is part of preseason, but we’re really getting ready for our first game in Morocco. It’s kind of like getting ready for Champions League all over again, but it’s just different. It’s teams we’ve never played against before and a country we’ve never been as a club.”
Sea breeze and palm trees
During Friday’s virtual news conference, Schmetzer mentioned the Alboran Sea being over his shoulder and understanding why people retire in Marbella. The players won’t have a full off day to explore until Monday, but the team has sprinkled in fun activities despite intense training the past five days.
“We had a trivia night,” Roldan said of Thursday evening quizzing each other about pop culture and MLS facts. “That’s always fun to do. We’ll have a dinner out (this weekend). … It’s always tough to find that balance. These next couple of days after our game it will be important to kind of take our minds off soccer, because we still have a long year to go.”