> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Sounders and Reign Look to Regroup After Very Different Losses - URL: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/seattle-sounders-reign-regroup-very-different-losses/ - Published: 2026-07-22T01:50:08.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-08T06:14:07.000Z - Author: Qasim Ali - Tags: Analysis, News, Sounders, Reign, Laura Harvey, Brian Schmetzer, Jordyn Bugg, Jackson Ragen \[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1014"\] ![ Seattle Sounders defender Jackson Ragen plays a ball forward during a game against the Portland Timbers on Thursday, July 16, 2026 at Lumen Field in Seattle, Wash. (Sandra Agbotse / Sounders FC Communications) ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1d/f2/1df2f77b-83dd-4bc0-a6d2-6d1bb5df89a3/content/images/2026/10/55398760366_83ce1340b7_h-format-original.jpg) Seattle Sounders defender Jackson Ragen plays a ball forward during a game against the Portland Timbers on Thursday, July 16, 2026 at Lumen Field in Seattle, Wash. (Sandra Agbotse / Sounders FC Communications) \[/caption\] 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, making it easy to see why he’s lost his appetite. 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)." The loss marked the third in a row for Seattle, now 7-4-3 and sixth in the Western Conference standings after a 6-1-1 start that had the Rave Green in the mix for the Supporters' Shield. Seattle is now 10th in that race, averaging 1.71 points per game as opposed to first-place Nashville at 2.40\. What's worse, Seattle simply looked like a team that didn't come prepared for the physicality and nastiness that is required in any grudge match. The Sounders lost the duels battle 58-31, with the Timbers dominating the aerial encounters 27-4\. Typical Sounders standouts like Snyder Brunell (1-for-8 in duels) and Ragen (2-for-8 in duels) were simply beaten by a team that came into last Thursday at 4-8-2 with four losses in their last five games. "The one takeaway for me is not enough intensity. I think it needs to feel more like a rivalry from our side of more big tackles going in," Ragen said. "There's no excuse… I think it's just not good enough." Midfielder Hassani Dotson scored his first Seattle goal late in the loss, but that was one of the few bright spots on the offensive end for a Seattle squad with one goal in its past three games. Striker Jordan Morris had to come out of the game at the half with a quad injury as Seattle managed just 0.66 expected goals. Paul Rothrock scored early on Thursday, but had it called back for offsides. From there, Portland's midfield ate up Seattle's as Schmetzer noted his team didn't counter-press Portland enough to stop momentum. At the end of the day, Schmetzer didn't think he needed to emphasize the need for urgency to a veteran roster familiar with the Seattle-Portland rivalry. "I said before the build-up to the game, you know, I don't think I need to say much because it is Portland and it is the grass (playing surface) and the excitement of the World Cup," Schmetzer said. "Maybe I should've done a better job at making sure that the guys understand that it is a rivalry and it's something that's important to us." Ragen confirmed that there was no players-only meeting after last Thursday's loss. "We're all on the same page about what needs to be better." The vibes were quite low at the facility on Tuesday, but the Sounders could come out of this week with two wins if they play their cards right. It would all set up an Aug. 1 away fixture with Portland, one that's no doubt circled in the dressing room. ### Sounders Injury Updates Ahead of Austin Austin FC (3-7-5) may be the second-to-lowest team in the Western Conference table, but they're 3-2-2 at home, with both losses coming courtesy of goals after the 75th minute. This will be a test of a game for a Sounders squad struggling to find its way, and doing it short-handed. D Alex Roldan (hip), MF Cristian Roldan (quad), D Kim kee-Hee (hamstring) all missed Portland and are set to miss the Austin game with a Saturday trip to Philadelphia looming. D Yeimar, who has been out since the spring with a hamstring issue, is set to travel with the team to Texas. Whether he gets on the pitch remains to be seen. The biggest revelation from Tuesday was the severity of Morris' injury at the striker spot, as Schmetzer expects him to miss four weeks — continuing the forward's terrible injury luck. Mere days after Rothrock said everyone's spot would be up for grabs, Schmetzer has little choice but to roll with many of the pieces responsible for Thursday's blowout loss. "I would have liked to have a little few more changes than what we're going to roll out in Austin," Schmetzer said. "But, you know, when you've got a significant portion of your roster injured… they might not be the (changes) that I would like to make." ### Reign Reflect on Wild Loss in New York On the other end of the spectrum is the loss the Seattle Reign suffered on Saturday to drop to 5-7-2, good for 12th in the 16-team NWSL. Seattle lost to second-place Gotham FC (9-3-3) 3-2 after leading 2-0 until the 81st minute. Unusual substitutions from Gotham saw all-world offensive talents like Esther Gonzalez and Sam Kerr come on in the second half to bolster an attack already featuring creators like Jaedyn Shaw and Rose Lavelle. Down usual fullbacks Sofia Huerta and Madison Curry along with keeper Claudia Dickey, the Reign dropped into a five-player backline and instituted what assistant coach Scott Parkinson called a "compact press" in the second half to protect the 2-0 lead. After Maddie Dahlien missed a penalty off the post that would have made it 3-0, Kerr and Gonzalez kept pressing the issue. They opened up wide spaces for Shaw to let the pair keep getting shots on target until the dam broke. Gonzalez scored off a wonderful first-time strike in the 81st, and got her brace in the 94th off a set-piece moment where Seattle simply left her unmarked in the box off a rebound of a pass from Shaw. In the 97th, a disorganized Reign transition defense lost track of Lavelle as she blasted the game-winner from distance. "We want to be able to press out of all of (our press defenses)," Parkinson said on Tuesday. "Are there going to be moments where you can't get pressure on the ball? Yes, it's going to happen. But then you've got to be set up behind the ball, and I think that's where we just kind of got a little bit stuck on." That lack of communication was the biggest takeaway from a Seattle team that had obvious discord around how things played out postgame. Striker Mia Fishel, who scored her first Reign goal off a penalty earlier in the game, believed Seattle went defensive too early when Dahlien was exploiting Gotham's press well on the left side. Without scoring the third goal, Seattle was leaving the door open for defending champs. The on-field dynamic of Seattle players knowing they were creating enough chances to score a decisive third goal mixed with the decision to drop into the "compact press" from the coaching staff seems to have generated confusion - confusion that cost Seattle points on the road with the playoff picture at arm's length. "We were just kind of disconnected in the second half," center back Jordyn Bugg said. "It was just kind of chaotic (in stoppage time)… I don't think we communicated well and we just didn't help ourselves out." Still, the Reign have addressed some pain points since coming back from the June break. Despite a less-than-ideal 1-2-0 mark since returning, Seattle has put up five goals in three games - a far cry from the five-game scoreless streak that haunted this team earlier in the season. Seattle is finally up to averaging a goal per game, though they still rank 15th in the league in that stat nearly midway through the year. It seems the Reign simply need to get on the same page about what they're trying to accomplish at different points in the game. If the Reign are going to go defensive, it's clear this term of "compact pressing" is still new to the team, and it could be causing confusion on a roster full of young players learning how to close out close games at this level. The glimpses Seattle showed, however, are cause for optimism as the season wears on. "If someone looks at where we stand, you'd be like 'oh they're at the bottom of the table, they're not as good as the rest of the teams,'" Bugg said. "But I feel like, first half, we definitely showed that's not who we are, and that we're better than that." As for injuries, the Reign will have more concrete answers on Huerta, Curry and Dickey later this week. The good news is that the trio was at practice Tuesday, though they are still working toward full participation ahead of Sunday's game at San Diego.