It’s not every day that you see one of the Seattle Sounders taking off his clothing for a magazine shoot. This week we saw not one but three of the men from the team pose for the cover. Tyrone Mears, Zach Scott and Nelson Valdez all posed for the Ville Magazine Health and Fitness issue. The magazine is now at newsstands across the country and you can get a copy wherever you purchase Ville Magazine.

The big difference between this photo shoot and, say, seeing any of the men without a shirt on is that they actually posed nude for the shoot, a new experience for the men. Both Scott and Valdez said that their wives both had a bit of a problem with the shoot when they discovered that their husbands would be completely naked during the project, but it sounds like they were okay with it once they had some time to sit with the news. Scott even joked that since he will eventually have to transition out of soccer at some point, maybe this will be his big break into male modeling.

“The guys came to us and said this is a relaunch of a local magazine and they’re doing a sports and fitness episode, and I thought that’s great. That’s a big part of why I’ve been able to play so long is keeping healthy and fit, so I think it’s great,” says Scott.

Mears agreed. “it was an interesting concept, something I‘ve not really done before…going partially naked on a cover. You have to think about it, but I think it was good,” he said. Valdez says that he hopes people enjoy the photo. When asked to do the shoot, he replied, “Hey, why not?”

Mears says that while it only took him 30 seconds to have his hair done for the photo shoot, it took Valdez 30 minutes and that was the most entertaining portion of the shoot for the player. The magazine is not all about the “eye candy,” of course. The men were all interviewed about their health habits as a part of the shoot. You can read about their diet and lifestyles in the magazine, as well as how they prepare for matches each week.

Have you read the article or seen the photos online? What did you think when you saw the issue? Tell us about your reaction in the comments below.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia