Leagues Cup Round of 16 begins tonight
Seattle host Pumas tonight at 10:30 pm ET in the lone Leagues Cup game of the day. Check out the full schedule here.
Just the one game to get to tonight. Let’s talk it out.
Seattle Sounders FC vs. Pumas UNAM
Watch: Apple TV - MLS Season Pass; FS1, UniMás, TUDN | Monday, 10:30 pm ET
Watchability Score: 35/50
It’s been a while since May of 2022, but it’s nice to look back. It’s hard to believe it’s only been a couple of years since Seattle took down Pumas to become MLS’s first modern-day winner of the Concacaf Champions Cup.
Plenty has changed since then, but you have to wonder if maybe not enough has changed for Seattle. Seven of the 11 starters in that game started for Seattle in Saturday’s 3-1 win over LA. Nine of the 11 starters are still on the roster and getting significant minutes. Continuity isn’t inherently a bad thing, but it’s fair to say things have felt a bit stale at times after that win. Since the 2022 CCC (then CCL) final, Seattle have averaged 1.44 points per game over 86 matches. That’s not bad, but it’s not among the elite teams in MLS over that span. Cincinnati, LAFC, Columbus, Philadelphia, Orlando, RSL, Miami and Vancouver have all earned points at a higher rate.
Again, there are worse things than being the ninth-best team in MLS over two and half years. It’s just that we’ve come to expect a little more from Seattle. Even with a second-place finish in the West last season, they haven’t looked like a genuine contender for a title in a couple of years beyond a feeling of: “Well, it’s Seattle, they always have a shot.”
To their credit, they took a big swing this year by letting Nico Lodeiro head out after a legendary career and bringing in a new DP. That’s not a full roster refresh, but it's a major change for any MLS team. Unfortunately, Pedro de la Vega has been… man, not to be harsh, but he might technically be the worst signing of the season? Seattle needed him to be a star. They needed him to bring a boost to a roster that clearly needed a jump start in attack. Instead, he’s played 211 minutes in MLS and went just 89 minutes over two games in Leagues Cup before picking up yet another injury.
He could still come good and be the star Seattle were looking for. When he’s been on the field, he’s typically looked the part. But he hasn’t been on the field much.
Meanwhile, his teammates have struggled to find the back of the net without him. The Sounders are 20th in MLS in goals per game and 19th in expected goals per game. They’re still among the best defensive teams in the league, but their inability to score has them stuck fighting for a playoff spot rather than fighting for a spot in the Supporters’ Shield race.
To be fair though, they have been more productive of late. Before Leagues Cup, they went on a seven-game unbeaten run in MLS that ended with a 3-0 loss to LAFC. Yeah, there’s probably something to be said about them getting smacked by the best team they faced in that gentle stretch of games. But there’s also something to be said about them taking care of business against bad teams when they manage to keep all 11 players on the field. The Sounders have inexplicably played five games where they’ve received a red card this year. They earned two draws and three losses. Take those games out and they’ve averaged 1.85 points per game, which, over the entire season would have them just behind LAFC in the standings.
That’s not to say they’re quite on that level. It still feels like, at their best, they’re still a tier below the elite teams in the league. They don’t have to be world-beaters to make their way through the rest of this tournament though. Pumas are a beatable opponent, they’ll probably see a familiar friend in LAFC if they make it to the next round. And, from there, all it takes to turn a knockout game on its head is a couple of set piece goals. We saw that when they blitzed the Galaxy Thursday.
It’s weird, but even in a campaign that’s felt disjointed and clunky from a narrative perspective, Seattle could still win multiple trophies this season. They have a semifinal matchup in the U.S. Open Cup directly after Leagues Cup ends, they could easily catch Colorado for the fourth spot in the West and go from there in the playoffs, and they could maybe, just maybe find a way to make something special happen over the rest of this tournament.
Even if they come out of this with a trophy (or even two), it still seems clear they need to refresh this roster. They could get that opportunity this offseason with players like Raúl Ruidíaz likely heading out. For now, they may still have enough to remind people 2022 wasn’t that long ago. We’ll find out tonight, I guess.
Good luck out there. Take time to reminisce.
