British Premier League club West Ham United kicked off its preseason training in the United States with a friendly against Seattle Sounders FC, and in addition to their game at CenturyLink Field, the Hammers have also made the Virginia Mason Athletic Center home for the week.
And while Tuesday night's game didn't go well for West Ham, which lost 3-0 to the Sounders, the Hammers couldn't be happier with their setup at Seahawks headquarters.
"Yes, they are amazing," West Ham manager Slaven Bilic told the team's website, whufc.com. "We have everything. The people are nice and the facilities are great—the dressing room, the gym, the hotel are all top-drawer and it was good to come here. It's a good place to be for the first part of the pre-season. It's a nice city."
Added left back Lewis Page: "It's great to be here. The Seattle Seahawks facilities are unbelievable, probably one of the best training grounds I've ever been to. I am enjoying it a lot and the weather is pleasant to train in."
Here are some social media highlights from West Ham's visit, which continues with training at the VMAC this week before a trip east to play the Carolina RailHawks of the NASL. https://twitter.com/whufc_official/status/750391098170699776
(OK, so they misidentified DeShawn Shead in this picture, but to be fair, Shead appears to be standing in front of Kam Chancellor's locker in the photo).
https://twitter.com/Aaron_Cresswell/status/749849027487817728
Seahawks receiver Jermaine Kearse also talked with West Ham's website, explaining how intense the soccer following in in Seattle. In addition to talking soccer, Kearse also explained why he and several other teammates were at team headquarters during their last break before training camp.
"It's a culture of competing out here for us," he said. "We've got guys who want to be great. We want to be at the top of our game and the top of our league. In order to do that, you've got to put the time and effort in. That's why we're here on our own. We'll get a group of guys to come in here and put in work and put in that extra effort to get to where we want to be, and that's to win another Super Bowl."
Kearse also talked about learning the game playing EA Sports' FIFA video games, declaring he's "kind of the best in the world at FIFA."
