Sounders and Reign Look to Regroup After Very Different Losses

RENTON, Wash. — Brian Schmetzer hasn't shaved.

The Seattle Sounders head coach since 2016, who has been a part of the organization as a player and coach since 1980 more or less, called last Thursday's 5-1 loss to team archrival Portland Timbers the "toughest loss" of his career.

"I know everybody's in a bad place," Schmetzer said of the atmosphere at the facility after Tuesday's training. "I haven't shaved, I don't eat anymore, this hurts."

We'll hope the comment about not eating is a joke, but what Seattle served up in its first game back from the June FIFA World Cup break certainly wasn't palatable.

The Sounders gave up three goals in seven minutes in the early second half, getting beat with ease down the touchlines to turn a 1-0 deficit into an inescapable hole.

By the third goal in the 60th minute, some fans started heading for the exits, an oddity so early in any Sounders game.

By the fourth three minutes later, completing a brace for Venezuelan U-22 striker Kevin Kelsy, fans left in droves. Many of those who remained booed their beloved Sounders.

"They have every right to demand better from us," All-Star center back Jackson Ragen said. "For us to come out like that, they have the right to ask for (better)."