> ## 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. # “Pacific Northwest Grit”: Sounders Shut Down Messi, Inter Miami For First Leagues Cup Title - URL: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/seattle-sounders-shut-down-messi-inter-miami-leagues-cup-final/ - Published: 2025-09-01T07:38:36.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-08T06:18:32.000Z - Author: Qasim Ali - Tags: News, Sounders, Georgi Minoungou, Alex Roldan, Pedro de la Vega, Osaze De Rosario, Danny Leyva, Yeimar, Jackson Ragen, Reed Baker-Whiting, Andrew Thomas, Cristian Roldan, Obed Vargas, Paul Rothrock, Brian Schmetzer \[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="2048"\] ![ Seattle Sounders striker Osaze De Rosario lifts the Leagues Cup trophy in front of fans after beating Inter Miami 3-0 in the final on Aug. 31, 2025 at Lumen Field in Seattle Wash. (Mike Fiechtner / Sounders FC Communications) ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1d/f2/1df2f77b-83dd-4bc0-a6d2-6d1bb5df89a3/content/images/2026/10/54758038290_6ce65d915f_k-format-original.jpg) Seattle Sounders striker Osaze De Rosario lifts the Leagues Cup trophy in front of fans after beating Inter Miami 3-0 in the final on Aug. 31, 2025 at Lumen Field in Seattle Wash. (Mike Fiechtner / Sounders FC Communications) \[/caption\] The Seattle Sounders completed their trophy cabinet on Sunday night, and boy did they do it in style with 69,314 in attendance. Seattle downed Lionel Messi's Inter Miami 3-0 and didn't allow the dynamic squad to register a single shot on target over the 90 minutes of the Leagues Cup Final. Practically every Sounder stood out, as backline players from Jackson Ragen to Yeimar and company had moments of brilliance where they beat former European stars like Luis Suarez, Jordi Albi, Sergio Busquets, and of course Messi, to spots all night. Cristian Roldan won plenty of duels in the midfield alongside Obed Vargas in a night that you couldn't have scripted better — Paul Rothrock scored the final goal in the 89th minute to cap a week where he was named by head coach Brian Schmetzer as the solution to beating Messi. On offense, Jesús Ferreira made brilliant passes all night and caught a late sub for Georgi Minoungou, who forced a late penalty kick to seal it. Osaze De Rosario continued his wonderful run with his fourth goal of the tournament as a pinch starter. Alex Roldan left his fingerprints on all three goals, assisting on two and scoring a penalty. Pedro de la Vega took home the tournament's best player award, likely for his incredible goal early in the tournament, while Andrew Thomas was named the best goalkeeper of Leagues Cup. All in all, it was a picturesque night for a Sounders squad that has now won the U.S. Open Cup, the CONCACAF Champions Cup, the MLS Cup and the Leagues Cup. They’re the only club to do it, as Seattle’s trophy cabinet is complete at long last. "The organization, top to bottom, coaches, everybody, they deserve this. The fans deserve this win," Schmetzer said, getting choked up talking about the team he grew up watching. He’s now led the squad to every North American title possible. ### Work Rate Galore for Seattle The Sounders led in possession in this game. But when Miami pressed into Seattle territory, it left with nothing. Seattle blocked five shots, and Ragen and Yeimar combined for 11 clearances as the Sounders' centerbacks earned some respect in nipping Miami's second chances in the bud. The two made their presence known in the 19th minute as Yeimar took the ball from Suarez, while Ragen blocked a Messi shot just moments later. Ragen had three of Seattle's five blocked shots in the game. Seattle local Reed Baker-Whiting may not have had any signature moments, but the 20-year old held his own with Seattle's best 1-on-1 defender in Nouhou suspended — he cleared four balls himself. For the first 20 minutes of the game, Seattle established a physical brand of soccer that Miami simply couldn't keep up with. ### Osaze, It's Your Tournament Osaze De Rosario came into July without an MLS goal. He's scored a couple in MLS play since then and had three in the Leagues Cup before the final. The Tacoma Defiance product has been called on to start the last two matches with leading scorer Danny Musovski out on suspension. With all that pressure, De Rosario scored an insurance goal against the Galaxy on Wednesday and followed that up with a beauty in the 26th minute to put his team on the board. The score came on the young striker’s signature header on service from A. Roldan, as the Sounders GM Craig Waibel called him “ahead of schedule" last week. Boy, does he look that way. “I want to score goals, I’m in my office,” De Rosario said. “The icing on the cake is just putting the ball in the net in front of all these fans.” ### Missed Chances For the Guys in Pink Inter Miami found a way back into the game in the early second half by turning its possession into some solid looks. In the 50th minute, Messi slipped through Seattle's defense to come face-to-face with Thomas. Messi had a look just like that in the semifinal against Orlando and buried it with an effortless touch, as Seattle fans likely shared a collective groan at the idea of the greatest of all time with the ball close to the net. In a moment of cosmic intervention, Messi skied the shot clear over the goal. 11 minutes later, Tadeo Allende had a similar situation but missed the goal wide right as Seattle dodged what would have been a go-ahead bid had all gone as expected. “We knew they were gonna come out hot for the second half, and we did give up some opportunities,” A. Roldan said. “They missed them and we were able to rebound after that.” But then again, the guy wearing the number 10 is human too. “Suarez laid Messi in and tonight just wasn’t his night, maybe. I mean, it happens in sports,” Schmetzer said. ### Georgi is the Lightning in the Bottle Georgi Minoungou entered the game in the 78th minute for Ferreira. Ferreira had been having an amazing game — running counterattacks confidently and intercepting passes with ease. Minoungou had big shoes to fill, and he did it with grace. Minoungou found himself with a wide-open left wing and about 50 yards of daylight in front of him with one man to beat. That one man illegally tackled Minoungou in the box after a series of moves as the recent Burkina Faso call-up hyped up Lumen