S2’s first huddle.
A club is born – S2 begins life with some international mystery
By Steven Agen
At 4pm today, fans and media alike took in the first training session for Seattle Sounders FC 2 ahead of their inaugural season in the USL.
Approximately 35 trialists participated in the practice taking place behind Starfire Stadium. As soon as they trotted out, the guessing game of who comprised the first group of prospects for the club began. Immediately recognizable were three men present in Seattle’s first team training up until the club left for Arizona. Draft pick Andy Craven, trialist Pablo Rossi and Aaron Long (currently with a senior squad contract) were all present.
Craven warmed up with Rossi, and looked lively throughout the session.
Head coach Ezra Hendrickson kept a hold on the reigns today, with games of keep-away and five-a-side on short fields pervading the training.
The new boss looked confident as he led his first ever training session as a manager. As it wore on, several more names came to light.
Several Sounders Academy graduates and a few other local regulars were among the group- this subset included Isidro Prato-Huerta, Duncan McCormick, Troy Peterson and Jamael Cox.
First team Technical Director Chris Henderson and new GM Garth Lagerwey were also present, as was a Japanese translator.
A quick conversation with him revealed that he’s here with Kento Sakurai, a player for Takushoku University in Tokyo. His personal highlight reel on YouTube seems to show that he plays left back, and his Twitter account indicates he had another trial in Saint Louis. (YouTube link here.)
Ezra Hendrickson addressed the fans and media at the start of the session
While media weren’t allowed access to players today, it certainly seems as if the club is scouring all corners of the globe for their second team.
Aside from the known names, it became clear that three players from S2’s open tryouts over the weekend were still with the team. As of yet, the three survivors haven’t been identified.
The name-guessing game proved to be the most interesting part of an up-tempo practice that never featured a large enough field to accurately judge any performances.
Ezra Hendrickson spoke with a small group of media after practice, and indicated both that he’d seen virtually all of the trialists play before, and that he was confident they could build a competent squad out of the 35 players present. Two more will join later this week, having had issues getting a flight to Seattle by Monday. Here are some selected quotes:
On the light session-
“…We just wanted the first day to be getting the flight out of their legs a little bit.”
On Craven, Long, and Rossi:
“Well, you could tell players stood out who had some first team training before. But all in all, I thought everyone played well. Like I said, we have a couple of games this week and once we get them on the big pitch that will tell more about what guys can do…”
On when cuts might happen:
“We will cut this roster down after Saturday’s game. Saturday we play University of Portland at 1pm and that’ll be like the final test for these guys for this week. well see what happens. Hopefully we have enough flare, hopefully we find what we think need from this group…”
The team reconvenes for an inter-squad scrimmage at Starfire tomorrow in their second day of training. That session occurs at 10am and is open in its entirety to the public.
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