Stefan Frei’s first visit to Toronto’s BMO Field as a member of the Sounders was disorienting.
It’d been two-and-a-half years since the goalkeeper was traded to Seattle from Toronto FC, and the stadium had undergone a dramatic facelift in the meantime. An upper deck was added to BMO’s east grandstand and a soaring roof lifted over the seated areas. Even the stadium’s catacombs had been upgraded from the time when Frei so often walked its halls.
A key part of Frei’s pre-match preparation is visualization. It comforts him to turn over various scenarios in his mind before he has to confront them in reality, at game-speed.