In the falling snow, his hands wrapped tight around a steaming cup of coffee, Brian Schmetzer raised onto his tiptoes to peer over a reporter’s shoulder. She was studying a printout of the Sounders’ 2020 preseason roster, scanning for newcomers. The head coach offered reassurance.



“I don’t even know some of those names,” Schmetzer said.



The Sounders opened training camp on Tuesday morning in Tukwila, two months and four days after they won MLS Cup on home turf. There was comfort in spotting familiar faces after a long layoff: Nicolas Lodeiro passing back and forth with Raul Ruidiaz, Will Bruin happily loping around after missing most of 2019 with a knee injury.



As significant were the absences, cutouts from the usual full picture.



Jordan Morris and Cristian Roldan are away at U.S. national team camp, and Gustav Svensson and Nouhou were held up by travel complications, according to the team. All of them will eventually...