PORTLAND — Seattle Sounders defender Roman Torres made his return to game action in Sunday night’s 4-2 loss to the Portland Timbers, the Panamanian international’s first appearance after spending the last 350 days recovering from a torn ACL suffered last September.
Torres was activated on Tuesday and traveled with the team to Houston midweek - he was on the 18-man roster but did not play - and then finally made his return as a second-half substitute vs. the Timbers.
“[I’m] happy to be back,” Torres said through a translator. “I feel good. At first I felt a little fear, but then I got more confident. With the support of my teammates I feel good and strong.”
After allowing four first-half goals, the Sounders conceded none once Torres entered. He was able to contain the big body of Fanendo Adi and limit the chances the Timbers could create on set pieces and crosses into the box. He also prevented a goal on a sliding challenge that somehow managed to stay out of the net.
“I needed to go in with lots of concentration and motivation to be able to see if we could turn things around,” Torres said. “We scored two goals and I believe we had opportunities to tie the game … [Schmetzer] was congratulating me on being able to start [the second half] and telling me to concentrate on the game and have a good time.”
Torres’ return does affect the dynamic of the Sounders’ back four. He replaced Tyrone Mears and then slotted into center back with Chad Marshall, pushing Brad Evans out wide to right back.
“That’ll be a change for me,” Evans said. “[Torres will] step in and continue into that role, so I have to find a new position. Credit to where credit is due, he’s a big boy, he can handle himself, especially against any striker in this league. He did well for his first game back, we’re happy to have him out there.”
If anything, Torres’ return will give Schmetzer some leeway and chances to tinker defensively as he sees fit ahead of the team’s road match at the San Jose Earthquakes on Sept. 10.
He’ll need to find the right combination defensively that will allow his outside backs to still attack, while feeling confident in his center backs to mitigate too many counterattacks. A potential playoff will depend on that balance.
