AUSTIN FC v. SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC

Greetings to my brothers and sisters in Green. Sounders FC travel to Planet Texas to play Austin FC, in the last stop on the current two-match road trip.

What: MLS league match, Austin FC v. Seattle Sounders FC.

Where: McKalla Place, Austin, Texas.

When: 4:00 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time, Sunday 21 September 2025.

At Stake: Points in the league. All that’s left to play for is MLS Cup seeding. As it stands currently (Saturday 20 September 8:44 p.m.) we (W5) would face LAFC (W4) in a three-match cup tie, with matches one and three (if required) to be played at Figueroa Street. Sounders are currently 14th place in the league table, 15 points adrift of leaders Philadelphia.

Is it possible for us to be knocked out of MLS Cup Qualification?

Mathematically possible but highly unlikely barring a total collapse.

Is it possible we could drop into the play-in match?

That’s a thing that could happen if we drop too many points, as Colorado (W8) and Dallas (W9) are six and eight points adrift respectively. Colorado can only earn a maximum of nine more points. Dallas can only earn a maximum of 12 more points. The likely scenario is we will play in the “first” round which comes after the play-in round which…should be the first round? Can the MLS League Office not count to two? Right, focus.

Ahead of us in the qualifying pecking order are:

W1 San Diego 3 matches remaining 57 points (66 maximum points)

W2 Vancouver 5 matches remaining 55 points (70 maximum points)

W3 Minnesota 3 matches remaining 64 points (73 maximum points)

W4 LAFC 6 matches remaining 47 points (65 maximum points)

We are here:

W5 Seattle 5 matches remaining 45 points (60 maximum points)

Nipping at our heels:

W6 Portland 4 matches remaining 42 points (54 maximum points)

W7 Austin 5 matches remaining 41 points (56 maximum points)

Current play-in teams:

W8 Colorado 3 matches remaining 39 points (48 maximum points)

W9 Dallas 4 matches remaining 37 points (49 maximum points)

Where to Watch: MLS Season Pass via Apple TV and Apple TV+.

Where to Listen: KJR via iHeartMedia Seattle (not sure if they will make a terrestrial broadcast) and El Rey 1360 AM.

Five league matches remain. We’re not winning the league. That window has slammed shut with a rather deafening bang.

What we can do, is try to advance our MLS Cup qualifying position. Our results following our Leagues Cup triumph have been rather dismal. Rather not up to our usual standard. That said, it’s professional sport. You learn what you can from defeat and move on. We better had move on as we only have five league fixtures left to play. @Austin, Vancouver, Portland, Salt Lake, and @NYC.

It’s gut check time. It’s time to either play up and risk more injury tryna get the best qualifying position possible or rest first-choice players who are nicked up from playing 42 matches in all competitions, trusting in our youngers and squad players to do the job.

For the last two matches, management opted to push the players to the limit to try and get six points. We got one. So whatever we were doing then, we need to not do things the same way now. There are no matches left on the fixture list that are closer together than six days apart from now ’til the end. So what’s the plan?

We’re about to find out.

The lads are weary and nicked up and could use some chuffing up. Unfortunately, our next match is in Austin, and Heartland are going to have to bridge the gap this time. It’s a good crew, and I expect we and our Boys in Green on the pitch will hear them.

Time grows short.

It’s MLS league football, under the hot, afternoon sun at McKalla Place. GO ON YOU SOUNDERS!!! GET IN!!!

Before kick-off, please join me in the auld toast: “TO THE SEATTLE SOUNDERS FOOTBALL CLUB…AND VICTORY!!!”

“Magic 8-Ball: How was it that we had been dominating both LA Galaxy and Miami just days ago,

but only managed one point out of six over the last two matches?”

The Good News

Baker-Whiting (Yanks U-20) and Vargas (Mexico U-20) have been named to their respective squads for FIFA U-20 World Cup Finals to be held in Chile starting on 27 September. Well done, Lads!

Sounders are 3-1-1 in our last five matches. We’re averaging nearly two goals a match (1.81), and conceding an average of less than two goals (1.38). These are good things.

