Seattle Sounders Head Coach Brian Schmetzer entered his post-match press conference on Saturday night with an added accessory. Schmetzer was toting a local Boston beer, a cheeky celebratory drink and a nod to his team’s convincing 3-0 win over the New England Revolution in a cross-country clash.
There was much for Schmetzer and the Sounders to rejoice in, backing up a crucial three-match winning streak at Lumen Field with a decisive result against a team that has MLS’ second-most home wins in 2026 and is a legitimate championship contender.
“This was a statement win,” said Schmetzer. “New England is a really good team. They were second in the East…We came into their building. It wasn’t just a smash-and-grab…we outplayed them.”
The win was the fourth in a row for Seattle, which has lived three distinct lives in MLS this year. Following a season-opening home win against Colorado and a road loss at Real Salt Lake, the Sounders went nine matches unbeaten before losing a club-record eight consecutive league contests. Seattle has since responded going nine unbeaten again (4-0-5) in a streak that has coincided with the merciful return of many key contributors from injury.
“We knew we were gonna be back on top,” said Sounders forward Dejan Joveljić, who scored Seattle’s second goal of the evening. “We just needed one win. Nobody was scared or had tension. Everyone knows how good we are and we just needed one win to be back on track. Now, four wins in a row and everything is going well. We’re still fighting for a playoff spot, and we need to be as high as we can to have home advantage.”
Seattle’s recent ascendency has also undoubtedly aligned with the arrival of Joveljić, who joined from Sporting Kansas City this summer in a blockbuster $6M cash-for-player trade. The 27-year-old Serbian international has already gotten on the score sheet four times in his first five Sounders appearances, and his tally on Saturday night was a thing of beauty. He received the ball on the left side of the box, made a quick touch to his right to create the smallest bit of space and then picked out the far corner.
Joveljić, who had admired the Sounders from afar during his time with the LA Galaxy and SKC, is eager to see how high this team’s ceiling is this year.
“In my first few years in MLS, Seattle was one of my favorite teams to watch, and now I have a chance to play with all those guys,” said Joveljić. “I hope that everyone stays healthy and we can win a lot of games. In the playoffs we can be a very dangerous team, and I’m sure that everyone would like to avoid [playing] us.”
It helps, too, to have a manager in Schmetzer who has continued to get his team to peak at the right times during his 10 years at the helm. He famously led Seattle to its first MLS Cup in 2016 after taking over as interim head coach midseason, rallying his troops to go from the Western Conference basement to lifting the Philip Anschutz trophy.
With just six matches remaining in the regular season, including a midweek clash on Wednesday at the West’s second-place team FC Dallas (5:30 p.m. PT; Apple TV), the Sounders are peaking at just the right time, which is bad news for the rest of the league.
“In past years, the team has come together at the end of the year and we’ve made a strong run,” said Schmetzer. “Some of that experience helps me through the challenging period that we had when we were losing games…That group has a lot of experienced players that understand that sometimes you go through those moments where you’re not doing so well, but what really matters is when it comes to the playoffs, you have to be playing at a very high level.”
