Kenji Lindgren saves the USA (FM18)

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These young players represent the future of the Seattle Sounders and will be groomed to flourish for the senior squad.

1. Kevin Funk, RM, 17
Kevin Funk is an extremely fast right winger. With the right training, Funk could grow to be a player similar to France’s Anthony Modeste, but more focused on wing play than striker.

Coach Lindgren and his staff have been training Kevin hard as a right winger and trying to get him to impove his first touch. With his speed, a little bit of improved technique and skill could make him extraordinarily dangerous.

Given the lack of depth and true wingers in the squad, Funk looks to get ample playtime this year.

2. Steve Porter, CAM, 17
Steve Porter has come up alongside Kevin Funk, but for all of Funk’s pace, Porter replaces that with technique and skill. Able to play in any advanced role, Porter looks to be best suited to pull the strings from an advanced midfielder role.

The coaching staff have Porter working on his dribbling and passing, hoping he can become one of the most creative players in the US camp since Clint Dempsey. Porter is behind several talented players, but should get a few looks this year.

3. Aaron Brugenhemke, LM, 16
The diminutive left winger still has a lot of growing to do, but has enough natural speed and solid technique to make any talent evaluator excited. His lack of polish makes him less likely to get regular playing time this season but “The Bruge” is an intriguing prospect.

4. Rafael Acuna, CB, 16
Due to the lack of depth at centerback, Rafael Acuna should get some good looks this season despite being only 16 years old. He’s pretty slow and has average height, but has all the mental attributes you’d want in a centerback.

5. Will Maldonado, LM, 16
Still a member of the academy, Maldonado has a lot to learn and has a bit of a lax attitude toward training. However he’s fast and technical and could be battling “The Bruge” for starting time in just 3 years.

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Despite some struggles early in qualifying, the US looks like it will comfortably qualify for the World Cup. This doesn’t mean that all is rosy for team USA. The team has heavily relied on a core of players who had their prime in the 2010 or 2014 World Cups and aren’t set up well for the far future, and perhaps not 2018.

This is what a 23-man roster of the “best now” would look like:

CB	LB	RB	GK	CAM	CM	CDM	LM	RM	ST
J. Brooks	G. Garza	T. Chandler	W. Yarbrough	D. Nagbe	A. Morales	M. Bradley	C. Pulisic	G. Zusi	B. Wood
T. Ream	E. Castillo	D. Yedlin	B. Hamid		S. Kljestan		F. Johnson	J. Corona	J. Altidore
M. Besler			T. Howard						C. Dempsey
O. Gonzalez									A. Johannsson

However, that won’t help prepare the younger players who may feature in next year’s World Cup. Here’s a look at what an aggressively young, yet competitive, 23-man roster may look like.

CB	LB	RB	GK	CAM	CM	CDM	LM	RM	ST
J. Brooks	F. Johnson	D. Yedlin	W. Yarbrough	C. Pulisic	M. Bradley	W. McKennie	D. Nagbe	K. Funk	B. Wood
G. Cameron	K. Acosta	T. Chandler	E. Horvath	F. Garcia	E. Hyndman	J. Gonzalez			J. Altidore
C. Carter-Vickers			S. Sanchez						J. Siebatcheu
M. Miazga									R. Rubin

Here's what that starting 11 could look like.

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As previously mentioned, the Sounders needed to hire a lot of scouts and coaches. Ken Lindgren got to that immediately, filling out his staff.

• Kurt Schmid and Seattle agreed to a mutual parting of ways. Kenji Lindgren replaced him with a Brazilian, Cicero Gomes.
• 56 year Colombian Leon Villa has come on as a member of the coaching staff
• Andy Renshaw, a 38 year old British physio, has been added to the medical staff
• Jose Miguel Rodas has joined as a coach, the 2^nd Colombian to join the staff
• 51 year old British coach, David Platt has joined Seattle
• Welsh scout Tim Davies has signed on with Seattle
• Fernando Kirkwood has joined as the Chief Data Analyst
• Edgar Cardona has joined as a Colombian Scout
• Another young American was hired into Seattle’s Data Analytics department as Craig Melia joined on.
• Michael Salmon may only be 37 and American, but he brings a knowledge of 10 countries into Seattle’s scouting department.
• Danny Philpott brings years of experience to the scouting staff, as the 65 year old Brit has joined Seattle
• Enzo Concina was a coach in Montreal 2 years ago, but has joined the scouting staff in Seattle.
• Scottish Scout Jim Melrose rejected Seattle’s offer to join Burton.
• Fresh-faced Sports Scientist David Taylor has joined Kenji Lindgren’s staff
• Experienced Italian Scout Sebastiano Rossi has joined Seattle’s scouting team]
• Matt Radcliffe has joined the Sounders as a physio. He was last on staff at Manchester United.

