The part of the Sounders's strategy getting lost in the debate.

The Sounders are investing in youth, but really young.

The Town FC v Tacoma
The Town FC v Tacoma | Lyndsay Radnedge/ISI Photos/GettyImages

The Sounders have had a off-season to some have been brilliant to some and underwhelming to others. Of course I believe we should wait and see. But while Sounder's fans are yelling at each other about Craig Waibel no 1's talking about 1 of the most crucial part of the Sounders's strategy. 1 of the most frequent critiques is the age of our core, something that I agree with. Our average age is around 30 in the starting XI and we're starting many players who are either are or about to be out of their prime. Though this has led to many wanting the Sounders to spend big and spend young. And while I'm not totally against that not enough talk is being given to how well the Sounders is building a new young core.

This year has seen the arrivals of many young talents this off-season and even before this off-season have been acquiring many young talents. And are clearly trying to slowly trickle younger talents into the squad, a approach again I disagree with. And there's so many younger talents to look forward to being future Sounders superstars.

Reed Baker-Whiting is 1 of the most exciting young talents not only for the Sounders but for the USA. 1 of the most creative players in the Sounders squad he's also great in arial duels and tackling. Someone who can contribute both offensively and defensively a full-back for the modern era. And someone who once he becomes more disciplined and consistent can blossom into a true superstar.

And not enough can be said about 19 year old Obed Vargas. His career has barely started but already he's had a handful of great moments for the Seattle Sounders like being subbed on and doing great in the 2022 CCL final. He's ability to hold on to the ball and dribble is unmatched for players his age in the US. And he's great defensively as well again valuable on both sides of the ball. The Sounders know what kind of defenders they want.

But this year has seen many promising young talents being signed to the Sounders youth ranks. That show that the Sounders ambition lie in the future and not in the present. Signings such as Stuart Hawkins who for years now has been touted as a top youngster in the Sounders youth ranks and that's not for no reason. According to the coaches he's a hard worker going to the gym every day for countless hours. And has especially impressive intelligence with the game. Which helps him be a truly modern CB, not only can he defend greatly he can dribble and advance the ball and make the right pass to start the attack. So truly a great assets for any of the great European teams that have possession based style of play, which is most of them. At least in a few years if the Sounders can develop him. Perhaps in a few years a switch to CDM could be in the cards with his skillset though I'll doubt that'll be with us since we're bit stacked there at the moment.

And he's only 1 of the few young defenders the Sounders have signed this season that show great promise. We've also signed both Travian Sousa and Leo Burney. Travian Sousa is a Left-Back from California who comes from the Sounders own youth ranks with his most recent club being Tacoma Defiance our youth ranks. Though comes from the youth ranks of Hamburg. He even scored his 3rd ever goal for the Defiance this past season. And he's done well this year, improving by having 6 total goal contributions 5 assists and the goal which shows his improvement. As in his 1st season he had a 4 goal contributions (2 goals, 2 assists) and in his 2nd season is (3 assists) so this season was a major step-up in his playmaking. He seems to be working hard, a psychical defender who'll shove people off the ball and a potential great option off the bench when we need a extra playmaker. As for the highly educated Leo Burney he was tennis player turned Ivy League defender Leo Burney. Going to college at Penn so you know he's smart. He dropped tennis at 12 to pursue his dream of becoming a centerback and he's been nothing but successful since. 4 time 1st team All-Ivy defender in his senior year he became the captain of the Quakers much to the love of his teammates. A great communicator who is more than capable of making the final tackle to prevent a easy goal and is a great distributor of the ball. And great at closing down 1 on 1s. He's a great addition to add to our youth ranks. Someone with high potential to become a great centerback in the MLS.

But truly the most impressive have been the u-18s the Sounders have been sent in to their youth ranks. Like Defiance signing 17yo goalkeeper, Mo Shour and what the Sierra-Leonese American keeper is a very promising keeper who's been in Seattle's youth ranks for years! So thanks a bunch for reading, nah let's prove that to you rather than live it there. He started playing goalkeeper at local club PAC Northwest after playing on the wing. And in the few years he's played the position he's become one of the most promising young goalkeepers in America. Even ex-PAC Northwest Goalkeeper Coach Forrest Marowitz (awesome name by the way) knew Shour was special from the moment he 1st saw him play in a proper match.

