Sounders’ Chad Barrett hopes recent success continues
TUKWILA, Wash. – Given a chance to contribute last weekend, Seattle Sounders forward Chad Barrett came through with the only two goals at Vancouver and was honored Tuesday as Major League Soccer’s player of the week.
That’s a rapid change of fortune for the veteran making only his second start of the season.
“It’s kind of overwhelming,” Barrett said. “You haven’t done anything all year, and then all of a sudden you have a good week, doing interviews, and pretty much back to what I was circa 2011. It feels good. My main objective was to come in and help the team and fill a void that (Obafemi Martins) left. Really nice to get these rewards and stuff like that, but I don’t want it to get into my head. We’ve got another game coming up this week, and I want to be in the starting lineup again.”
That seems likely, as coach Sigi Schmid said Martins isn’t expected to sufficiently recover from his leg injury by Saturday, when Sporting Kansas City visits CenturyLink Field.
“He’s in the gym and working, but can’t get on the field yet,” Schmid said. “… An injury, you have to deal with it as it is, and you don’t want to rush anybody until they’re healthy.”
S2, Round 2
The Sounders 2 USL team will make its U.S. Open Cup debut at 7:30 tonight against the Kitsap Pumas at Starfire Sports Stadium.
The Pumas advanced to the second round with a 5-2 win over FC Tacoma 253 last week.
Even on the eve of the game, the S2 roster remained a mystery. Last week, coach Ezra Hendrickson had said he expects to use all players signed to S2 contracts, as well as some Sounders Academy players and perhaps a couple of players from the MLS roster.
However, Schmid said the first team wants to loan players cautiously, because once they play for S2 in the Open Cup, they cannot play for the first team in the Open Cup once it joins the tournament in the fourth round.