Sounders | French import a priceless asset

Chalk up another offseason coup for the Seattle Sounders.

The Sounders struck it rich even before the 2007 season started, just as they did by landing eventual stars and future Major League Soccer players Brian Ching in 2002 and Maykel Galindo in 2005.

Enter Frenchman Sebastien Le Toux.

Le Toux could be the final ingredient to the Sounders bringing home their fourth United Soccer Leagues First Division championship since 1995 and first since 2005 as the playoffs open tonight.

It took a combination of luck and persistence for the Sounders to land another unpolished jewel.

"Let's just say that the makeup and style of our team would've been a lot different without him," said Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer, who believes Le Toux is a solid league MVP candidate.

A couple of chance meetings with Sounders managing partner Adrian Hanauer, including one in Le Toux's native France, and his release from a tryout with FC Dallas of MLS in February landed Le Toux with the Sounders.

Throw in the fact that the 23-year-old Le Toux primarily played midfielder and defender throughout his career, and it makes his contribution at forward more of a surprise. Le Toux led Seattle (22-8-7 overall) to a regular-season USL First Division title by tying for the league lead in goals with 10 and finishing second in scoring with 22 points.

"I hadn't played forward since I was 10 years old," said Le Toux.

Le Toux's star is shining brightly heading into the Sounders' first-round playoff matchup against the expansion Carolina Railhawks, the eighth and final seed.

Seattle, the No. 1 seed with a 16-6-6 regular-season mark and 54 points, travels to SAS Soccer Park in Cary, N.C., for Game 1 of the two-match aggregate series tonight at 4:30 p.m. PDT and returns to Qwest Field on Sunday at 6 p.m.

"Getting him on the team was the easy part," said Schmetzer of Le Toux. "Finding where he was going to play was a little more tricky. Sitting in practice, you'd watch him run up and down the field. He was always moving. He just kept making his way up front."

Hanauer met up with Le Toux at a French Third Division match in Vannes, France, in January after the Sounders executive made a chance call to Le Toux's agent while traveling Europe in search of players.

"I told him if things didn't work out in Dallas that we would welcome at our tryouts," Hanauer said.

It's easy to see why Le Toux was moved to forward.

"He just had this energy," Schmetzer said. "He was happiest when running toward the goal."