“His team had a tough opponent and he just saved shot after shot and a bunch of 1-v-1’s,” said Marowitz in heavy admiration. “He never backed down from a challenge. His coach and I looked at each other and just knew this kid was going to be a star.”
Shour’s work ethic of course propelled his growth forward by a ton as a goalkeeper thus far. And earned high praise from the coaches around him.
“He was taking multiple buses to training multiple times per week, he would train during Ramadan, he always had a smile on his face, and he wanted to do extra training, asking if he could jump in with older kids and girls’ sessions,” said Marowitz. “It's been great to see all of his hard work pay off.”
He actually played 3 matches for the Defiance in 2024 and even joined the team in 2023.


Because of all the praise he was generating Shour would also train twice per week with the Sounders through the SDP program while still playing with PAC Northwest.
And he shown his ambition and drive to improve to the Sounders by when he would go straight from Sounders Academy trainings to PAC GK sessions because of his desire to get more reps. And with better resources plus a direct line to the local MLS team, it was a very smart move on his part indeed.


His most notable moment by far was in the MLS NEXT All-Star Game where he was named MVP. “They brought in 22 players from the East and the West, and he got to show that he was the best player out of the Western pool,” said VP of Player Development Henry Brauner. “[Mo had] good presence, good personality and just kind of showed that he was a step above.” On the July 19th game he made a ton of immaculate saves especially for someone his age to lead the West team to victory. “They brought in 22 players from the East and the West, and he got to show that he was the best player out of the Western pool,” said VP of Player Development Henry Brauner. “[Mo had] good presence, good personality and just kind of showed that he was a step above.”

And from that he's only being earning more accolades. As the Washington Native Shour has been invited to 2 different U.S. U-16 Youth National Team camps. “Mo's pretty driven and ambitious himself, so as much as the coaches put into him, it's also matched by what Mo gives out and puts back into that developmental space and environment as well,” said Brauner. “He's going and playing with the national team's respective age group and he's getting international exposure there and with [the Sounders], so he's really taken advantage of all the opportunities being given.”

While he started as “playing goalkeeper for fun,” according to the man himself Shour, has turned into something far beyond his expectations. “I wasn't really looking at the future of what could happen if I kept playing the position, so it means a lot,” said Shour. “Being a goalkeeper for the Sounders is a really big deal for me.” And he's currently focusing on nothing more than the present moment. “My goal is to just keep improving at my pace and not worrying about anything other than myself,” said Shour. “Everybody's goal is to be signed with the first team, but right now, I want to keep developing my craft and try to perfect it.”

And now his dedication to the game eventually brought him to the Defiance on a full pro contract where they'll be expecting him to continue his great mentality which'll further his growth into a elite keeper for the USMNT 1 day hopefully. “If he continues to do the things he's been doing, and he continues to exhibit the behavior and values that he has been showing, he's going to be just fine,” said Brauner. “If he wants to be a professional, which I believe he does, he can get there.” But he isn't as promising as our next signing if you can believe that.

With the 15 year old Omar Hassan who's now on the Tacoma Defiance. And he's the 2nd youngest player ever to join the youth ranks of the Seattle Sounders! Only behind Danny Leyva was when he first signed with Sounders 2 in 2018. With Hassan only a few months older than Leyva when he signed.

As for the teen himself he's been 1 of the most promising not only in the US but in the world. Since starting his youth career it's been nothing but success for the speedy and skillful winger. In his Tacoma Defiance debut earlier this year, scoring in his 1st game against Minnesota United 2. But not content to leave it at that Hassan also has spent a fair amount of this offseason training with teams in Germany. And has used that improve quickly and gain some international recognition. As he had a three-goal outburst at the Valtko Markovic tournament where he won MVP when he was only 14.

