Brian Schmetzer is about as evenhanded as they come, unfailingly gentlemanly when addressing the media.
Yet a trace of defiance crept in when the Seattle Sounders’ head coach fielded questions on Tuesday about Saturday’s Audi MLS Cup Playoffs Western Conference semifinal clash with LAFC at BMO Stadium (10:30 pm ET | MLS Season Pass), where the Angelinos’ 10-game unbeaten run (8W-0L-2D) against the Rave Green has, understandably, become an inescapable topic.
“Well, we're not going to shy away. We're not going to change dramatically who we are,” Schmetzer said. “We're still going to press high on goal kicks; if we have possession in their half of the field, we're going to counter-press – it's not like we're going to change everything. There's just subtle tweaks that we have to make. Because we haven't got good results against them.”
One-sided rivalry
That’s one way to put it. The combined scoreline of these teams’ tangles this season, all LAFC wins, is 9-1 in the Californians’ favor. The Black & Gold have encountered Seattle in knockout ties three times over the past year – at this stage of the ‘23 playoffs, in Leagues Cup 2024 and U.S. Open Cup – and on all three occasions, they advanced.
All-time, Seattle have won just five of the 22 meetings with LAFC, dating back to the latter club’s inaugural match in 2018, a visit to Lumen Field. There's a clear pattern and growing sample size, and it favors the Black & Gold.
"Obviously they have gotten the better of us the last few times and it's frustrating," Sounders forward Jordan Morris told MLSsoccer.com at Seattle's Longacres training facility this week. "We know how good of a team they are, but we know how good of a team we are as well and I think you see that over the back half of the season, how we played and climbed the table and got to where we are.
"So I think just having confidence, belief that we can play with anyone in this league, including this team."
Seattle resurgence
Those at the southern end of this Western Conference grudge match emphasize how tense past games have been, and how hard they had to labor to navigate past the Sounders. They know just how quickly the tables can turn, especially with so many rematches stacking up – and more tenured LAFC figures will remember how Seattle knocked them off in the 2019 and 2020 postseasons en route to the MLS Cup final.
“We are expecting a team who, essentially, hasn't lost since we beat them last,” LAFC assistant coach Ante Razov, himself a former member of Seattle’s staff, told MLSsoccer.com.
And he’s right: aside from a 1-0 setback at Portland a few days after, the Sounders are undefeated since the Open Cup semifinal loss to LAFC in late August.
"So maybe it's a bit of a matchup issue for them. But we're expecting a completely – not different team, but much more difficult," Razov added.
Point to prove
As a two-time MLS Cup champion, four-time finalist and the league’s only Concacaf Champions Cup winner since the turn of the century, Seattle haven’t often worn the label of pronounced underdog.
But there is precedent for them leaning into the role to great effect: One of the greatest performances in club history spawned from strikingly similar circumstances in 2019, when Seattle landed a shock 3-1 road victory in the Western Conference Final against an LAFC juggernaut who were heavy MLS Cup favorites coming off a 72-point regular season and +48 goal differential.
"I think we can for sure go into it with that [underdog] mentality a little bit and take confidence in that [2019 upset]," Morris said. "They were on top of the league that year, they're first in the West this year, so kind of similar in that sense. And yeah, maybe embracing that underdog role a little bit, but I remember that game – it all just started with our mentality."
With the top three seeds in the Eastern Conference eliminated, the prospect of hosting MLS Cup remains in play for whoever emerges from this semifinal clash.
"I think for us we want to get back into that top-class group in MLS," Morris said. "As much as you try not to read things, we heard what people were saying in the middle of the season, that maybe we weren't even going to make the playoffs, that our "run as a team was over" – whatever everyone was saying, we all heard that and we of course took it personally.
"We know how good we are as a group and what a team we have here. And we believe within the group that we can make a run and I think we can prove it."
