Short-Handed Sounders Pull Out Narrow Win over Salt Lake, Survive Missed Chances
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The Seattle Sounders set up for a Seattle Mariners-themed celebration after a goal during an MLS match against Real Salt Lake on Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025. (Mike Fiechtner / Sounders FC Communications) [/caption]
SEATTLE, Wash. - The Seattle Sounders unveiled their 2025 Leagues Cup banner ahead of Saturday night's 1-0 Fan Appreciation Night win over Real Salt Lake. Their 3-0 drubbing of Inter Miami on August 31 to win that title looked like it was going to be repeated in the early going, but the short-handed Seattle squad would fail to find that second goal despite golden opportunities left and right.
The #Sounders #LeaguesCup banner in all its glory.@EmeraldSpectrum pic.twitter.com/JwTubYUxgx— Qasim Ali (@qasimasports) October 12, 2025
While all three points count the same and it was important to get a win despite missing 11 players for varying reasons, late chances from RSL (12-17-4, ninth) made this one too close for comfort on a rainy night in the Emerald City. After all was said and done, the Sounders (14-9-10) will remain in fifth place through the end of the year with one match to play, but learned plenty on Saturday night in their final regular season home match.
Sounders Overwhelm the Box Early and Often
Despite missing all those players coming into this game, Seattle's offense looked as dynamic as it ever has in the early going of Saturday's action. Paul Rothrock, who started on the left wing opposite of Pedro de la Vega in an inverted look, found himself scampering past Salt Lake in transition multiple times to start the game.
In the fourth minute, it was striker Jordan Morris who picked off an RSL defender near their box and put a ball into play. de la Vega tipped it to his left for a wide-open Rothrock to open the scoring for a Seattle team that was firing on all cylinders.
Come for the goal, stay for the celly 🔥
CC: @Mariners 🔱 pic.twitter.com/bENTFrfKeX— Seattle Sounders FC (@SoundersFC) October 12, 2025
They commemorated the score with a Mariners-themed dance, but just like their neighbors next door, they refused to quit on their offense.
Danny Leyva, playing the midfield with the usual starters abroad, put a quick ball into Morris in the 10th minute, only for the striker to be tackled prematurely. After discussing it with his teammates on the field, Morris decided to take the penalty, but had his line-drive shot to the right side saved by keeper Rafael Cabral.
The club legend has yet to find the net since July as he hung his head after the block.
That moment could have broken the game open, but RSL started to work back into it with sustained possessions and threatening looks to counteract the Sounders’ start, but missed opportunities allowed Seattle to stay ahead.
Credit Where It's Due: Sounders Defend Crucial Set Piece Perfectly
The Sounders found themselves up one late, but conceded a free kick from just outside the box to give RSL a chance to stun Seattle late. A perfect ball into a waiting crowd found two headers, and all of a sudden it was a 1-1 ballgame in the 89th minute despite Seattle leading the xG battle by a wide margin.
William Agada did a backflip to celebrate the score as Seattle had conceded a repeated theme Schmetzer has lamented since the Leagues Cup: a soft goal.
But just as the cruel reality set in, a review determined that RSL was well offside, saving the Sounders from another disappointing draw reminiscent of the one they played to against LA a month ago.
After it was all said and done, Seattle scored just once in a game it generated 2.7 xG in compared to 0.8 from RSL.
Takeaways: A Win is a Win, For Now
For how much local media, including this outlet, have criticized the Sounders for those "soft goals" that have killed Seattle since the Leagues Cup, Seattle deserves credit for holding up this time around to win its second straight game. It wasn't a coincidence that the flag went up in Seattle's favor.
"I was very proud of the fact that they kept a high line, and they called them offside," Schmetzer said of his team's defensive execution late.
To be fair to Real Salt Lake, they were missing five players due to international duties alone, including their leading scorer, Diego Luna, in this one. Still, it's a credit to Seattle, which brought on Tacoma Defiance call-ups like Peter Kingston in the 80th minute and Antino Lopez late for their MLS debuts due to the complete depletion of the bench.
With all the turnover forcing Jon Bell into a 90-minute match at left-back and Kalani Kossa-Rienzi into a 90-minute performance on the other side, this defense held up quite well. Joao Paulo "gutted out" 60 minutes in the midfield by Schmetzer’s account, given his knee recovery, and his work rate helped fill the void left by international-duty-bound stars Cristian Roldan and Obed Vargas. With Nouhou gone as well, a Seattle clean sheet deserves plenty of credit.
"I think in these games, we almost feel a bit more confident because we've been here so many times," Kossa-Rienzi said of playing short-handed, having generated multiple chances on the offensive end with some nifty runs. "The guys that do get to step up are excited to play, because they've been in and out of the rotation."
Schmetzer went with a five-man backline in this one, and it worked early as Salt Lake didn't put a shot on target until the second half. They ended with five shots on target.
For Morris to go scoreless in another start in which he got to take a penalty puts plenty of pressure on Schmetzer to consider forking over the leading spot to leading scorer Danny Musovski, who had just 14 minutes in this one. Still, Schmetzer appreciated the ability of Morris to run in behind defenders and challenge RSL with high press on the other end.
To Morris' credit, the lone score doesn't happen without his effort pressing RSL, and all signs point toward Schmetzer keeping his DP at the nine through the end of the season anyway. At the very least, Schmetzer may need to show a willingness to turn to Musovski to get that second goal earlier.
As of now, No. 5 Seattle will take on No. 4 Minnesota United in the first round, a team that swept the Sounders in the regular season, in a best-of-three series for which they'd play two on the road. Given how the Sounders have fallen back down to earth on offense — scoring seven goals in five games since their August 31 Leagues Cup final win — it's a fair concern to worry about Seattle's offensive output against a genuinely stingy defense like Minnesota.
To Seattle's credit, RSL fouled the Sounders consistently to the tune of 21 calls and four yellow cards to kill fastbreaks. Not the most sustainable brand of defense, but it worked.
Up Next
The Sounders, completely locked into the fifth seed at this point, will finish their season at New York City FC next Saturday. Considering how many players missed this week's action, it could be a worthy venture for Schmetzer to get the guys who missed Saturday’s action some reps ahead of what's sure to be a dogfight of a first-round matchup later in the month.