Baker-Whiting has signed a new three-years contract with a club option for 2029. It’s deserved. Reed has been dead reliable, with a high work rate, and is dangerous in attack when he gets forward from his left-back position. Baker-Whiting can also play as a forward, and as a defensive midfielder. This is a good signing. For a change we seem to be identifying and rewarding young talent, instead of watching them slip away - released or moved on free transfers.

Although we’ve faltered over the last two matches, you don’t just suddenly become rubbish overnight. If we do a better job of managing player minutes, we can not only rack up a fat stack of points, but keep our players fit and allow injured players to mend as we do so.

The Bad News

Ouch. Dropped five of the last six points in the league in contests with clubs we had recently dominated. That’s just troubling. I mean, no one expects us to win every match, that would just be stupid. Yet, I find myself wondering what the difference was between our last two matches, and the last two times we lined up against LA Galaxy and Miami. I’m fairly certain the difference was: Fatigue and injuries.

Austin has been doing well of late. They are 7-7-2 at home compared to our road record of 6-4-8.  They are 3-0-2 in their last five matches. Although they are struggling to score goals (1.17/match) they are defending better than we are (1.20 goals conceded/match). Austin are 6-7-4 in the league since 14 May and are preparing to contest the US Open Cup Final on 1 October, a tournament we haven’t won since 2014. To get to the USOC Final, they had to beat Minnesota United, a feat we haven’t been able to manage all season.

Baker-Whiting and Vargas reporting to Chile for U-20 World Cup tournament gives us less quality and flexibility in the squad for at least the next two matches after Austin. Those two matches will be played against Cascadia rivals Vancouver and Portland. Both lads could miss more matches if the Yanks and Mexico advance past the group stage.

Although we can ignore the vagaries of the man-management style of Brian Schmetzer when we produce results and trophies, it becomes harder to overlook the overplaying of our ageing core, utterly perplexing substitutions, and questionable tactics when we don’t. The supporters and the local access press like Brian. He’s one of our own, a Seattle guy. 2x MLS Cup, a CONCACAF Champions League, and a Leagues Cup have been won in his nearly 10 seasons in charge. Also Schmetzer won honours as Manager from the USL days as well. His record as Manager for Sounders FC (MLS-era, calculated through 16 September 2025) is 176-92-112. He gets results in the league, sure. This season is his 10th in charge, we have four trophies, that’s decent. However, it must be acknowledged that the Leagues Cup title is our first trophy in three seasons. What we also get is a lot of injured players, likely from overuse, particularly our older veterans who Schmetzer tends to over-rely on. Our management thinks that ice baths and cryo-chamber time can aid in muscle recovery even on a two-days turnaround between matches and that the effects of playing football at altitude are largely mental rather than physical despite scientific proof to the contrary. We get weirdo substitutions such as taking off an attacker for a defender in a match that we are trailing in or a substitution with six to 10 minutes left to play as if to say “Go out there and get me a goal, kid.” This is, of course, questionable managerial practise and not founded in realistic expectations. Our tactics and play go from the sublime to the fundamentally deficient. Against top opposition, passing becomes crisper and faster, player movement becomes more dangerous creating spaces for runners and passing and shooting lanes. At other times player movement stagnates, ball movement becomes slow and predictable, with very few passes that break lines. Our players are often guilty of ball-watching as our defence wins the ball back. Rather than potential pass-receivers trying to run into open spaces, our players stare at the player who just won the ball. Players often converge on a space, looking for a pass in the final third, crimping each other’s space making it easy for the opposition defence to contain us. Our lineups are often predictable. Our set-piece play is inconsistent. At our worst it’s a never-ending series of hopeful crosses from the “primary assist zone” that often never reach their intended targets. Our wing play is undisciplined, crimping way too far into the middle of the pitch, and we often play way too narrow as a team. We switch the point of attack too predictably and too slowly. Often exhausted players at a disadvantage when attempting to counter-press after losing the ball. I had thought Schmetzer had turned a corner with playing our talented youngers and squad players more frequently so as to better rest his favoured selection. I’m starting to think that the Manager played our youngers only because he was painted into a corner and essentially had no choice because of injuries and the absurd and reckless MLS schedule. If we continue to limp on in this manner, we will likely not contend for a US Open Cup title or an MLS League Championship in the foreseeable near future. We are a club that occasionally wins trophies whilst presiding over an inconsistent brand of football that ranges from the sublime to the nearly unwatchable. You can disagree with this assessment if you like, but before you have a go at me on socials, I recommend that you look up our record in matches at high-altitude (Colorado, Salt Lake, Mexico City, etc.), look up the amount of minutes our players play when we have two matches in four days or three matches in eight days, look up the amount of minutes Schmetzer’s first choice players bank each season relative to what other teams ahead of us in the league standings do, look up how many matches our key players have lost to injury, look up the amount spent on player transfers compared to those who are doing better than we are. Research that over a 10 year period, consolidate and verify your findings, and then we can discuss what I might’ve got wrong. I write these things because I’ve been hammering away at this for a decade. I present facts and opinions, sure, but opinions backed by data.

