LOWE COMES IN

Seattle Sounders recently brought in Damion Lowe in the Superdraft and the defender is expected to be a major part of the club’s plans over the next few years. Still just 20 years old, he has a long time to develop his game and become one of the best defenders in the MLS. Manager Sigi Schmid said that the club was looking to lower the age of the defenders in this transfer window and they have done excellently that after the arrival of players like Lowe. Jalil Anibaba was also brought to the club for the eighth spot.

At just 25 years of age, Jalil Anibaba also has his best years ahead of him. Lowe said that he is extremely delighted to join a club like Seattle Sounders, which also means that he will get to play alongside great names like Clint Dempsey. Lowe has also raised expectations by claiming that he has always been starting matches. Even though he accepts that it will not be easy at a club like Seattle, his expectations are already at starting the matches rather than being used as a backup. Seattle Sounders only manage a fourth place finish in the table last season, while they were knocked out in the play-offs by Portland Timbers.

“Our guys were pretty much gone at that stage. [Patrick] Mullins was still on the board, but we had made a lot of moves for forwards in the offseason. We felt we had enough depth at that position that made sure we provided ourselves depth and youth in the back. We were staring to get a little bit older there. We think he’s a young center back with a bright future. We think he has great potential. We were happy with that,” said Schmid have to the club completed the signings of Lowe and Anibaba.

SCHMID STAYS

Joe Roth, the owner of Seattle Sounders, has made it clear that Sigi Schmid will not be terminated from his post of manager.

Seattle had performed very poorly towards the end of the last season. Out of their last 10 games, they had managed to win just 1 and at the end of the season, there were speculations that the boss Schmid might face the axe, but, the club owners seem to have got a lot of confidence in the 60 years old German manager and they have decided to keep him at the club for another season.

Schmid has been in charge at Seattle Sounders since the last 5 years and the team has achieved quite a lot of success under him.

Talking to the reporters in a press conference yesterday, Roth said, “We have evaluated Sigi’s work thoroughly and we have come to the conclusion that he should continue managing our side. Yes, we are disappointed with our performance in the latter half of the last season, but, Sigi is hugely experienced and we can’t just write him off on the basis of one poor season.”

“Under Sigi, we have qualified for the playoffs for 5 consecutive seasons and that’s a big achievement. Not many teams have done that. We have got full faith in Sigi and we are totally backing him. He will be provided all the resources and we are hoping that he guides the team to MLS Cup glory next season.”

Seattle Sounders played a total of 34 games last season out of which they managed to win 15. They got defeated in 12 games, while, the remaining 7 games were draws. They ended up at the 4th position in the Western Conference points table with 52 points.