Sounders shell out Saturday shellacking
5-2 thumping in favor of Seattle, LAFC looked lost
The Sounders finally beat their LAFC demons in the Western Conference semifinal. On Saturday, May 8, 2025, Seattle danced on their graves. It might be just the third match of MLS against a highly rotated LAFC with both teams on short rest, but it was music to the ears of Sounders faithful, who have seen their team struggle against Los Angeles, struggle with finishing in the box, and struggle to get the 2025 MLS season started.
Saturday’s game was a romp: 5-2 was the final score, off goals by Kossa-Rienzi, Rothrock, Morris, Cristian, and Albert. Morris’ shot in particular was a record-breaker, while Kossa-Rienzi, a temporary signing from Tacoma, played superbly for his 70 minutes on the pitch.
Brian Schmetzer went with an unusual lineup on Saturday: 3-4-3. It’s quite bizarre to see listed on the roster sheet, although it is a positioning the Sounders have used a few times mid-game in 2025. The roster was much rotated from Wednesday, with Nouhou, Morris, the brothers Roldan, and Frei absent from the starting XI.
Kossa-Rienzi turns heads on both sides of pitch, Thomas muffs set piece for knotted first half
Kalani Kossa-Rienzi, in on a temporary signing from Tacoma Defiance, was the Sounders’ best player of the first half. In the 11th minute, he received a ball from Jesus Ferreira on the right side, drove up beyond LAFC left back Artem Smoliakov and into the box, spun around clockwise, and booted the ball into the net with his left foot. 1-0 Sounders.
Six minutes after scoring a goal, Kossa-Rienzi prevented one. LAFC left back Nathan Ordaz came up strong on the left side, making it past Yeimar and approaching the keeper’s box. Just as Ordaz was about to launch a shot with only Thomas in the way, Kalani knocked the ball away from him to concede a corner. The ensuing kick was punch-cleared by Thomas to end the threat.
Pedro de la Vega, whose 2024 season was derailed by injury, had to leave the pitch early due to injury Saturday. In the 30th minute, the much-discussed playmaker went down holding his leg. He left the match immediately, with Rusnák subbing on for him.
For much of the first half, LAFC created almost-chances by driving either Ordaz or right wing Yaw Yeboah in towards the box from the side, but Yeimar and Jon Bell both rose to the challenge each time. Outside of Kossa-Rienzi, the two outside backs were Seattle’s best players of the match and the main reason why LAFC did not have a lot of dangerous chances during the first half.
However, the Sounders had an error on set piece defense in the 37th minute. As the cross came in, Andrew Thomas jumped up into the crowd to catch the ball, but flubbed the catch, allowing the ball to go loose behind a pile of Sounders and LAFC players. There it stayed for a couple seconds, until Ordaz got a foot on it and knocked it into the net. Tied at 1.
After that moment, LAFC had the momentum of the half, but they were unable to convert any of it into real danger. Seattle turtled into the 5-4-1 (really a 5-3½-1½ with Ferreira switching between front and middle) and prevented their opponents from getting close to the box.
Jordan sinks goal 87; Rothrock, Cristian, and Albert combine for additional three
No one is going to remember the first half. In the final 45 minutes, it was all Sounders. At the beginning of the half, Jordan Morris came in for Danny Musovski, who had been underwhelming during the first half. Ferreira and Rusnak moved into something of a double 10 formation, giving Seattle an offensive posture that almost immediately began breaking holes in the LAFC defense.
In the 57th, Seattle obtained a free kick from just outside the 18. Albert’s shot deflected off Olivier Giroud for a corner. The Sounders took the corner short. The ball made its way to Rusnák, then to Paul Rothrock, a few yards outside the box. Rothrock sent a screaming shot to the net, and there was nothing LAFC keeper Thomas Hasal could do – 2-1 Sounders.
Seattle maintainted complete control of the game for a solid while afterwards. Several times they approached a third goal in the next minutes, getting four corners between the 64th and 66th minutes. Paul and Jordan both nearly sunk one in the fifteen minutes after Paul’s goal, with Paul nearly getting a brace in the 74th as he blew past Hollingshead, making his defender fall down on the way to a shot – saved by Hasal.
In the 77th, the Sounders broke through. Danny Leyva drove the ball into the upper right corner. The team followed him, and Leyva sent a short pass to Cristian, who knocked it forward for Rothrock at the corner of the box. Rothrock sent another short pass to Jordan, who ran forward and chipped the ball into the net. 3-1.
The goal was the 87th of Jordan Morris’ Sounders career in all competitions. He edged out Raúl Ruidíaz – who racked up 86 over his time with Seattle – for most Sounders goals all time. Jordan was well aware of his feat: after he scored, he kissed the Sounders badge on his jersey, tapped the badge, then kissed it again before being gobbled up by teammates.
LAFC had a good opportunity in the 80th, as they won a free kick just outside the 18. Bouanga took the shot, but it went right to Andrew Thomas, giving the Sounders back possession. Four minutes later, Seattle brought the ball to the edge of the LAFC box, taking a couple passes before Rusnak sent it to Cristian, who placed a left-footed shot in between Hasal and the left post. The Sounders were piling on. Morris nearly got himself a brace in the 88th, as the team brought the ball forward out of the midfield: Rusnak to Alex back to Rusnak, then to Morris (possibly offside), who knocked a left-footer of his own – this time saved on a dive by Hasal.
