Sounders Foiled at the Death in Austin, Post-Leagues Cup Slide Continues
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Seattle Sounders forward Georgi Minoungou fights for the ball during a game against Austin FC on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025 at Q2 Stadium in Austin, Texas. (Carlos Barron / Sounders FC Communications) [/caption]
The Seattle Sounders haven't been able to get out of their own way since winning the Leagues Cup three weeks ago.
Sunday night was the latest installment of the slide, as Seattle fell to Austin FC 2-1 on the road thanks to a 96th-minute game-winner from Myrto Uzuni. It was an important game for the Sounders (12-9-9 W-L-D) to get some points in, as they had a chance to clinch a playoff berth with a win or a tie.
Instead, Seattle remains in the fifth place in the Western Conference with Austin (12-10-8) just a point back in sixth place. So how did Seattle come away pointless for the second straight game despite generating three expected goals?
Sounders Open with Dominance, Can't Find the Net
Facing an Austin side that had scored just 14 goals in their last 14 home games, Seattle was always going to have a chance to dominate possession in this game.
The Sounders did just that in the first half, as young Snyder Brunell (making his second career MLS start) had a chance on a set piece in close that was blocked by a defender. Later in the half, Alex Roldan delivered a perfect pass to Cristian Roldan for a perfectly placed header to the bottom right corner. Austin star keeper Brad Stuver showed why he's among the league's best, diving to keep that opportunity out of the net.
Stuver would familiarize himself with the Sounders' attack plenty as the game wore on, but Seattle ended the half scoreless despite generating 0.6 xG on seven shots and 64 percent possession.
They would also trail by a goal.
Costly Turnovers Continue to Drown Seattle
It was the theme of Seattle's loss to Inter Miami on Tuesday, and it reared its ugly head again on Sunday night. Turnovers in key moments against elite attackers cost Seattle two goals against Messi and Jordi Alba, and Diego Rubio followed that blueprint in the 43rd minute for Austin FC.
With Seattle's strongest possible backline of A. Roldan, Yeimar, Jackson Ragen and Nouhou sharing the ball in their own territory, Rubio crept up to provide pressure. Ragen had delivered a stunning deep ball down the right side to A. Roldan earlier in the half, and had his eyes set on another as halftime approached.
Rubio noticed and pressed Ragen perfectly to send his pass directly toward Seattle's goal. Running alone down the left side with the stolen ball and Seattle’s backline scrambling, Rubio launched a ball past a stunned Andrew Thomas (in for a sick Stefan Frei) to put Austin ahead late in the half.
Despite Seattle dominating possession at 64 percent, nearly doubling Austin up on shots and tying Austin on expected goals with the final blow included, the Sounders had found a way to trail going into the stretch run of the game.
Seattle had done everything right, but needed to alter its approach all of a sudden to account for a preventable mistake.
Georgi's Enters the Game… He's Backflipping 35 Seconds Later
If you want to put a spark plug into a match needing points, look no further than Georgi Minoungou on either wing.
The electric dribbler came on for Snyder Brunell on the right wing to start the second half as Austin started pressing the ball in Seattle’s half early. Danny Musovski found space on Austin's right side thanks to perfect lead pass to counter the press and saw Minoungou streaking down the middle of the box.
He delivered a beautiful ball to Georgi, who struck it strongly to the left side to equalize just 35 seconds after coming on for head coach Brian Schmetzer's team. In typical Georgi fashion, he was backflipping in no time to celebrate his score as Seattle could breathe a sigh of relief.
This squad has struggled against teams that load their own third, so to have a dynamic score like the one Georgi provided was huge.
"I just came on and tried to give everything that I have to help the team," Georgi said after the game. "I feel like in the second half, we just switch … we really wanted to win this game."
Obed Vargas followed the effort up with a 40-yard run in the 54th, just narrowly missing the goal as the Sounders looked to go for the kill.
Stuver, Fodrey and Uzuni Steal the Game
Jordan Morris checked in for Musovski while Jesús Ferreira came on for Paul Rothrock in the 59th, and the two made an instant impact. Morris had two golden opportunities one-on-one with Stuver in the 60th and 71st minutes, but Stuver managed to block both shots away to keep his team in it.
Despite Georgi's equalizer and the momentum that came with it, Seattle struggled to generate opportunities for the middle portion of the second half.