Field for a penalty kick in the 84th minute. Alex Roldan, of all people, was the man for the job. He buried the penalty to the right side to send Lumen Field into a frenzy. Subbing a dynamic but streaky Minoungou on for a consistent and heady Ferreira was quite the change, but it couldn’t have worked out better for Schmetzer. ### "We Have Paul Rothrock" That was Schmetzer's response this week when it came time to decide how to handle a world-class talent like Messi. And boy did the local kid make his skipper look like a genius on the right wing. Rothrock narrowly missed a chance to make it 2-0 in the 68th minute as he blocked a clearance right at the goal. That deflection narrowly turned into a goal as fans were begging for an insurance goal with Messi and company lurking. In the 89th minute, Rothrock gave the insurance insurance goal. He weaved through the Miami backline to deliver a killing blow on a pass from A. Roldan in close to make it 3-0\. That was the last action of the ball game. Fans went ballistic as the Sounders' win was all but guaranteed by a local guy. > [#Sounders](https://twitter.com/hashtag/Sounders?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=emeraldcityspectrum.com) coach Brian Schmetzer choked up when talking about the organization. > > He gave props to the Pacific Northwest’s sports culture and was just filled with pride the whole time.[@EmeraldSpectrum](https://twitter.com/EmeraldSpectrum?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=emeraldcityspectrum.com) [pic.twitter.com/AnoKMtax9b](https://t.co/AnoKMtax9b?ref=emeraldcityspectrum.com)— Qasim Ali (@qasimasports) [September 1, 2025](https://twitter.com/qasimasports/status/1962367561091493963?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=emeraldcityspectrum.com) Schmetzer spent a fair portion of the postgame presser showing respect to his hometown for producing talent like Rothrock and A. Roldan, that latter of whom attended Seattle U. "It's a credit to the Pacific Northwest, because we have hardy people, we have talented people up and down throughout our organization,” Schmetzer said. ### A Bad Dust-Up Postgame The two squads came together nearly immediately after the final whistle in a brawl. > Luis Suárez appeared to spit on a Seattle staff member after the final whistle in the Leagues Cup Final 👀 > > 🎥: [@MLS](https://twitter.com/MLS?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=emeraldcityspectrum.com) [pic.twitter.com/gCMLdbwDlC](https://t.co/gCMLdbwDlC?ref=emeraldcityspectrum.com)— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) [September 1, 2025](https://twitter.com/FOXSoccer/status/1962340385507987489?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=emeraldcityspectrum.com) Luis Suarez allegedly spat at a Seattle staff member, while Obed Vargas was hit by Busquets. Players were thrown to the ground in a nasty fight that is sure to be reviewed by the MLS. Miami coach Javier Mascherano said he couldn't tell exactly what happened after the game, but suggested that Sounders’ actions could have caused his team to retaliate. De Rosario didn't mince words about the situation. "These guys won everything, so I would have to say they're just sore losers," De Rosario said. "I think the emotions got to everybody." ### The Quality of the Sounders Schmetzer was having dinner one night this week with his wife, Kirstine, when she told him to stop talking so much about Miami’s talent and to focus on “our boys.” To Mrs. Schmetzer’s credit, this is a spectacular feat of a team. It’s easy to forget that this squad was missing Jordan Morris, Jõao Paolo, Albert Rusnák (who was available but didn’t play), Ryan Kent, Danny Musovski, and others. The depth of the Sounders is undoubtedly going to be the story as we barrel toward the MLS Cup Playoffs. The question is really, how many times can this team pull the rabbit out of its hat? De Rosario was the last striker available, after that it’s choosing between Ferreira, Leyva, or moving even more pieces around to figure that position out. But after a summer of unavailability, Seattle is somehow going home with more hardware. The group on the pitch is choosing to believe it’s the sum of its parts. “It felt like a team of individuals against a collective team,” Thomas said of Miami’s star power against the Sounders. “You can see how hard everyone worked for each other in that game, and that’s why we’ve been successful.” For Schmetzer, stepping up in big moments is just part of the “Pacific Northwest grit,” as he described it. He recalled a lineage of guys like Gonzalo Pineda, Djimi Traore and others who have repped the blue and green with toughness and resilience, something the town has come to expect of its Sounders. ### The Greatest Place to Host a Final Anticipating a possible sea of pink, the Sounders made a pre-game offer to swap any Messi jersey for a free Paul Rothrock Sounders kit. The environment in this game was a spectacle, and the notion that Miami fans would take over the final was quickly quelled by deafening chants of “Seaaaaattle … Sounderrrrrrs.” "Our Sounders fans were part of this today," Thomas said. "I had goosebumps every single minute. Whenever someone made a big play, there was a massive cheer, so they helped us through it." From the chants all game to the spectacular scarf raise pre-game, the Rave Green faithful showed why they are among the best fans in the country. MLS commissioner Don Garber addressed media before the game and affirmed that idea. “This game would have been shown around the world even without Miami in it — and I think that’s important. I believe this game would have sold out without Miami and Messi," Garber said. ### Up Next The Sounders will (finally) get a week off before they repeat their last two games. Seattle will host the LA Galaxy and then travel to Florida for a rematch with Inter Miami a few days after. Considering the animosity these teams showed each other after a heated final, that rematch should be circled on each squad’s calendar — just don’t expect Suarez to play after his antics. For now, a banged-up Sounders side will finally get to rest and get right for a week before a tight stretch run. Andrew Thomas and company are happy where they're at, to say the least. "We're in form, we're in rhythm. Guys are playing well and if we keep playing like this, we're going to win another one."