The most interesting hire was that of Brazilian Cicero Gomes as Chief Scout. Why? Because he is Kenji’s brother-in-law, the brother of his wife Rosalina. This brought further criticism upon Kenji, as cries of nepotism rang out from fans and media members alike. When poked about this by the media, Coach Lindgren was prepared to answer the question.

“Cicero has been a scout for 14 years, including 11 years at Santos, and knows Brazilian soccer very well. There are many young Brazilians that never get the chance they deserve in the competitive environment down there, and we hope to use his connections to find some hidden gems that others miss. Bringing Cicero on board also made it easier for us to bolster our scouting team with guys like Edgar Cardona.

We may only have 6 international slots, but we want to build up a pipeline where we fill those with extremely talented young players, bringing them up in our system from a young age. By the time they hit their prime, they’ll either be on a green card or sold for a large profit. And that’s why we want Cicero.”

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The very first “game” with Coach J in charge was an open scrimmage between the Sounders and their U-20 squad. Here are the highlights from that historical occasion.

For the rest of the preseason, here’s a selection of some of the Sounders’ goals:

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The 2^nd qualifying round of the new Worldwide FIFA Champions League has finished. A few teams from USA and Canada have taken part in the early rounds.

In the 1^st qualifying round, Vancouver traveled all the way to Nepal to secure an 8-0 aggregate victory over Three Star. The Montreal Impact didn’t have to travel quite as far, dominating the Haitian team Mirebalais 9-0. In round 2, Vancouver continued their winning ways, beating the Tunisian Club Africain 4-1. Montreal also won, beating the Bulgaria team CSKA-Sofia 3-1.

With the 3^rd qualifying round starting, several notable teams enter the competition including Galatasary, Arsenal, Inter Milan, and Manchester United.

The Sounders are drawn against Iceland’s Stjarnan. They are one of Iceland’s strongest teams, but are likely overmatched against the Sounders.

Here’s how the other USA 1 teams drew:

• Montreal Impact face off against South Korea’s Jeonnam
• D.C. United play APOEL from Cyprus
• FC Dallas play Jamaican squad Harbor view
• The Vancouver Whitecaps drew Russia’s Rostov

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Here are some things that happened around the soccer world in July that are worth noting.

• Pablo Mastroeni has been fired, and the Colorado Rapids have replaced him with Preki.
• DC United made the first splash in the USA transfer market, signing Colombian wing back Denis Gomez.
• Darlington Nagbe will be headed to Sunderland in January on a free.
• The biggest transfer so far has been Man City’s $35 ($49) million purchase of Alex Grimaldo from Benfica.

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The Seattle Sounders’ first competitive games this season came just 1.5 weeks into their preseason and after just 1 friendly. Starting in a 4-4-2 that lined up a bit like a 4-1-3-1-1, Coach Lindgren was cautiously optimistic. “There’s some concern about match fitness, but we know our gameplan and we know our talent. We just need to concentrate, not make mistakes and we can come into the home leg in a good situation.

Clint Dempsey scored in the 42^nd minute to relieve some of the tension for Seattle fans in leg 1. Despite several clear chances from Jordan Morris, the game finished with a Sounders win 1-0.

In the 2^nd leg, 64,000 Seattle fans showed up to cheer on the Sounders, but it was a bad start as Clint Dempsey had to leave in the 6^th minute with a groin injury. Victor Rodriguez moved into the CAM role and 17 year old winger Kevin Funk came into the game, thrust into a big moment at a young age.

The Sounders were wasteful in the first half, blasting several good opportunities over the net, while Stjarnan had a breakaway but kicked the ball right to Stefan Frei. However, in the 41^st minute, Jordan Morris scored on a header off of a Nicolas Lodeiro cross to give Seattle a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

Other interesting outcomes
Montreal was the only USA 1 team to lose in the 3^rd qualifying phase, as they lost 3-0 to South Korea’s Jeonnam. In addition to Seattle, that means FC Dallas, D.C. United, and Vancouver have all made it to the playoff.

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Seattle made an offer to West Brom for 6’5” centerback Kyle Howkins. The $375,000 transfer was accepted and Howkins quickly accepted Seattle’s contract offer. He will join in January 2018.