Sounders Finish Off 'Caps, Advance to Concacaf Quarters
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="2048"]
Seattle Sounders midfielder Snyder Brunell dribbles the ball during a Concacaf Champions Cup game against the Vancouver Whitecaps on Wednesday, March 18, 2026 at One Spokane Stadium in Spokane, Wash. (Sandra Agbotse / Sounders FC Communications) [/caption]
"SEEEEEAAAATTTTLEEE. SOOOUUUUNNDDERSS."
The classic chant of Lumen Field echoed through downtown — Spokane, that is — on Wednesday night.
The Rave Green had plenty to be happy about east of the Cascades — their Sounders are Concacaf Champions Cup quarterfinal-bound for the first time since 2022, when they won the continental tournament.
The Sounders did it by first beating the Vancouver Whitecaps 3-0 on the road last week before leveraging two late goals to win the second leg 2-1 at One Spokane Stadium on Wednesday as Lumen Field undergoes FIFA World Cup preparations.
Peter Kingston, who has played for Seattle University, the University of Washington, Ballard FC and now for the Tacoma Defiance and Seattle Sounders, put in two assists after coming on in the 66th minute. The assists were his first with the team.
Kingston found the two subs he entered the game with, as Danny Musovski scored the first goal on a flying header in the 79th minute, while Paul Rothrock buried an insurance score four minutes later to make it 5-1 on aggregate. Jeevan Badwal had Vancouver's lone goal in the 24th as the Whitecaps' comeback chances appeared to be real early on.
"That's a tight group," Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer said of his team. "They all play for each other."
The Sounders await the winner of Tigres and FC Cincinnati for their quarterfinal opponent. Cincinnati leads 3-0 on aggregate as the second leg wraps up on Thursday night in Monterrey, Mexico. Vancouver heads home early after losing in the final of last year’s edition of the tournament.
Another Low-Possession Affair Leads to a Seattle Win
Schmetzer had emphasized the importance of possession as his team plays seven consecutive matches away from Lumen Field. But Seattle has possessed the ball now for under 40% of the time in each of their past four games.
The Sounders are 4-0 in that span with wins over St. Louis, San Jose and now Vancouver twice.
Schmetzer isn’t putting much stock into those possession numbers.
"There's a lot of reasons for all that sort of stuff. I think when we play, we always try and come out on the front foot," Schmetzer said of the possession trends. "We always try and score the early goal or the first goal, that's key… But sometimes it just hasn't happened."
Still, this was Seattle's fifth game away from home, and Schmetzer believes the team looked fatigued early.
Look no further than an early blown chance by one of the team’s most reliable attackers in Albert Rusnák, who got a cross from Paul Arriola right in front of the net with keeper Yohei Takaoka out of position in the first minute. The chance netted Seattle around half an expected goal as he yanked the shot right.
That moment, a mere 40 seconds into the game, generated more expected goals than Vancouver would net through the first half and well into the second. It was the kind of game the Sounders needed to put Vancouver to bed, as time-consuming offensive sequences from the Whitecaps chewed clock with no obvious payoff.
That is, until top Vancouver scorer Brian White found Jeevan Badwal for a 24th-minute goal to make things interesting. White left it to the 20-year-old Canadian to strike from 20 yards out, and although Seattle's Stefan Frei got a hand to it, the ball deflected off the left post and in.
But after that chance, and a halftime yelling by Schmetzer, by his account, Seattle hunkered down again. The 'Caps continued to own possession, putting together long build-up after long build-up only for shots to be deflected or caught for easy saves.
Seattle's defense, down its leader in Yeimar again as he continues to deal with a hamstring issue, cut off all scoring avenues as the Sounders have allowed just one goal now in their last four games. Alex Roldan slid into the center back position with ease, playing another reliable game at the key defensive spot.
"Alex Roldan may take Yeimar's spot, you never know," Schmetzer joked postgame.
18-year-old Snyder Brunell bent the game to his will in the midfield, notching a few dynamic dribbles in the first half while winning nine of his 16 duels and being fouled five times.
With another young homegrown prospect in Obed Vargas wearing the substitute vest for Spanish giant Atletico Madrid now, Seattle may have found another one to pair alongside USMNT talent Cristian Roldan going forward. Usual starter Hassani Dotson missed a third straight game after being placed in concussion protocol following Seattle's 1-0 win in St. Louis on March 7 as Brunell looks to earn more minutes.
As for Vancouver, there were chances to build on that 1-0 lead and make a run at the aggregate score. Whitecaps skipper Jesper Sørensen was pleased with how his team attacked Seattle in close, but regretted their final touches to finish those chances late in the game.
In particular, Vancouver, which thrashed Minnesota 6-0 over the weekend, saw its star talent just come up short. German legend Thomas Müller and White traded the ball back and forth in the 67th minute, but the final shot in close from Müller was a moment late as Alex Roldan slotted in to block it with his hip.
A skied shot from Müller on his first touch 10 minutes later proved to be the last real chance for Vancouver to make it 2-0. While it may have been an off-night, Seattle allowed a 4-0-0 team in MLS play coming off a Western Conference title to score once in two games.
A New Mr. Seattle?
Peter Kingston’s previously stated resume in the Pacific Northwest grew substantially on Wednesday night.
He starred in the USL League Two with Ballard FC, scoring a stoppage-time game-winning free kick in the 2023 final with the Seattle-based amateur squad. As such, the moment of trying to put the Sounders through in Concacaf action didn't appear to be any chore for the 24-year-old from Kirkland.
Kingston came on with Musovski and Rothrock in the 66th, and starred beyond just netting two assists. He tackled Emmanuel Sabbi as he tried to enter the box from the left to make it 2-0 in the 73rd and showed great poise in keeping possession by dribbling through a desperate Whitecaps defense on the right side.
But the winger was pure class on his two assists, dribbling around USMNT talent Sebastian Berhalter in the 79th before curving a cross around two defenders to put it at the leaping head of Musovski for a goal. His second dish wasn't quite as dramatic, but a smart run-out in the 83rd minute earned Kingston the ball in space. With Vancouver playing high, Seattle had the numbers advantage going the other way as Rothrock settled the ball at the far post and slammed it in.
Just days after fellow Defiance man Antino Lopez earned a contract through the end of the year for his defensive heroics, Schmetzer is looking for the same to happen for Kingston.
"I'll talk to (owner) Adrian (Hanauer), I'll talk to (GM) Craig (Waibel), we'll find a spot for him," Schmetzer said of Kingston. "He made some plays tonight that were critical for us to have a win, not just a draw."
Up Next
The Sounders are positively on fire to start 2026, and they'll look to improve to 4-1-0 in MLS play when they travel to Minnesota on Sunday to take on the Loons, who eliminated them in 2025.
As for Concacaf action, Seattle will await the winner of FC Cincinnati and Tigres for their quarterfinal opponent, as the first leg of that matchup is slated to kick off anywhere from April 7-9.
