I would hope you would support who we are. Not, who we are not. These 18 individuals have made a choice to work, a choice to sacrifice, to put themselves on the line for the next six months, to represent you, to represent this club. That kind of commitment and effort deserves and demands your respect. This is your team.
– Paraphrased from Coach Norman Dale’s (played by the late, great Gene Hackman) monologue in the motion picture Hoosiers.
Greetings to my brothers and sisters in Green. Right, right. So Sounders FC and MLS took their ball home and cried about playing in US Open Cup because “Waaaah! Waaaah! It’s not enough prize money, Waaaah!” Sounders FC were #1, but MLS held them out. Sounders FC Reserves were #2, now they’re #1.
What: US Open Cup 2nd Round tie, Seattle Sounders FC Reserves v. Spokane Velocity.
Where: Starfire Sports, Fort Dent Park, Tukwila, Washington.
When: 7:00 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time, Wednesday 2 April 2025 CE.
At Stake: It’s a cup tie, so winner advances, the defeated are eliminated. No iteration of the Sounders FC have won the US Open Cup since 2014, 11 years ago. So there’s that as well.
Where to Watch: YouTube. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/live/xFuTORvEJ5o?si=7Bjl4ExECjieRIkm
Where to Listen: If local radio has plans to broadcast this match, I have zero knowledge of it.
So, okay, a bit pressed for time. MLS and United States FA are laughable entities that should never be taken seriously by anyone.
That said, Support is vital tonight. I hope our Green Fam descend on Starfire over 10,000 strong and fill the stands on both sides of the pitch and spill over into standing room only. Such a display would warm the cockles of my wee black heart.
Link up with the Reserves Elites and ECS if you can manage it. Then join your voices and make a din so loud that the seismic sensors and the International Space Station can hear it.
In the absence of the Sounders FC, the Sounders FC Reserves ARE the Sounders FC. It’s midweek US Open Cup football, under the lights at Starfire. GO ON YOU SOUNDERS!!! GET IN!!! SOUNDERS FOR THE CUP!!!
Before kick-off, please join me in the auld toast: “TO THE SEATTLE SOUNDERS FOOTBALL CLUB…AND VICTORY!!!”
Nice promotional job for the US Open Cup, US Soccer and MLS [sarcasm].
The Good News
The 3:1 victory over Washington Athletic Club showed that the Reserves, with a bit of help from the Sounders FC senior squad were more than a match for an amateur side sprinkled with a few ex-professionals and university footballers. Hopefully, tonight will be no different.
De Rosario and Brunell are back from their national team duties, and will lend a lot of skill and talent to the team tonight, provided that Diese selects them.
The Bad News
Spokane are very experienced, and the players are from professional clubs for the most part.
There was literally zero promotion for this match that I saw or heard of. MLS and the United States FA should be ashamed of themselves.
The Side I Would Select
I’d play the best selection possible, including Sounders FC first-team players if I could get them.
GK Castro
LB Sousa
LCH Hawkins
RCH Burney
RB Baker
LDM Kingston
RDM Brunell
LF Khoury
CAM Tsukanome
RF Baker-Whiting
CF De Rosario
The Side I Think The Gaffer Will Select
I’d imagine Herve Diese would have mostly the lot that beat Washington Athletic Club in the last round, whilst adding De Rosario and Brunell who were with their national teams last time out. So something like this perhaps:
GK Castro
LB Sousa
LCH Hawkins
RCH Lopez
RB Gaffney
LDM Kingston
RDM Brunell
LF Khoury
CAM Tsukanome
RF Hassan
CF De Rosario
Intangibles
Starfire mystique.
Starfire can be a huge advantage for us. It’s a small ground with the fans and supporters right up against the pitch.
Shitty lack of promotion of US Open Cup.
Starfire can be an advantage…if our people show up in numbers.
Who are ye?!
We don’t get to play Spokane Velocity really as we’re not in the same leagues. Unfamiliarity can be a liability in a one-off, such as the cup tie we’re about to play.
Ringers.
