#Bwana sounders full#

Unfortunately, it’s not immediately clear how fit he is after not playing for nearly eight months.

#Bwana sounders full#

Presumably, he’s now at least healthy and could be useful at least until the Sounders are closer to full strength. The 26-year-old only logged 176 minutes last year and has only made one 8-minute appearance this year. Notably, Medranda has struggled to remain fit since that injury. Broadly speaking his defensive profile is very similar to Nouhou’s, while offering a bit more offensively. 9 interceptions per game in each of those three seasons. He was also an active defender, averaging better than 2.3 tackles and. From 2016 until a knee injury that cut short his 2018 campaign, started 54 of 73 appearances, logging five goals and four assists. Schmetzer indicated he plans to primarily use Medranda as a wide midfielder.Īs recently as 2018, Medranda was considered a solid contributor for a competitive Sporting KC team. The Colombian has primarily played left back during his eight MLS seasons, but has played several midfield positions as well. Once again this year, the rest of the league wants to be Seattle.While Bwana is likely the higher upside player, it sounds as if Schmetzer at least has an idea of how he’d like to use Medranda. Steady success might seem straightforward, but it’s a trick no other MLS franchise has pulled off.

The Sounders have lost big-name players yet found ways to refresh their squad. Marketing aside, though, Seattle has managed to strike a near-perfect balance between spending big and developing young players. It also was among the first to market itself not to families with soccer-playing kids but to die-hard fans who come back week after week, not just when it fits into their schedule. Along the way they have become the league’s model franchise.Īlong with Toronto, Seattle was the first to figure out that playing downtown, not in a far-flung suburb, was a key for attracting fans. Since the beginning, the Sounders have done things the right way. Coach Brian Schmetzer played for the NASL version of the Sounders in the 1980s, coached the USL version in the 2000s, and now manages the MLS version, after serving as an assistant coach for the first eight years of the team’s MLS tenure. It was another job well done for the league’s steadiest club, owned by Hanauer since it was a USL team in 2002. It rose from the basement of the Western Conference to clinch a first-round bye in the playoffs. Seattle, duly roused, won an astonishing 14 of its 17 second-half games, including an MLS-record nine consecutive matches. More important, he actually ran toward the opponent’s goal from time to time, stretching defenses and opening space for Lodeiro. The Peruvian scored 10 goals in 14 second-half matches. Ruidiaz, winner of two scoring titles in Liga MX, was the key that unlocked Lodeiro and the rest of the Seattle attack. Lagerway’s 2018 signing of Peruvian striker Raul Ruidiaz in late June will go down as another. One example is Lodeiro, who rescued the team from quicksand in mid-2016 and spurred the Sounders to an MLS Cup victory. In exchange, the Sounders receive midfielder Jimmy Medranda and a potential total of 250,000 in General Allocation Money (GAM) from Nashville SC, split into 225,000 guaranteed and an additional 25,000 if Bwana hits certain performance based. Lagerway, who took over for owner Adrian Hanauer as the club’s GM in 2015, has continued the club’s tradition of finding impact players precisely when needed. Nashville SC have signed Handwalla Bwana from Seattle Sounders FC, the club announced on Wednesday. Leave it to Seattle General Manager Garth Lagerway to find a solution. Talismanic attacker Nicolas Lodeiro appeared to be personally defeated by his near-miss at making Uruguay’s squad for the World Cup. Club and American soccer legend Clint Dempsey had become more dour than dominant. Wunderkind striker Jordan Morris tore his ACL on the season’s opening day. At times Seattle resembled a human foosball team, where each line of players might occasionally move side to side but never ever forward. The team’s attack was painfully ponderous. At the season’s midpoint, Seattle had just 16 points, mostly because it had scored only 15 goals. In early July it looked like the playoff streak would end. Why is this team again in the playoffs, again one of the favorites, and again the envy of the rest of the league? The Sounders begin the 2018 playoffs as the league’s hottest team, on the heels of two consecutive MLS Cup appearances. Then they made it the next year, and then every year since, right through to this season.

In 2009 the Seattle Sounders - then an expansion team - made the MLS Cup playoffs.