The Seattle Sounders hold themselves to a high standard.
“We’re driven by winning,” said Head Coach Brian Schmetzer.
The team closed out the 2024 season with strong runs in the U.S. Open Cup, Leagues Cup and most recently the MLS Cup Playoffs, but fell short of adding more trophies to their current collection.
These efforts of coming just shy of championship titles in the three respective tournaments marked the Sounders as one of the most competitive MLS teams in 2024. Even so, Seattle remains unsatisfied with the outcome.
“I've asked myself that question: Was 2024 a success? And what I would tell you is no, because we're pragmatic people,” said Schmetzer. “Our jobs are wins and losses. Our jobs are winning trophies.”
While the overall outcome of the season did not end in Seattle’s favor, this did not take away from the growth the team exhibited throughout the year.
Schmetzer and General Manager & Chief Soccer Officer Craig Waibel were particularly proud of the younger players stepping up and making a difference.
“We have a great core of young talent,” said Waibel. “I think this year we had players from our own development whether they're immediate homegrowns or guys that went to college and came back…You look at the core minutes played right now over the course of the season, and I think there's a huge representation, well over 11, 12, 13,000 minutes played.”
Players like 19-year-old Obed Vargas came into his own this season, serving as one of the core center midfielders in the Sounders Starting XI. The Alaska native’s ability to make an impact on both sides of the pitch not only put the Sounders in position to climb the Western Conference table, it also earned him his first-ever call-up to the senior Mexican national team.
“Obed had a fantastic year,” said Waibel. “He's one of the top young players, frankly, in all of North America.”
Forward Paul Rothrock is another player that excelled over the course of the 2024 season, racking up eight goals and five assists for the Sounders side.
“I think Paul got a lot of juice,” said Schmetzer. “He was certainly good from a GM prospect, because he did a lot of good things, and he was inexpensive on our roster.”
Other young standouts include MLS Defender of the Year finalist Jackson Ragen, defender Reed Baker-Whiting and winger Georgi Minoungou. It was the performances of these players, along with the togetherness the team in overcoming their early season struggles, that made Schmetzer hopeful for what’s to come in 2025.
“Those two successes of the young guys and having belief, I think, make this a real good basis or foundation to move forward,” he said.
Beginning the year with only one win from their first nine matches marked the Sounders’ worst start in club history. But to come out of that rut, finish top four in the West and advance all the way to the Conference Final, put things in perspective for the long-time Sounders head coach.
“I was very proud of the tactical success, the coaching staff, the faith that we had in this particular group of players in turning the season around,” said Schmetzer. “It didn't start very well, but that belief, my confidence in the coaching staff and the players, got us through.”
