MLS Seattle Sounders FC

Sounders FC News & Notes

Published on January 20, 2009 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
Seattle Sounders FC News Release


Just over eight weeks before the inaugural game, 31 players are expected to report for the first Seattle Sounders FC preseason training session, Jan. 21 at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center in Renton, Wash. Head coach Sigi Schmid will welcome 13 of 15 players who are currently under contract. The balance of the group will be comprised of trialists, most having played for the USL Sounders in 2008.

Goalkeeper Kasey Keller leads the group of veterans. Keller, the Olympia, Wash., native who has spent the previous 18 seasons playing in Europe, is a three-time U.S. player of the year and is entering his first Major League Soccer season. Also reporting are MLS rookies, forward Sebastien Le Toux and midfielder Sanna Nyassi. Both were signed last year and then loaned to the USL Sounders.

Among those in attendance will be the top two MLS SuperDraft choices for Sounders FC. Forward Steve Zakuani was the No. 1 overall pick from the University of Akron and a member of Generation adidas. Defender Evan Brown of Wake Forest was the first selection of the second round. Jared Karkas (D, Azusa Pacific) and Michael Fucito (M, Harvard) will join the team Feb. 2 in Ventura, Calif.

Eight of the 10 players chosen in the expansion draft will be on hand. The exceptions are midfielder Peter Vagenas, who has been given permission to join the squad next week, and defender Jeff Parke, who is out contract.

Missing from training will be Swedish international Freddie Ljungberg, who continues to rehabilitate from surgery to repair his hip.

Sounders FC will face the San Jose Earthquakes in a preseason exhibition Feb. 13 in San Luis Obispo, Ca. The game will kick-off at 7 p.m. at the Alex G. Spanos Stadium on the Cal Poly campus. Seattle will be training at Oxnard College in Southern California from Feb. 2-14. The team returns to the Seattle area to train beginning Feb. 17, then departs for Argentina Feb. 24.

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Major League Soccer Stories from January 20, 2009


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