Sounders Down Santos Laguna in Physical Matchup, Move to 2-0 in Leagues Cup

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Paul Rothrock celebrates a goal against Santos Laguna during a Leagues Cup match on August 3, 2025 at Lumen Field. (Maddy Grassy / Sounders FC Communications) [/caption]

The Seattle Sounders took down Santos Laguna in the second game of their Leagues Cup run Sunday night in a 2-1 victory. The result brings Seattle to 2-0 in the tournament and sets the their goal differential at 9-1 thanks to Thursday's 7-0 win over Cruz Azul. Seattle is the top team in the standings as they prepare for Wednesday's clash with Tijuana.

The Sounders outshot Santos Laguna 14-4 but lost possession at just 42.4 percent.

It wasn't pretty, but Sunday's win proved Seattle's ability to win scrappy.

Welcome Back Paul Rothrock

Santos Laguna centerback Haret Ortega got the scoring started for Seattle in the 27th. Paul Rothrock, who has missed the last two games with a hand injury from training last week, put a grounded ball into the box in the seventh minute. That ball was met by a sliding Ortega for the only goal of the half.

Rothrock was active the entire first half, looking like himself in trying to deliver services, and finished the game in the 63rd. He played with a cast on his right hand, but didn't appear hindered.

It was also a rare start for Rothrock on the right wing this season, as Pedro de la Vega, fresh off a dazzling brace last time out, earned the start on Rothrock's usual left wing spot.

Fouls, Fouls and More Fouls

If you thought Cruz Azul's 13-foul game against Seattle one Thursday was pushing it, try 22 on for size for Santos Laguna on Sunday.

The first half saw plenty of physical play. Man of the Match Danny Leyva hit the turf hard after going for a header, Danny Musovski went down in the box in the 27th (which led to a six-minute VAR that determined he made contact first) and Obed Vargas went down hard and came up hobbled in the early going after a tackle. Pedro de la Vega even got into it with a Santos Laguna player, but nothing escalated beyond shouting.

All the contact resulted in a 15-foul first half, nine of which came from Santos. The second half wasn't quite as balanced.

Santos Laguna, which finished at the bottom of the Liga MX table last season in both halves, totaled 13 fouls while Seattle restrained itself to just two in the second half.

"All the Mexican (players) are very physical and love to attack," Nouhou said after the game, as Seattle didn't seem to respond poorly to meeting the turf as often as it did. "We were prepared for that."

Schmetzer tipped his hat to the Mexican side for its passion, but was satisfied with his team's composure regarding the physicality.

"We kept our cool pretty good, but I also like when the teammates stick up for themselves … I think there's some value in that camaraderie and them showing they're gonna stick up for their teammate," Schmetzer said.

An interesting 11 minutes for Georgi

Georgi Minoungou got into the game in the 63rd minute. He picked up a yellow in the opposing box after getting his legs tangled with Kevin Balanta in the 65th. Although it appeared the players simply came together going for the ball, Minoungou was shown a yellow as Balanta rolled about six yards on the turf after going down.

"There's no chance in a million years, I watched every angle that I have … there's no foul there on Georgi," Schmetzer said of the moment.

That questionable card hung over Minoungou as he went back to work in the 72nd. With a lead pass from Leyva, Minoungou worked left to right just inside the 18 and hit a beautiful strike to the right side of the net to put Seattle up 2-0.

In his celebration, Minoungou pulled his shirt up, similar to Osaze De Rosario on Thursday when he paid homage to his dad's old "Shake and Bake" celebration. He, like De Rosario, was shown a second yellow automatically, ejecting him from the game.

"Georgi has to learn from that and he knew he was on a yellow. But he gets carried away, because he's a human being and he just scored a really, really good goal," Schmetzer said.

No Clean Sheet Tonight

With the game waning and the Sounders leading shots by a wide margin, Santos continued to push. Cristian Dájome timed a runout perfectly and put one through in the sixth minute of stoppage time to give his team a fighting chance.

The run was so perfectly timed that the flag went up, but the goal was awarded after a short VAR.

"We're really frustrated to give up that last goal because we deserved a clean sheet with how we defended as a team," defender Jackson Ragen said after the game.

A Win is a Win

It was ugly and Seattle ended the game with 10 men on the field, but three points will smooth that all over.

The Sounders had some awkward possessions and didn't capitalize on plenty of chances (see two goals on 14 shots), but rallied around goals from Minoungou and the other team to win a game that saw Cristian Roldan play just around 15 minutes.

And considering the cushion they earned themselves with Thursday's win, the Sounders are still in great position to move on in this interesting tournament.