Sounders coach talks Joevin Jones and other newcomers

The Sounders have concluded their second day of preseason training. One of the primary topics was new left back Joevin Jones. We’ll be adding a video of Sigi Schmid talking about Jones, and then a full story on Jones for the newspaper.

Here’s Schmid on a few other topics:

On result’s of the morning’s fitness tests: There are some that are good, some that are not so good. So you always take that balance. But the most important thing coming out of the fitness tests is we have a base point and we know where we work from. Overall I was pretty pleased with where I team was at.

On injured Sounders: Torres, Craven we’re still holding out right now. Those are the two off our roster.

On the re-signing of 35-year-old defender Zach Scott: It’s great that Zach’s back. For us it’s really important at the beginning of the year because of Champions League, because we’re looking at a lot of young centerbacks. We’ve got Marshall and Evans as experienced centerbacks, Torres is still out, so Zach helps get us through that period of time with an experienced backup as well. And then we’ve got to see how the young guys come. Zach’s a Sounder. He’s a Sounder through and through. Hopefully that will never-ever change and we’re happy to have him with us.

On trialists and draftees providing depth: We’re looking at things for sure and the combination of who eventually makes our second team as well, S2, are guys who we think have potential to eventually push on. Every year the roster changes and you need young guys who are going to push and try and get themselves in. There are certainly openings on our squad, depth-wise, and again with injuries and everything else, things happen. You’ve got to have more than just 15-16 players.

This story was originally published January 25, 2016 at 1:59 PM with the headline "Sounders coach talks Joevin Jones and other newcomers."