Austin FC began to draw out possessions, passing for long stretches near midfield. The possession numbers evened out by the game’s end as a result, but Austin wasn't creating real opportunities.
When Seattle broke through, Stuver was a stone wall. He turned away another late strike from Georgi as an Austin side that was fresh off winning their U.S. Open Cup semifinal game in the 120th minute earlier in the week began to look for the win.
Austin skipper Nico Estevez sent on CJ Fodrey, the author of that winning goal, in the 78th for some late-game magic.
Fodrey more than provided some wizardry.
In the 92nd, Fodrey put a header cross-goal to the bottom right of the net, only to be saved by Thomas. He followed that up four minutes later on the last opportunity of the game by finding a cross with his head again, leaving it for a wide-open Myrto Uzuni right in front of the net.
Uzuni smashed it home with Thomas out of position, having beaten Ragen to the spot to snatch the six-point swing for Austin in shocking fashion.
The Sounders were given no chance at a rebuttal.
"It’s a soft goal, we’re leaking soft goals,” Schmetzer said.
Shades of 2022?
With one point to show for the three games since their Leagues Cup final win, the Sounders are in rough shape to close out their MLS campaign.
In the days after Seattle hoisted that trophy on Aug. 31, Schmetzer and C. Roldan were asked about how to avoid a repeat of 2022. That year, the Sounders hoisted the Concacaf Champions League title in May, but went 10-12-4 in MLS competition from that point on.
It's not easy to refocus after winning a title, and Seattle is showing all the signs of a team lacking their typical attention to detail in the past three matches. The Sounders blew a 2-0 lead to draw with the Galaxy before losing 3-1 to Miami off two major turnovers. In this loss, another costly turnover completely changed the dynamic of a game that Seattle was competing well in, and the inability to find a second goal was what finished it off.
"I think we are dealing a little bit with the hangover of the championship, and we've got to all take a bit more accountability," Rothrock said.
With Vargas and Reed Baker-Whiting leaving for the U-20 World Cup and unforgiving opponents in Vancouver and Portland on the horizon, Schmetzer and company have to be sharper. Schmetzer was particularly displeased with how this team looked in one-on-one situations, as the Sounders lost duels 37-22 in this game (per FotMob).
In terms of the attack, there's just a lot of overthinking happening. Rothrock said the team spoke after the game about how it was on the offense to take care of the chances that it had so that the defense can bring these kinds of games home.
Georgi had defenders wrapped around his pinky finger all night, but would overdribble on the baseline and miss his window to play a ball through most times. Ferreira had a golden opportunity on a cheeky play with Georgi in the 82nd, but tried to dribble around Stuver instead of chipping it over the keeper as he went to ground. Finally, Morris got the best out of Stuver and had some real chances saved, but his touch needs to be better if he's to be relied on at the nine.
Schmetzer took some of the blame for having guys like A. Roldan play the whole game gassed, but put a lot of the loss on the offensive execution.
“That first chance (Vargas) dribbles past eight of their guys and he shoots from the top of the box, if he gets that on frame, Stuver’s frozen, that’s gotta be a goal. Jordan Morris runs by his defender; he’s gotta score. Jordan, one-on-one with the goalkeeper, gotta score. Georgi Minoungou scored a great goal from Danny Musovski, he couldn’t repeat the fact,” Schmetzer said, the frustration clear in his rapid-fire cadence. “We take a goal in the 94th minute, but that game should’ve been over.”
I'd be remiss, once again, if I neglected to mention that Pedro de la Vega missed his third straight game with knee tendonitis. His touch in the starting XI has been missed, but it was good to see Albert Rusnák notch his first start since his August 6 injury. He had moments of brilliance, as did Ferreira, in creating instant opportunities.
In the end, this is a team that has shown the firepower to score three times a game. The touch needs to be there, but the apprehension to shoot or pass the ball quickly is costing this team in big moments.
“This is a special group, I don’t want them to lose that feeling that everyone had three weeks ago,” Schmetzer said. “We’re going to try the best we can to get that good mojo back.”
Up Next
The silver lining? This was the last time the Sounders play a three-game week in 2025.
That said, the road doesn't get any easier from here. This Sounders squad, in relatively poor form, will host both Vancouver and Portland in major Cascadia clashes over the next two weeks with the season winding down. The Whitecaps, led by international star Thomas Müller, will be first up as the second-place side visits Lumen Field next Saturday night.
