Editor's Note: As the Seattle Sounders' MLS regular season opener draws closer, SoundersFC.com contributor Will Parchman will take a look at the team position by position every day this week, leading up to the team's match against Sporting Kansas City at CenturyLink Field on Sunday (4 p.m. PT; FS1/KIRO 97.3 FM/El Rey 1360AM). In the fourth part of the series, Parchman analyzes the team's three goalkeepers, led by starter Stefan Frei.
How inimitable goalkeeper Stefan Frei plans to top his 2015 season is a point of considerable interest in Seattle Sounders circles this year.
Perhaps the bigger question, though, is whether it’s even possible.
Last year, Frei’s 125 saves were second-best in MLS. He tied for first in goals conceded, had the highest save percentage in the league at 77 and the lowest goals-against average at 1.06. He was third in the league in saves per game with 3.6, and even that was artificially lowered because his defense kept so much pressure off his back.
Frei ultimately didn’t make the cut as a finalist for the MLS Goalkeeper of the Year award, but there’s a hearty argument that he deserved it. And building off that success in 2016, as hard as that may seem, should fuel arguably Seattle’s most in-form player over the last year. If Seattle head coach Sigi Schmid is worried about any position for this upcoming season, it certainly isn’t Frei’s.
Frei’s pure shot-stopping ability has never been in question over the breadth of his MLS career with both Toronto FC and Seattle, but after a two-year layoff from starting soccer in 2012 and 2013, there were questions about whether his aerial and organizational ability would suffer. Those were both areas for marked improvement for the Swiss international, and the Sounders hoped to tease that out of his game in 2015.
And boy did they. Frei emerged as a strong presence on corners and dead balls, and his job pulling together an otherwise veteran back line speaks to his savvy and respected character in the locker room.
Whether or not Frei uses his award snub to fuel his 2016 season is uncertain, but the fact that Seattle has a veteran with feline reflexes manning the goal this season should allay any fears about the defense taking a step back in 2016 with a new formation. The question now is simply who fills in depth behind him.
In the offseason, Seattle parted ways with longtime MLS veteran Troy Perkins, who promptly retired and joined the Sounders Academy coaching staff. Perkins filled in sparingly last year during Frei’s only bout with injury in July, and, predictably, he performed admirably in those matches. But now Perkins is gone, and he’s ceded his former spot to a pair of young players who may be asked to grow up fast in 2016.
As is, Frei is one of three ‘keepers on the roster. The other two are youngsters Tyler Miller and Charlie Lyon, who have an average age of 22.5. Miller was drafted by the Sounders last year but opted to spend the spring in the German fifth division. He returned in the summer and signed a contract with the Sounders, but by then Lyon had already established himself as the No. 1 with S2.
For his part, Lyon had a quality season with S2 last season, clocking more than 2,000 minutes and putting in a handful of memorable saves. Whether Miller’s brief experience in Germany buttressed his bid for the No. 2 role or Lyon’s full season in the system already gives him the edge when the season arrives, we’ll have to wait and see. Both are young, and neither has appeared in an MLS match before, let alone one for the Sounders. There are plenty of questions here about whether either would be ready if called upon in an emergency.
But that’s the rub. Frei has proven extremely durable since joining Seattle, and he’s logged about 5,800 minutes over the last two seasons alone. The probability is that the backups wouldn’t be thrust into action except during cup matches, but therein lies the unpredictability of injuries. You never know. And with salary needs elsewhere, it’s unlikely the Sounders would actively go after a high profile backup knowing they have two capable if inexperienced backups already on the roster.
So here we are at the precipice of the 2016 season. Regardless of how the depth looks, if Frei can resume the blistering pace he set last year, there might be more trophies in his future yet.
