Sounders FC begin training today

Sounders FC's first training camp in franchise history starts today, and coach Sigi Schmid is eager to get it going.

"I'm tired of looking at this team on paper," Schmid said. "I want to look at the team actually on the field and see how all the moving parts actually fit together."

Schmid won't have all of his moving parts, however. At least not to start camp. First-round draft pick Steve Zakuani and second-rounder Evan Brown are expected to be at Seahawks headquarters for the first practice this morning, but the two other picks, Jared Karkas and Michael Fucito, won't join the team until Feb. 2. Designated player Freddie Ljungberg is still rehabilitating from hip surgery. Defender Jeff Parke remains unsigned and midfielder Peter Vagenas has been given permission to report next week.

But those early absences shouldn't dampen the enthusiasm for the start of camp. The first round of workouts runs through Jan. 31 with daily practices except this Sunday, and then Sounders FC heads south to California for a couple of weeks of two-a-day sessions and practice games.

Eight of the team's expansion draft players (except Parke and Vagenas) are expected, plus two draft choices, goalkeeper Kasey Keller, midfielder Sanna Nyassi, forward Sebastien Le Toux and goalkeeper Chris Eylander. Additionally, an invited group of former United Soccer Leagues Sounders will bolster the ranks in camp.

That group of former Sounders includes Taylor Graham, Nik Besagno, Leighton O'Brien, Danny Jackson, Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar, Kevin Sakuda and Roger Levesque.

Most roster spots aren't guaranteed. The practices and eventual exhibition games will determine who makes the final 20-man senior roster and four-man developmental roster; Zakuani, as a Generation Adidas player, will count on the roster as a developmental player.

Conceivably, a few international players will be signed or loaned out to Sounders FC. One is Colombian forward Freddy Montero, who is with the team now.

Defender Khano Smith, taken in the expansion draft last November, was among those who arrived for pre-training physicals Tuesday.

"Preseason is important for every team, but for us I'm sure it will be more significant," Smith told the Bermuda Sun newspaper. "Most of us know each other, and we know each other's strengths and weaknesses so I'm sure it won't take us long to jell."

Smith said there is excitement about being part of a new team, but as soccer players, the most important thing is the chance to play.

Schmid and his coaching staff, including Ezra Hendrickson, a former player for Schmid in Los Angeles and Columbus who was hired as an assistant Tuesday, will be on the field for the first time.

"It always seems like the offseason goes by too quickly," Schmid said. He never got one — after leading the Columbus Crew to the Major League Soccer championship in November, Schmid was hired by Seattle.

"But starting a new team and being involved with it, it's actually gone by slowly."

Schmid has learned, over his years of coaching in MLS, to be more patient at times and not force the issue so much. He wants his players to start training playing well but not get too excited about any little thing that goes right or wrong.

"Whether it's push too hard fitness-wise, or whether to have your expectations maybe be too high at the beginning," Schmid said. "But that doesn't mean that we're going to accept mediocrity."

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