RENTON — It is common practice for soccer coaches to set up their reserve team in a way that mimics an upcoming opponent. Heading into last year’s Western Conference semifinal against LAFC, that meant the Sounders coaches had their second team playing in a sort of 3-4-3 formation.
Aside from preparing their own players well enough to win that game 2-1 in extra time, Sounders coaches were also reminded that their own personnel actually sets up pretty well with three centerbacks.
Being asked to do his best Jesus Murrillo impression as the right-sided centerback, Josh Atencio stood out so much, in fact, that the Sounders felt compelled to ask him to consider making the change permanent.
“He looked really comfortable in that role,” Sounders assistant coach Andy Rose told Sounder at Heart about the impetus for making the change. “It opens this new possibility of what an outside centerback in that system looks like in terms of needing to break lines with the dribble, in terms of the ability to switch play with 50-yard diagonal balls. There’s a lot of characteristics there in terms of his physical profile.”
At the same time they were contemplating Atencio’s position change, the Sounders were also toying with the idea of tweaking their base formation. Although they’ve been building out with three centerbacks for most of the last two seasons, they had traditionally defended with two blocks of four.
Throughout preseason, they’ve been playing with more of a base 3-4-2-1 formation that allows the wingbacks to sit a little higher and puts a bit more defensive emphasis on three centerbacks. In this system, the outside centerbacks need to cover a fair amount of ground, while also possessing an ability to break lines with the dribble.
One of the Sounders’ hallmarks over the past two seasons has been their positional defending, which has been key to allowing the fewest goals in MLS. Taking too much from preseason is always tough, but the early returns also suggest the Sounders centerbacks may need to defend a bit more in space as they commit more numbers to the attack.
The Sounders’ three presumed centerback starters seem particularly well-suited. Jackson Ragen is the sort of quarterback, pinging passes all over the field. Nouhou and Yeimar are both outstanding 1-v-1 defenders who can easily track attackers to the sideline. Atencio isn’t yet at the point where he’s going to overtake any of them, but he has the sort of skillset that could potentially work in all three spots.
“If you really deep dive into his profile, our staff believes he has the potential to be elite,” Sounders GM Craig Waibel said about Atencio. “He’s extremely athletic, he’s very good facing the field, his range of distribution, his speed, his turn, recovery speed, but also the way he reads the game.”
