Plenty of soccer coaches will claim to believe that a player’s age or experience is not in itself a disqualifying trait when it comes to playing time. Few of them, however, seem willing to put that into practice.
Playing in a foreign country in the season opener with a lineup missing several key pieces, Seattle Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer looked at his roster and picked 16-year-old Obed Vargas to start. The Alaska native never looked out of place.
Vargas completed a team-high 92% of his 51 passes, was sound defensively and even found himself involved in a couple of the Sounders’ best attacking movements in Thursday’s 0-0 draw against Motagua.