The 2019 season is officially upon us, which means that in addition to rosters, line-ups, jerseys, and sponsors, we can now obsess over how the players who give those items meaning are spatially arranged on the field.
Based on the preseason, the Seattle Sounders will line up in their usual 4-2-3-1 to kick off the year. Last preseason, the Sounders tinkered with a 4-4-2 diamond in multiple matches, sparking intrigue about the ways a secondary formation could affect the overall campaign. This year, there has been no such tinkering. Brian Schmetzer has run out a 4-2-3-1 in all five of the team’s public warm-up games.