It’s almost March, and that means Sounders football…

It’s almost March, and that means the Sounders are almost here! And what an opening game we have, Mexican champions Santos Laguna for a place in the semifinals of the CONCACAF Champions League. It could be argued that this is the biggest game this club will play until the playoffs come into view.

This is a huge game, Santos Laguna are in a three way split on top of the Mexican league and can be thought of as real contenders to win the Champions League. Win or loose, it gives the Sounders a chance to set the tone for the rest of the year.

Ten days we take part in that age old tradition and walk to the ground for the first league game of the year, full of optimism and still undefeated. That’s going to be a fun, and rowdy St Patrick’s Day.

There have been a lot of change this year for Seattle, mostly positive and this is a team that’s being built to win this year after another early exit from the playoffs last fall. There were excuses (Zakuani, Rosales and White missed significant games), but ultimately the expectations of the Sounders fan base are rightfully high. The Open Cup win was one of the best moments I’ve experienced as a supporter, but I’d swap it for a playoff win any day.

Going into this off-season I think there were two really big questions. First was who was going to play alongside Montero. Second was who is going to stand between the posts and run the back four after Kasey Keller’s retirement.

The question of whom Montero is going to play with up front was answered with the arrival of Eddie Johnson. If Montero and Johnson work well together things look very bright. Add to that a fit and motivated Rosales and hopefully soon Zakuani and we have an attack that’s as capable as any in the league, including the downright intimidating Donavon/Becks/Keane/Buddle line up in LA.
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Montero has not consistently shown true world-class ability. We’ve seen flashes of it, but if he really wants to play in Europe this probably needs to be his breakout year before he’s considered too old.

Clearly Zakuani the really big question after the horrendous leg break in Colorado. We hope he’s fit to start this year and can recapture the form that scared defenders when he ran at them.  It seems that he may not be ready to start just yet and who knows when he will be ready to be the Steve of old, but there will be 40,000 turning up every week hoping to see some more of his magic.

No one is going to replace Keller, that’s clear, but the acquisition of Austrian Michael Gspurning has the makings of another good decision. He’s got international experience and is just coming into the prime of his career. How he plays and works with his back four is going to big part of determining how this team does in 2012.

The Sounders added a couple of Scandinavians to the roster. Adam Johansson was signed from IFK Göteborg seems like a direct replacement for James Riley with the usual remit to get forward when the opportunity presents itself. The second was Christian Sivebaek who seems to be in a similar role to Erik Freiberg, some depth off the bench and occasional starting in the middle of the field.

We’ve a lot of change during this off season, the team has not been blown up, but we’ve lost a few stalwarts of the first three years of this team, along with a couple of players who looked capable of cracking the starting 11. The front office has earned our faith in their scouting and decisions in the past, but what’s going to define success in 2012?

So here’s what I think success will look like

• Go deep into the playoffs, unquestionably #1
• Retain the Cascadia Cup
• Good showing in the Champions League (both the 11/12 and 12/13 versions)
• Quarter-finals of the Open Cup, new format makes it harder to win but also a better test

If everything comes together, and a majority of the “ifs” come true then this team is good enough to compete with LA for the Supporters Shield. The play-offs are about hitting form at the right time and a total crapshoot.

Seattle has not been the only one working hard this off-season, Vancouver and Portland have been busy. Both sides have upgraded in attack, I especially like Portland’s acquisition of Kris Boyd, and friends are raving about Franck Songo’o. The Cascadia Cup promises to be just part of a very fun year off football.

I’m ready, so ready.