Seattle Sounders FC: What to know about MLS’s first Club World Cup participant | MLSSoccer.com

Seattle’s Brazilian No. 6 tore his ACL in final 12 months’s CCL Closing, however has been coaching with the membership in preseason and could possibly be in line to make his return to the sphere for the Membership World Cup. Ought to that be the case, the Sounders can be regaining a 2021 MLS MVP finalist and one of the crucial well-rounded two-way gamers in MLS.

João Paulo affords a novel skill-set, beginning along with his duties within the defensive midfield, the place the 31-year-old is a traditional “soiled work” sort of participant, keen to make hard-charging slide tackles and canopy as a lot floor as needed to chop out opposing assaults. He’s additionally a phenomenally gifted passer, significantly adept at hitting free kicks and serving pinpoint long-balls and switches that unbalance defenses and begin promising assaults. His presence was sorely missed as Seattle struggled within the second half of final season, and there’s each cause to suppose his return may give this workforce an enormous increase, whether or not it comes on the Membership World Cup or at the beginning of the league season.