TUKWILA, Wash. – When Seattle Sounders center back Brad Evans and head coach Sigi Schmid thought back to the MLS Cup-winning squad that they were both a part of with the Columbus Crew back in 2008, each had a similar sentiment.
“That team was extremely close,” Evans told reporters following Seattle’s practice on Wednesday. “A lot of good guys, guys where we still all keep in contact now. Any city that we go, any wedding that we go to, everybody’s together. It was a special group.”
As Seattle prepares for its road matchup with Columbus at MAPFRE Stadium on Saturday, Schmid also reminisced on the tight bond shared by that ’08 championship team, adding that the similar age and interests of many of the players made for a special type of camaraderie that stands out in his mind.
“That group was a little more homogenous in the sense that guys were similar in age a little bit,” Schmid said. “They had a lot of similar interests in their lives at that point. They were all trying to do the same thing. …It was just a good group. They loved to play cards together, they liked to hang out together. So that’s what made that work, it was sort of a group that was similar in age and had similar interests.”
Seattle’s other starting center back Chad Marshall joins Evans and Schmid in completing a trio of faces on Seattle’s roster that had some of their finest MLS moments with the Crew. Marshall won two Defender of the Year awards as the anchor of Columbus’ backline and eventual face of the franchise, even scoring the game-winning goal in that 2008 MLS Cup.
As Marshall gears up for his first appearance back in Columbus as a member of the opposition, he noted how different a look the current make-up of the Crew is from his decade-long stint there before coming to Seattle in a trade before the start of last season.
“It’s very different,” Marshall said. “They got a whole new coaching staff, they got a new owner, things have changed a lot there. It’s going to be interesting to see what they’ve done with the place. But, yeah, it’s a completely different team.”
Of course, the Sounders have bigger things on their mind than any sort of nostalgia. Seattle is in the midst of a three-game winning streak and lead the Western Conference in points per game, a strong run of form that they would love to continue at the expense of their Midwest foes.
“I think you’re going to see a wide-open game, I think you’re going to see a lot of attacking soccer,” Schmid said of Saturday’s match. “Columbus likes to attack, they like to throw people forward. We certainly have some guys up front who do a fair amount of attacking as well. So I think you’re going to see a pretty open game, a pretty end-to-end game.”
