As MLS teams take a slight pause in their schedules while the Concacaf Gold Cup gets underway, let’s take a look at the Seattle Sounders by the numbers through the first third of the season.
There’s no better place to start than at the top, where the Sounders sit in the Supporters’ Shield standings with 29 points.
Brad Smith had just one goal in his entire professional career coming into 2021, but he’s thrived as a wingback in Head Coach Brian Schmetzer’s 3-5-2 formation to the tune of three goals and three assists.
Four players have worn the captain’s armband already this season, with Nicolás Lodeiro, Stefan Frei, Cristian Roldan and João Paulo all getting the nod.
Seattle has allowed just eight goals in 13 matches, three fewer than the next-closest teams, each of whom has played one fewer match.
Sounders forward Raúl Ruidíaz is tied with Javier “Chicharito” Hernández for first in the Golden Boot race with 10 goals this season. The Peruvian has now reached double-digit goals in each of his four seasons in Seattle.
Seattle set an MLS record by going 13 matches unbeaten to start a season and will look to continue its streak on Sunday at Minnesota United (11 a.m. PT; ESPN, 950 KJR AM, El Rey 1360 AM).
The Sounders have a Goal Differential of plus-15, by far the most in MLS and a full six goals higher than second place. Their 23 Goals For is second in MLS to go along with their league-leading defense.
The Sounders have had all this success so far without captain and 2020 MLS Best XI selection Lodeiro, who has totaled just 24 minutes off the bench in one appearance this season. He’s been shut down since May with knee inflammation.
Non-Jordan Morris Homegrowns have totaled 644 minutes this season compared to just 202 all of last year. Schmetzer has already played four teenagers in Josh Atencio, Danny Levya, Ethan Dobbelaere and Reed Baker-Whiting.
The Sounders played in their first full capacity home match in 15 months when they defeated the Houston Dynamo 2-0 last Wednesday. A crowd of 27,421 entered Lumen Field to see the Sounders, the most since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
