Rotated Sounders Fall to Chivas, Brian Schmetzer Motivated By Team Effort in Defeat

It was expected that iconic Mexican side Chivas de Guadalajara would bring in plenty of fans to rival that of the host Seattle Sounders in Wednesday's Leagues Cup Phase One finale.

You can say they did that, as the stands were chock-full of fans donning the classic red and white stripes, chanting "CHIIIIIVAS" as the Liga MX giant downed Seattle 2-1.

The result left both teams at 1-2 in the tournament, ending their respective runs in the competition, which Seattle won for the first time in 2025. But the Sounders, now losers of eight of their last nine games, had already prioritized a busy upcoming MLS stretch by rotating heavily against Chivas — head coach Brian Schmetzer started four Tacoma Defiance call-ups in the game and changed to an unusual 3-4-3 formation for this one.

Schmetzer knew his team would need a win of Biblical proportions plus outside help to advance, and instead rested key pieces like Albert Rusnak, Jackson Ragen and Nouhou for a Sunday bout with Western Conference-leading Vancouver.

Watching a team full of younger guys hang around with a quality opponent, however, made the longtime Seattle skipper emotional postgame.

"That's what it means to wear the jersey," Schmetzer said of his team's effort. "The way those guys fought was the best thing about this evening. Yeah, we didn't win, I get it."

Club legend and goalkeeper Stefan Frei, on duty for this tournament in place of MLS starter Andrew Thomas, saw Wednesday as a chance to keep crawling out of this team-wide slump.

"We're trying to find positives right now," Frei said. "Even though the tournament (was) essentially gone, we're trying to create something today that we can build upon for the weekend when we play Vancouver."