The second half wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows (or rather, rain and gray skies) for Seattle, however. In the second minute of stoppage, LAFC finally got a powerful direct transition, with David Martinez stealing the ball from Jon Bell and barreling down the right side past a set of disorganized Sounders. Martinez geared up for a shot outside the box, but five Seattle men caught up to him in that moment, so he brought the ball forward some more and shot it between Morris and Ragen, under a diving Thomas, and into the net. 4-2.
Two minutes later, the Sounders ended their thunderous win on a high note: Georgi Minoungou, in much better form than his recent matches, easily beat Yaw Yeboah on a dribble into the box and then sent a pass back to a well-positioned Rusnák, who tapped the ball into the net. The final whistle blew not long after: 5-2, Sounders win.
The big day for Jordan Morris
The Seattle Sounders’ leading goal scorer is now a man from Seattle (well, Mercer Island, which I will count as Seattle in this and only this instance). Jordan Morris now has 87 goals in 252 matches and 19,616 minutes (0.399 goals per 90).
It goes without saying that this was an incredible moment for the Sounders’ striker.
“Being a kid growing up here, being a fan of the team, working with the Academy, sitting in the stands knowing I wanted to be on the field someday,” Morris said postmatch, “to being here now … it means everything to me to play for this club, and to have my name in the history books is a special honor.”
Even better for the Sounders, this was one of Jordan’s best recent games from a form and decision-making perspective. He got multiple shots on goal on the immediate touch, including his goal. If this can become a consistent thing, it would turn him into the kind of premier MLS striker that would make Seattle MLS Cup favorites. But then again, that’s been Morris’ bugbear: consistency across games. We’ll see how it ends up.
Seattle played wide and stuffed LA’s transitions
The Sounders have historically struggled against LAFC’s wide attack. On Saturday, they exited the usual 4-2-3-1 setup for a 3-4-3. This is a formation they had been playing around with for a while – one wonders if Schmetz was looking to take away the space advantage of teams like LAFC – and it worked like a charm. Now, LA didn’t have all its options on the pitch, but they still brought out their usual playbook: get a transition, get it to one of the powerhouse attackers, and score.
Unfortunately for LAFC, Olivier Giroud turned into a pumpkin, so it was Nathan Ordaz and Yaw Yeboah coming from each wing, alongside David Martinez coming on in the second half. Aside from the 92nd minute screw-up – when Jon Bell got blown away by David Martinez – Jon Bell and Yeimar easily thwarted their attempts. Denis Bouanga came off the bench in the second half but couldn’t get anything going.
However, it must be said that if this were a closer game – like the Sounders usually play – the 92nd minute mistake would have turned Saturday into another game like the one against Charlotte.
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Sounders turned LAFC’s defense to Swiss cheese
If I’m LAFC coach Steven Cherundolo, I’m giving the back line a little more than just a once-over. Saturday was not a good performance by LAFC’s backs. Hollingshead and Marlon didn’t start, sure, but when they went on, they looked just as lost as Palencia and Long. Nkosi Tafari and Eddie Segura played the entire game on the back foot. Artem Smolyakov had a poor 59 minutes until Cherundolo pulled him out for Denis Bouanga.
And Thomas Hasal … I don’t know if he’s going to see another start for LAFC. Hugo Lloris definitely makes it a closer match, both through better keeping and better leadership.
Given that LAFC had – CONCACAF and MLS games combined – been on a 4-game clean sheet streak, this is probably as much the Sounders being good as LAFC having an awful day. Danny Musovski did not look like a peer player to the rest of the Sounders, but once Jordan and Rusnák came on, the entire top seven were playing beautifully. Jesús Ferreira continued meshing into the team, getting the assist on Kalani’s goal and forming a solid second half double-ten pair with Albert.
The holding midfielders balled out: Danny Leyva had 124 touches, was 106/113 (94%) on passing accuracy with 17 passes into the final third, and 2/3 on long balls. JP struggled with long balls, going 5/12, but went 110/119 (92%) on passing with 25 passes into the final third and 138 touches.
And Georgi and Paul finally looked like the players we saw in parts of 2024. Paul showed skill both as a runner and as a longshot kicker, while Georgi showed how dangerous he can be when he combines his excellent one-on-one dribbling with quick passes. The whole second half attacking crew also displayed a level of intuiting each other’s ideas that we hadn’t yet seen this year.
Pedro injured?
The big question from Saturday’s game glares at us from just below the glamorous lights: What is Pedro de la Vega’s injury status? He went out holding his right quad. He walked off the pitch on his own (though with trainers by his side) and left the match. He could be seen on the sidelines walking around, though with a limp.
Schmetzer said little, other than that he had some tightness and that they will assess him. The team is – given what happened in 2024 – likely to be cautious around Pedro. I wouldn’t expect him to be available for the second leg of the Cruz Azul matchup.
Coming up
Seattle has a quick turnaround, playing their next match on Tuesday, March 11, at 5:30 PM Pacific Time. Leg 2 of the CONCACAF Champions Cup Round of 16 against Cruz Azul. It will be in Mexico City, with most of Cruz Azul’s starters back on the pitch. A loss results in the Sounders being bounced out; a win means the Sounders move on. A 0-0 draw goes to overtime, then to penalties – while any other kind of draw would send Seattle to the next round to face the winner of Chivas and Club América. Currently Chivas have the advantage, winning the first leg 1-0.
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