Current Sounders have eyes on MLS moves

TUKWILA — The giant blue sign in the bleachers spoke volumes. It read "Always In Our Hearts," a gesture of appreciation toward the United Soccer Leagues First Division Sounders for all the team has accomplished. The team played its regular-season finale — and likely the franchise's final regular-season game ever — Saturday at Starfire Sports Complex.

The end of the USL Sounders was one thing on the players' minds. But there's something else that has been in the thoughts of the Sounders for about a year: Major League Soccer's new franchise on the horizon, Seattle Sounders FC.

The expansion draft, naming a coach, signing more players and training camp are on Sounders FC's to-do list. Ask the Sounders, and they'll say that being on that first MLS team to take the pitch in Seattle is important.

Maybe too important right now.

"Our team has sat down and we tried to put some of these issues out on the table," defender Taylor Graham said, "because the reality is that it's going to be ever-present on a lot of guys' minds. But at the same time it's counterproductive to be thinking about it."

The Sounders have the USL First Division playoffs to focus on first. The Sounders play the Montreal Impact in the first round at 7 p.m. Friday at the Starfire Sports & Entertainment Complex.

"It's a great opportunity and everybody knows that, but the only thing we can do to increase our chances for next year is to seize the opportunity now and play well and to peak at the right time," Graham added.

Most, if not all, current Sounders have a desire to be a Sounders FC player. The MLS club, says general manager Adrian Hanauer, can make as many as 10 "discovery" claims, either current Sounders or a combination of current Sounders and USL players from other teams. Those who aren't signed can be invited to Sounders FC training camp early next year, with up to 40 players in all expected to be in camp competing for the 28-man roster.

There are 26 Sounders on the USL team, including two MLS-Sounders-to-be — forward Sebastien Le Toux and midfielder Sanna Nyassi. It's presumed that more current Sounders will become discovery signings, but how many is uncertain.

Some factors in determining who will get signed are age, potential and, presumably, previous MLS experience. Graham, 28, and midfielder Josh Gardner, 26, are players who might be what Hanauer and technical director Chris Henderson are looking for.

Graham played two seasons with the Kansas City Wizards. Gardner spent three with the Los Angeles Galaxy and won a league title in 2005.

"It would be great to get back into MLS," Gardner said. "I want to play at the highest level that I can."

So does Sounders FC go for youth, experience, or a combination of the two in building its team?

"Those guys obviously have a little more value because they know what the league's about," USL Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer said of those with MLS experience. "But having said that, I can name a ton of examples — there's a lot of guys in that 'tweener' range of the best on USL and bottom of the MLS rosters."

Hanauer wouldn't say how many USL Sounders will be on the MLS team, but figures a few could be on the 18-man senior roster and perhaps a few more under age 26 will make the 10-man developmental squad.

"It's been an unspoken thing, it's been a spoken thing, it's been a distraction, it's been a carrot at the end of a stick," Schmetzer said of the MLS situation.

One veteran Sounder has hired a personal trainer to help him keep in shape for a run at the MLS club. Schmetzer said some players are dead set on playing for the MLS team and are working toward that goal while others have wondered aloud about their futures.

Schmetzer and Hanauer, who runs the USL Sounders, have had the benefit of watching the USL players all season. The evaluation process has been ongoing. Schmetzer said being the right fit for the Sounders FC system — Hanauer has said he wants it to be an attacking style on offense — is also important when it comes to who will be signed.

There is one USL Sounder who is certainly being targeted for an MLS contract. That's goalkeeper Chris Eylander, whom Hanauer has said he would like to sign to be Kasey Keller's backup.

"It's where I've been working for," said Eylander, an Auburn native and former UW player. "In a perfect world that's where I'd like to be. I really like Seattle. It feels like a home to me."

Note

• Tickets are $13 in advance, $15 at the gate.

José Miguel Romero: 206-464-2409 or jromero@seattletimes.com