Craig Waibel must be replaced as General Manager. The additions to the squad have either been too old, injury prone, not able to work their way into Schmetzer’s favour (which at times seems based on some arbitrary metric of merit that only Brian seems to know the score of), or not suited to our style of play. We need a Reserve Team manager who understands what must be done to prepare a steady stream of players ready for senior team action.

We need to drop sponsorships with corporations that are admittedly terrible and replace that with funding from sources that are actually trying to make life better for more people, domestically and globally. Not that corpo ‘give with one hand and take with the other hand’ song and dance garbage we are currently witnessing. We either show that we’re a part of the greater good, or settle for being just another source of corpo sport-entertainment dreck.

The Side I Would Select

Seeing as we’re about to lose Baker-Whiting to the Yanks for U-20 World Cup Finals, we’ve got to get the most we can from him before he departs for Chile. Vargas, although we need him, needs a rest. As the points in this match directly affect MLS Cup seeding, getting the three points would be dead useful. The experienced hands are worn to the bone with many of them playing the better part of two complete matches in four days. We’ll need them completely recovered for Vancouver in six days time. We play our younger players for as long as possible this match, and hope it’s enough. That is what sensible man-management looks like.

GK     Thomas

LB     Baker-Whiting

LCH    Kim

RCH    Bell

RB     Kossa-Rienzi

LDM    Brunell

RDM   Leyva

LF     Rothrock

CAM   Ferreira

RF     Minoungou

CF     De Rosario

The Side I Think The Gaffer Will Select

Zero lessons learnt from overplaying our ageing core two matches in four days. Look for the Gaffer’s favourites to line up, for the most part.

GK     Thomas

LB     Nouhou

LCH    Ragen

RCH    Gomez Andrade

RB     Alex

LDM    Vargas

RDM   Cristian

LF     Morris

CAM   Rusnak

RF     Ferreira

CF     Musovski

Intangibles

Officiating.

Jair Marrufo will be the Referee for Sunday’s league fixture in Austin.

ATX record with Marrufo as Ref: 2-0-3

SEA record with Marrufo as Ref: 24-6-11

We are being left behind.

Sounders FC 2025 season declared transfer fees paid: €1.45M

Austin 2025 season declared transfer fees paid: €25.97M

General notes on personnel

Austin transfers IN:

Sanchez (LAFC) free

Vazquez (Monterrey) €9.6M

Dubersarsky (Instituto) €2.9M

Sabovic (Djurgarden) free

Uzuni (Granada) €12M

Thomas - reserves

Taylor (Inter Miami) €615,000

Beloko (Luzern) free

Djordjevic (FK TSC Backa Topola) €851,000

Austin transfers OUT:
Bersano - retired

Finlay - retired

Hedges (Des Moines Menace) free

Jimenez - retired

Ring (HJK Helsinki) free

Valencia (Universidad Catolica) free

Zardes (MLS Pool) buyout

Driussi (River Plate) €9.75M

Las (Louisville City) loan

Vaisanen (BK Hacken) €450,000

Beloko (Lausanne) free

Comparison against common opponents

ATX 1:0 SKC
SKC 1:2 ATX

SKC 2:3 SEA

SEA 5:2 SKC

(against SKC: ATX 2-0-0 +2, SEA 2-0-0 +4) marginal edge SEA

POR 1:0 ATX
ATX 0:0 POR

POR 1:1 SEA

(against POR: ATX 0-1-1 -1, 0-1-0 0) marginal edge SEA

ATX 0:1 COL

COL 0:2 ATX

COL 1:1 SEA

SEA 3:3 COL

(against COL: ATX 1-0-1 +1, SEA 0-2-0 0) marginal edge ATX

LAFC 0:1 ATX

SEA 5:2 LAFC

LAFC 4:0 SEA

(against LAFC: ATX 1-0-0 +1, 1-0-1 -1) marginal edge ATX

ATX 2:1 SD

SD 2:0 ATX

SD 3:0 SEA

SEA 1:0 SD

(against SD: ATX 1-0-1 -1, SEA 1-0-1 -2) marginal edge ATX

STL 0:1 ATX

STL 1:0 SEA

SEA 4:1 STL

(against STL: ATX 1-0-0 +1, SEA 1-0-1 +2) marginal edge SEA

VAN 5:1 ATX

ATX 0:0 VAN

VAN 3:0 SEA

(against VAN: ATX 0-1-1 -4, SEA 0-0-1 -3) even

ATX 1:0 LAG

LAG 1:2 ATX

LAG 0:4 SEA

LAG 0:2 SEA LC

SEA 2:2 LAG

(against VAN: ATX 2-0-0 +2, SEA 2-1-0 +6) decisive edge SEA

HOU 2:0 ATX

ATX 3:1 HOU USOC

ATX 2:2 HOU

SEA 0:0 HOU

HOU 1:3 SEA

(against HOU: ATX 1-1-1 0, SEA 1-1-0 +2) marginal edge SEA

ATX 0:3 MIN

MIN 1:1 ATX

MIN 1:2 ATX USOC

SEA 2:3 MIN

MIN 1:0 SEA

(against MIN: ATX 1-1-1 -2, SEA 0-0-2 -2) edge ATX

ATX 1:1 ATL

ATL 2:2 SEA

(against ATL: ATX 0-1-0 0, SEA 0-1-0 0) even

ATX 1:1 RSL

RSL 2:0 SEA

(against RSL: ATX 0-1-0 0, SEA 0-0-1 -2) edge ATX

SJ 2:2 ATX USOC

ATX 3:1 SJ

SJ 1:1 SEA

SEA 3:2 SJ

(against SJ: ATX 1-1-0 +2, SEA 1-1-0 +1) marginal edge ATX

ATX 1:1 DAL

DAL 2:0 ATX

DAL 0:1 SEA

SEA 1:0 DAL

(against DAL: ATX 0-1-1 -2, SEA 2-0-0 +2), decisive edge SEA

Know Thine Enemy

The Austin as they lined up in their 1:2 US Open Cup Semi-Final victory against Minnesota United at Simpson Street on 17 September.

GOALKEEPER

Brad Stuver, 34

United States

Notable Clubs: Columbus Crew SC (2/0), New York City FC (7/0), Austin FC (161/0)

Estimated Transfer Value: €500,000

Notes: Played his university football for Cleveland State (71/0).

DEFENCE

Zan Kolmanic, 25

Slovenia

Notable Clubs: NK Maribor (44/0), Austin FC (93/1)

Estimated Transfer Value: €800,000

Notes: Developed by Verzej, Mura 05, and Maribor. Won a Slovenian league title with Maribor.

Julio Cascante, 31

Costa Rica (13/1)

Notable Clubs: Orion (11/0), UCR (42/0), Saprissa (54/9), Portland Timbers (48/1), Austin FC (122/9)

Estimated Transfer Value: €1.5M

Notes: Born in Puerto Limon, Costa Rica. Won a Costa Rican league title with Saprissa.

Brendan Hines-Ike, 30

United States

Notable Clubs: Orebro SK (70/2), KV Kortrijk (53/1), DC United (46/1), Austin FC (54/2)

Estimated Transfer Value: €1M

Notes: Developed by Chivas USA. Played his university football for Creighton (50/2) and South Florida (20/2).