Spokane Velocity have some very, very experienced players in the side, including former Salt Lake and Yanks international midfielder Luis Gil. Once again, the battle is age and experience v. youth and enthusiasm, just like against Washington Athletic Club.
Reinforcements?
I wonder if the result for this match may depend on how many members of the Sounders FC senior squad are available to be called upon, against such an experienced opponent.
General notes on personnel
Note: There have been other transfers in and out for the Sounders FC Reserves, these are just the recent ones.
Sounders FC Reserves transfers IN:
Dodzi
Sounders FC Reserves transfers OUT:
Herrera
Spokane transfers IN:
Hernandez (Northern Colorado Hailstorm) free
Opara (Northern Colorado Hailstorm) free
Vinyals (Richmond Kickers) free
Brett (Memphis 901 FC) free
Garcia (Northern Colorado Hailstorm) free
John-Brown (Central Valley Fuego FC)
Bilichuk (Portland Timbers)
Crisler (One Knoxville SC)
Spokane transfers OUT:
Amadin - released
Rojas - released
Hackworth - released
Dolling - released
Mbumba - released
Smith (One Knoxville SC) free
Longmire - released
Metanire - released
Dupont - released
Gonzalez - released
Thompson (Hartford Athletic)
Schmidt (Hartford Athletic)
Merrill (Gandzasar) free
Comparison against common opponents
n/a
Know Thine Enemy
Spokane as they lined up against Greenville in their 0:4 victory at Paladin Stadium. Bit rushed for time, so I’m just going to link you to player information, provided such information is available.
GOALKEEPER
Carlos Merancio, 26
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Merancio
Estimated Transfer Value: €100,000
DEFENCE
Derek Waldeck, 27
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek_Waldeck
Estimated Transfer Value: €175,000
Camron Miller, 25
https://us.soccerway.com/players/camron-miller/955335/
Estimated Transfer Value: €100,000
David Garcia, 24
https://us.soccerway.com/players/david-garcia/902225/
Estimated Transfer Value: €175,000
Lucky Opara, 25
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucky_Opara
Estimated Transfer Value: €175,000
MIDFIELD
Collin Fernandez, 28
https://us.soccerway.com/players/collin-fernandez/334940/
Estimated Transfer Value: €150,000
Luis Gil, 31
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Gil_(soccer)
Estimated Transfer Value: €175,000
Andre Lewis, 30
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andre_Lewis_(footballer)
Estimated Transfer Value: €175,000
FORWARD
Pierre Reedy, 27
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Reedy
Estimated Transfer Value: €100,000
Neco Brett, 33
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neco_Brett
Estimated Transfer Value: €125,000
Shavon John-Brown, 29
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shavon_John-Brown
Estimated Transfer Value: €100,000
Familiar Faces
None that I know of.
Squads
Sounders FC Reserves from:
Castro, Helleren, Shour, Alvarez, Diaw, Katsaros, Lopez, Sandnes, Yamada, Baer, Brito, Brun, Brunell, Carli, Dodzi, Emert, Gaffney, Gomez, Kang, Kingston, Newman, Pedder, Robles, De Rosario, Hassan, Khoury, Tsukanome, Veillard.
Also these players from the Sounders FC senior squad and possibly others may be selected:
Thomas, Baker, Baker-Whiting, Burney, Kim, Kossa-Rienzi, Sousa, Leyva, Musovski.
Spokane from:
Bilichuk, Merancio, Javier Gil, Crisler, Garcia, Lage, Miller, Opara, Jome, Waldeck, Fernandez, Vinyals, Luis Gil, Hernandez, Denton, Meredith, Lewis, Akale, Brett, Reedy, Pelaez, John-Brown, Wells.
Injury List
Yeh, there’s no idea, and no one is saying anything and no one is surely going to post anything. So no information because gatekeeping.
Discipline
Sounders FC Reserves: Yamada and Baer are out next match if booked.
Spokane: Meredith and Garcia are out next match if booked.
Fun Fact
Sounders FC Reserves have just signed midfielder Charles Dodzi. The 19 year-old was developed at DME Academy, is a Ghanian youth international, and participated in a United States U-19s camp last year.
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