The half Somalian winger transferred over from the Barca academy on March, 1st, 2023 which shows that he's been exposed to elite training for awhile now. And so far has put it to amazing use having 4 goals in 7 appearances. He shows extreme promise and not only might be a star for the Sounders 1 day but for clubs and leagues well above our stature. I certainly hope so I wish the best for all young talents trying to make their dreams of becoming superstars true. Because the more superstars the better! And speaking of that's not even getting into out draft picks for this year.

Let's go in order that's the easiest way to do things after all. So we start with our 1st round pick for the 28th pick of the draft, Ryan Baer from West Virginia University. The man from Huntersville, North Carolina has some brains on him making CSC Academic All-District Team. But of course we mostly drafted him based on soccer ability not brains so how great is he at that. While he's listed as a midfielder he's mostly on the defense side though can be a great playmaker in the clutch as he got 2 assists his senior season. 1 in a season-opening win over California Baptist and the other in the Sun Belt Championship game at Marshall. He was crucial to a defense that had 9 shutouts and allowed just 0.96 goals per game that saw him played in all 24 games with 23 starts, totaling 1,855 minutes. And was the team captain so saying he contributed a lot to the team is a understatement.

And in his junior year he earned a spot a Sun Belt Commissioner's List. And as for clutch assists well in only his freshman year he notched a pair of assists, including the game-winning helper, in March 31’s win over Western Michigan. As for how he'll fit in the team. I find it extremely interesting they drafted him on the same day that it was confirmed they'd bring back veteran Joao Paulo. And make my article saying good bye to him irrelevant. Mostly it'll be 1 of 2 options, either he and Paulo will rotate starts between each other throughout the season or Baer will be a super sub for Joao Paulo and will get frequent appearances but off the bench. Either way I'm sure Joao Paulo will play a important role as a mentor figure for the upcoming North Carolinian.

Next is a local Demian Alvarez the only person who I've ever met in anyway that shares my 1st name. He's a local while from Chico, California he went to Seattle University for 2 years and did a amazing job. Moving to Ballard FC in the USL. In 2023 after the Seattle U team that had a impressive 5 clean sheets for his impressive contribution was named Second Team All-WAC. And that wasn't the only award he earned in the 2020s. Also earning, GNAC All Conference 1st Team Fall ’s, United Soccer Coaches West Region 2nd Team: Fall ‘22, GNAC League Champion: Fall ‘21, USL 2 Champion: Summer ‘23. No doubt a psychical defender considering that his other love is wrestling. I'm sure he'll be a excellent rotation piece throughout the year and I hope he grows into a hometown hero very soon.

And with our last pick in the 3rd round with the 76th pick is the best named of the 3, sorry my namesake Trace Terry. I mean that sounds like the alter ego of a speedster superhero. The Bowling Green is exactly what the fans ordered, a forward. In 18 appearances all of which were starts he had a very impressive 12 goals and 5 assists 1 short of a goal contribution per game. A major improvement from his 4 goals and 6 assists in 21 games his sophomore year showing a great work ethic, determination and mindset. And for it earned many rewards and accolades, An All-American, as he was named to the United Soccer Coaches All-America Second Team, Named to the All-MVC First Team, Also named to the MVC's All-Tournament Team , A United Soccer Coaches All-West Region First-Team selection,
Named to the Top Drawer Soccer Midseason Top 100 list in mid-October, checking in at No. 16
,Had been named to the Preseason All-MVC Team in August, On Oct. 1, was named MVC Offensive Player of the Week for the second-straight week, in his 2nd year he was Named to the All-MVC Second Team and was also voted to the OCSA All-Ohio First Team. With the Sounders scoring trouble I'm sure coaches will be watching him closely and he'll get lots of opportunities to shine and will continue his impressive improvement and become a very important part of the Sounders lineup in the coming future!

And those are the players I believe the Sounders are putting their stock in for great reason. They all have amazing talent and I'm sure we'll become Sounders Superstars soon! Thanks a bunch for reading!