After a preseason full of success and a promising start to Concacaf Champions Cup, the Seattle Sounders are ready to make a statement on Saturday night in the club’s Home Opener against Charlotte FC (7:30 p.m. PT; MLS Season Pass on Apple TV, 93.3 KJR FM, El Rey 1360AM | TICKETS).
“Getting off to a fast start, and especially as you well know, getting points from home games is [going to be] critical," said Head Coach Brian Schmetzer.
Seattle went unbeaten in all five of their preseason matches, scoring 17 goals in the process. The team maintained this offensive prowess into Wednesday night’s 3-1 CCC win over Antigua GFC as well, carrying what they’ve learned and developed as a collective group over the last month and executing it into meaningful matches.
“It was a good performance for us, and we are obviously pleased,” said Schmetzer.
Now, the team is looking to emulate that outcome on Saturday as they kick off the MLS regular season at Lumen Field.
“We've been scoring goals in Spain, and to score three goals on the road in Antigua, I think that's good,” said midfielder Albert Rusnák. “And we'll try and carry that into tomorrow and start the MLS season properly.”
Like the Sounders, Charlotte is one of the top defensive teams in MLS, having finished the 2024 season with the second fewest goals against (37). The challenge to surpass a backline of that stature is inevitable, but the latest performances displayed by the Rave Green have proven they are capable of finding a variety of ways to produce results.
In the Sounders’ first round match over Antigua specifically, the team utilized several players to construct different combination plays that led to goals.
The first came less than three minutes into the match when Jesús Ferreira found Paul Arriola at the top of the box to finish one-time, giving the Sounders the early lead. Then in the 61st minute, it was Pedro de la Vega who found the back of the net with a rocket from distance. The final goal contribution came with seconds left to spare, when Georgi Minoungou found Rusnák on the run for him to place the ball perfectly far-post.
“I think the whole group is a very together, complete group,” said Schmetzer. “They enjoy working together.”
The odds were against the Seattle side given Antigua’s one-month head-start in league competition and having to play on the road in a different country. But, through the support of every single player in the Starting XI and those that came off the bench, Seattle was able to leave Guatemala in high spirits.
“The conditions being away in Guatemala, the field was different than we're used to, everything's just different. And it looks very easy on paper. People think you go there, you win, 3, 4-0, and it's never like that…Not one MLS team has won comfortably on the road, whether it was in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, they're all tough games,” said Rusnák. “So I think to get a 3-1 win, it's probably a better result than most expected.
“The year we won Champions League (2022), we hadn’t won a single game on the road. We tied all four. So, yeah, I think it's a great way to start a season.”
While the team has a quick turnaround between matches, Schmetzer is confident this year’s group of players has enough depth to compete for trophies on multiple fronts.
“My feeling, my belief, is that this is a very good roster,” said Schmetzer. “This roster is built to be a little bit more flexible in some of those substitution patterns, and I won't be afraid to use them.”
