RENTON — The biggest acquisition of the Seattle Sounders offseason was undeniably Jesús Ferreira. For a team who had often struggled to score goals, the 24-year-old represented a potentially significant upgrade.
Through the first five competitive games of the season, though, Ferreira has been more of a secondary piece. His only two starts came in Concacaf Champions Cup games against Antigua — he had an assist in both — and he’s only played 55 minutes in the other three games.
While probably not what most outside observers had in mind, the relative lack of playing time is more a product of the Sounders’ new formation that essentially leaves room for three of Ferreira, Jordan Morris, Albert Rusnák and Pedro de la Vega. Further complicating the situation is that coaches are trying to balance a schedule that essentially has the Sounders playing every three or four days.
“It’s always trying to put your players in the best possible positions to succeed,” Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer said following Friday’s training session. “We knew that there was gonna be fixture congestion in the beginning of the year, so that was part of the reason why we kind of went in and and had that rotation and made a decision to play with three centerbacks.”
Once the schedule loosens up, things could change.
“We might see a different formation with all four guys,” Schmetzer said. “We might just keep rotating for awhile.”
Ferreira, who has said he primarily came to Seattle to compete for trophies, doesn’t seem too worried about playing time at this point, either.
“I would love to be on the field more minutes, but the staff has a plan for me, for the team in the short amount of time that we have,” Ferreira said. “So it’s just about staying ready, staying prepared.
“As far as chemistry, it’s tough, but that’s what training is for. We try to get the most of out it. It’s not the same as getting competitive minutes, but with the amount of games we have in a short time, not everyone can play every minute. It’s about keeping us healhty and staying ready for the long season we have. It’s tough, but it’s the game.”
Big game on Saturday
The Sounders face their longtime nemesis LAFC on Saturday. The Sounders have not yet won a league game this year, while LAFC are off to a 2-0-0 start.
“We obviously haven’t started good in MLS,” Sounders midfielder Albert Rusnák said. “This game is just as important as the game on Tuesday against Cruz Azul.”
New eyes
The Sounders had an extra set of eyes in their video booth during Wednesday’s game against Cruz Azul when Seattle Reign head coach Laura Harvey was invited to join several assistant coaches. It’s just one example of how the Sounders and Reign are working together more closely since they came under the same ownership umbrella.
“It’s great for me, I love to see how things operate,” Harvey said. “You don’t get to do that a lot as a club coach because everyone is pretty protective. This has been an amazing relationship.”
Getting closer
Although neither will be available for Saturday’s game against LAFC, both Reed Baker-Whiting and Kim Kee-Hee should be back in full training at some point next week. Baker-Whiting has been recovering from a hamstring injury since going down in a preseason game about a month ago, while Kim has been working himself back into fitness after missing most of preseason.
