Seattle Sounders midfielder Joao Paulo has heaped praise upon the players who filled in for him after suffering an ACL injury last season.
The Brazilian was 13 games into what was shaping up to be another stellar individual and team campaign when the injury struck. That game just happened to be the Concacaf Champions League final against Liga MX giants Pumas, which the Sounders won to become the first-ever MLS team to lift the title.
Joao Paulo then had to watch on as Seattle struggled and, ultimately, failed to reach the MLS Cup Playoffs for the first time in club history.
Much of the media focus for the Sounders’ struggles was on injuries, with Joao Paulo himself the most high profile long-term absentee. But the 31-year-old has been keen to praise his teammates for the way they played in his absence, choosing to focus on the positives they brought rather than the negatives.
“It’s natural when you miss a guy who’s played for a long time like Raul (Ruidiaz) or Nico (Lodeiro) or Cristian (Roldan). With me it was the same,” Joao Paulo told the Seattle Times. “But we needed to talk about who stepped into my position and did a good job.
“As a team, we maybe could’ve done better. But Albert (Rusnak), Josh (Atencio), Danny (Leyva), Obed before the injury, all of those guys did a good job in center midfield. And it wasn’t talked about enough. As a team, everybody is cognizant about us not playing at our level in the final moments of the season.”
When asked if his return could be the missing piece that makes the Sounders an MLS force again, Joao Paulo responded bluntly: “I really hope so.”
The Sounders begin the 2023 MLS campaign at home to the Colorado Rapids on Sunday.
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