{"id":32323,"date":"2015-03-07T21:09:06","date_gmt":"2015-03-08T03:09:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=32323"},"modified":"2015-03-07T21:10:15","modified_gmt":"2015-03-08T03:10:15","slug":"rowe-okoli-chomping-at-the-bit-for-sunday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=32323","title":{"rendered":"Rowe: Okoli ‘Chomping at the Bit’ for Sunday"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>

Photo credit: Kari Heistad\/capturedimages.biz<\/p><\/div>\n

As a native of Federal Way, Wash., Sunday\u2019s Sounders-Revolution tilt will certainly be special for Revolution midfielder Kelyn Rowe. But the way he tells it, one of his teammates may be even more excited for it. <\/p>\n

Midfielder\/forward Sean Okoli was acquired by Revolution from the Sounders in January, only weeks after his option was declined. The 22-year-old former Homegrown Player only saw 18 minutes worth of action with his hometown side in 2014, and was subsequently pegged for USL duty before the trade.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Sean Okoli is just ready for this game against his old team and in his hometown,\u201d Rowe said. \u201cHe\u2019s been really chomping at the bit this week especially.\u201d<\/p>\n

Okoli is coming off a strong preseason camp in which he scored two goals in six games. He also showcased his versatility by playing up top and centrally in the midfield.<\/p>\n

But his stats only tell part of the story. According to Rowe, his fellow Federal Way neighbor arrived in Foxborough fully ready to do anything that was asked of him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s come in and never expected anything and he\u2019s always worked for everything,\u201d Rowe said. \u201cI think he\u2019s earned a lot of respect from the guys, and that\u2019s hard to do when you\u2019re coming to a team and you\u2019re a new guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether Okoli gets the chance to see the pitch on Sunday remains to be seen. Though he made his case for a spot in the First Kick XI during the winter, it\u2019ll largely depend upon if his skill set is required in the later stages. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe can really hold the ball up well,\u201d Rowe said. \u201cHe\u2019s really good using his body, and that\u2019s a pretty big attribute, especially for him since we use that one-forward system.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the past, Revolution coach Jay Heaps has shown an inclination to give opportunities to players in front of their friends and family, which Okoli is sure to have plenty of at CenturyLink Field. But he won\u2019t be only Revolution player who\u2019ll have a number of familiar faces watching.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know my parents have bought a ton of tickets, and are passing them out,\u201d Rowe said, with a laugh. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be great.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kelyn Rowe says that Sean Okoli is particularly anxious to play against his old club on Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32325,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3],"tags":[891,683,49,888,63,892],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Okoli-11.png?fit=600%2C415","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32323"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32323"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32323\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32327,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32323\/revisions\/32327"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}