Veteran defender Zach Scott is returning to the Seattle Sounders for his 15th professional season, the club announced Friday, because of course he is.
Veteran defender Zach Scott is returning to the Seattle Sounders for his 15th professional season, the club announced Friday, because of course he is.
The 35-year-old center back has played in more than 300 games for the Sounders bridging the USL and MLS eras and been written off nearly as many times. Scott wasn’t even expected to make the initial MLS roster yet became a trusted regular. He played through an arthritic ankle in 2014 and a broken foot the majority of last season yet started playoff games at the end of each campaign.
And though many expected him to finally retire after the club declined to pick up his contract option last month, Scott will return for another shot at the MLS Cup that has eluded him and the Sounders since that inaugural major-league campaign.
“It’s exciting to bring back a player who competes as hard as Zach does day in and day out,” Sounders coach Sigi Schmid said in a club statement. “His toughness, resilience and experience have always made him a valuable member of this team.”
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The addition of Scott provides stability to a position with legitimate question marks entering training camp.
Roman Torres is recovering from a knee injury, and he won’t return until midseason even in best-case scenario. Brad Evans was deposed as a full-time center back after the Torres signing before grudgingly being plugged back in following the injury. Chad Marshall looked a step below his 2014 form, when he won the league’s Defender of the Year award. Scott’s signing doesn’t exactly fit into the team’s oft-stated desire to get younger in the margins, but he’s a player Schmid trusts in spot duty.
Per team and MLS policy, terms of Scott’s deal were not disclosed.