The Seattle Sounders’ opening two matches of their 2025 Leagues Cup Phase One journey looked very different, but they count the same with three massive points in the MLS Leagues Cup table.
The Sounders kicked off their international tournament with a historic 7-0 walloping of the reigning Concacaf Champions League winners Cruz Azul last Thursday before Sunday’s 2-1 win over a Santos Laguna side that had finished dead last in Liga MX over the last two Apertura and Clausura seasons.
“They’re not all going to be like the 7-0 win over Cruz Azul\],” said center back [Jackson Ragen after the win over Santos. “Grinding it out when we’re down a man and we have a ton of pressure on us, it shows the mentality of this group. We’re really frustrated that we gave up that last goal because we deserved a clean sheet with the way that we defended as a team.”
Despite the close score line, Seattle dominated Santos Laguna for 90 minutes. The Sounders forced an own goal early but weren’t able to find the decisive second goal until the 72nd minute when substitute Georgi Minoungou unveiled a bit of individual brilliance with a laser from the top of the box that found the side netting.
Minoungou, however, was subsequently sent off with a second yellow card for his celebration, requiring the Sounders to see out the match down a man with Santos Laguna ultimately pulling back a consolation goal deep into stoppage time.
“This is a hard tournament to win,” said Sounders Head Coach Brian Schmetzer. “Games are never easy against Liga MX teams. They have a lot of quality.”
Seattle was buoyed by the return of winger Paul Rothrock, who underwent surgery on July 25 to repair a broken bone in his hand. The Seattle native was lively all evening, and it was his dangerous cross into the six-yard box that forced Santos defender Haret Ortega to put the ball into his own net just eight minutes into the match.
“It’s a difficult game psychologically coming off the Cruz Azul game, one of the best performances ever in club history,” said Rothrock. “This game felt like a potential trap game. We handled ourselves well in that regard and showed some grit in closing the game out and being smart when we hit a little bit of adversity late in the game. Ultimately, we found a way to get three points and put ourselves in a great spot.”
Seattle finishes Matchday 2 of the tournament in prime position to qualify for the Quarterfinals, which only four of the 18 participating MLS teams will do. The Sounders are first in the MLS table, tied only with the Portland Timbers on points but ahead of their Cascadia rivals on goal differential with a staggering plus-eight advantage in just two contests.
“I like the way our team plays,” said Schmetzer. “I like our little bit of freedom of interchange between players and positions as long as we occupy the right spaces. The team is playing with a lot of confidence and the team is scoring a lot of goals. That was one of our Achilles’ heels from last year. We worked hard on it. In the beginning of the year maybe we had some struggles, but right now the guys are feeling it. Everybody is contributing.”
Leagues Cup 2025
The battle for North America is back and it’s bigger than ever.
This summer, 36 of the best — all 18 clubs from Liga MX and the top 18 qualifying teams from MLS — will clash for regional supremacy, with the top three finishers punching their ticket to the Concacaf Champions Cup.
When the Sounders became the first MLS team to win the modern version of the Concacaf Champions Cup (née Concacaf Champions League) in 2022, they bucked the trend of Mexican dominance over their United States and Canadian counterparts. The tide hasn’t completely turned, but the matches are far more of a coin flip than they had been for decades previously.
On Matchday 1, MLS teams went 8-5-5 against Liga MX. On Matchday 2, MLS went 5-8-5. On Matchday 3 on Wednesday, the Sounders will look to make it three wins from three and advance to the Knockout Rounds when they welcome Club Tijuana to Lumen Field (8 p.m. PT; Watch on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV | TICKETS).
“I appreciate the dialogue [that MLS is competing well against Liga MX] because we had a big victory against Cruz Azul, but it was important for us to come back tonight and have another good performance against another good Liga MX team,” said Schmetzer. “The same goes for our last game against Tijuana. We need to make sure that we continue that conversation that MLS can compete even though some of the bigger Liga MX teams spend more money than us. For us to be competitive, I think that’s a good thing. It’s good for the competition between the two leagues. I enjoy this competition. I like the games. I think they’re exciting. I like when all our fans can come and watch a good, entertaining soccer game.”
Seattle’s outlook heading into its match against Xolos on Wednesday isn’t one of complacency. The Sounders, who are unbeaten in eight matches (5-0-3) since the end of their FIFA Club World Cup appearance earlier this summer, aren’t looking to take their foot off the gas.
“We’re playing for a different type of pride, representing Seattle on an even bigger stage,” said Rothrock, referring to what is now their third international competition of 2025. “[The Tijuana match] is a must-win game. The job’s not even close to done. We have to win this next game. That’s going to be the mentality.”
