A quick update today for everyone. The most pressing question right now is how the international absences will affect the team. The international break technically starts Monday, but players are likely starting to be released with the end of the games this weekend. Of course, this presents a problem for the Sounders who play on Monday.

The good news is that all (healthy) Sounders were present and accounted for at training today, as they continued to prepare for the game. Additionally, Brad Smith and Harry Shipp were both out at training continuing their rehab. Jordan Morris continues to slowly (I stress slowly) do more and more.

The bad news -and I suppose it could be worse- is that there has been no update on which Sounders who were called into their national team camps (Delem, Lodeiro, Ruidiaz, and Svensson) will be allowed to stay for the Monday game, if any. The Sounders continue their negotiations and so we’ll have to wait.

Unfortunately, we won’t be able to get a hint as to who may be staying, because practice tomorrow has been closed to the media. You can probably guess why, as we’d be sure to report out any absences from training. I’ll continue to try to dig and find out, but it’s possible we won’t know until Monday when the team arrives (or if players start Instagramming from the airport).

Aside from that, it was a lively practice down at Starfire. Kelvin Leerdam (who definitely will be staying) said that team spirits are good, and that while he’s still not 100%, he’ll be ready to play. It was a kids’ day, so there were lots of children down getting autographs. Always nice to see the Sounders engaging with the kiddos.