TUKWILA, Wash. — When Seattle Sounders assistant coach Gonzalo Pineda was first told by his boss, head coach Brian Schmetzer, that he was going to be leading the team out in this weekend’s friendly against Eintracht Frankfurt, Pineda thought it was a prank. “At the very beginning, I thought he was joking with me, he was messing with me.”
He wasn’t. Schmetzer is gone this week for a U.S. Soccer coaching course in Nashville, Tenn., and he charged Pineda with running training sessions and leading the team on Saturday. Pineda said Schmetzer was very supportive: “He was really nice with me, saying you’re going to be there, you’re going to do okay.