Mateja Djordjevic, 22

Serbia

Notable Clubs: Vozdovac (27/0), TSC (38/0), Austin FC (1/0)

Estimated Transfer Value: €1.2M

Notes: Developed by FK Internacional and Partizan. Played at youth levels for Serbia (19/0).

Mikkel Desler, 30

Denmark

Notable Clubs: Odense (116/1), Haugesund (67/2), Toulouse (89/2), Austin FC (23/1)

Estimated Transfer Value: €1.8M

Notes: Full name: Mikkel Desler Puggaard. Developed by Assens and Odense. Won a Coupe de France and Ligue 2 title with Toulouse.

MIDFIELD

Daniel Pereira, 25

Venezuela (7/0)

Notable Clubs: Austin FC (135/4)

Estimated Transfer Value: €3M

Notes: Full name: Daniel Pereira Gil. Developed by Virginia Blue Ridge Star. Played his university football for Virginia Tech (26/6).

Ilie Sanchez, 34

Catalonia

Notable Clubs: 1860 Munich (24/1), Elche (27/1), Sporting Kansas City (144/7), Los Angeles FC (98/3), Austin FC (23/1)

Estimated Transfer Value: €400,000

Notes: Developed by Martinenc, FC Barcelona, Poble Sec, Catalonia, Collblanc, and Cornella. Won a US Open Cup with Kansas City in 2017. Won an MLS Cup and MLS League double and a US Open Cup with LAFC.

FORWARD

Owen Wolff, 20

United States

Notable Clubs: Austin FC (115/8)

Estimated Transfer Value: €3M

Notes: Developed by Columbus Crew SC, Atlanta United FC, and Austin FC. Played for United States (10/3) at youth levels.

Myrto Uzuni, 30

Albania (42/6)

Notable Clubs: Tomori (23/3), Apolonia (69/22), Laci (38/11), Lokomotiva (61/16), Ferencvaros (42/19), Granada (105/49), Austin FC (24/5)

Estimated Transfer Value: €7M

Notes: Developed by Tomori. Won 2x Hungarian league title and a Hungarian Cup with Ferencvaros. Won a Spanish Segunda Division title with Granada. Won the Golden Boot for the 2022 Hungarian Cup.

Osman Bukari, 26

Ghana (18/3)

Notable Clubs: Trencin (51/12), Gent (25/4), Nantes (24/2), Red Star Belgrade (56/19), Austin FC (38/4)

Estimated Transfer Value: €5M

Notes: Developed by Accra Lions and Anderlecht. Won a Coupe de France with Nantes. Won 2x Serbian SuperLiga and 2x Serbian Cup with Red Star Belgrade. Named to Slovak Super Liga Team of the Season 2019-20.

Familiar Faces

Austin goalkeeper Stefan Cleveland played for the Sounders FC (22/0) from 2020-2023.

Squads

Austin from:

Stuver, Thomas, Desler, Hines-Ike, Svatok, Sanchez, Obrian, Pereira, Uzuni, Bukari, Sabovic, Taylor, Gallagher, Cascante, Fodrey, Dubersarsky, Rubio, Kolmanic, Farkarlun, Biro, Cleveland, Burton, Wolff, Djordjevic.

Sounders FC from:

Thomas, Castro, Baker-Whiting, Bell, Gomez Andrade, Kim, Kossa-Rienzi, Nouhou, Ragen, Alex, Brunell, Leyva, Cristian, Joao Paulo, Rusnak, Vargas, de la Vega, De Rosario, Ferreira, Minoungou, Morris, Musovski, Rothrock.

Injury List

(as listed on mlssoccer.com at press time)

Austin -

OUT: Vazquez (knee).

MATCHDAY DECISION: none.

Sounders FC -

OUT: Frei (illness), Kent (hamstring), Arriola (knee), Hawkins (quadriceps).

MATCHDAY DECISION: de la Vega (knee).

Discipline

(as listed on mlssoccer.com at press time)

Austin: No players suspended. Biro and Desler out next match if booked.

Sounders FC: No players suspended. Baker-Whiting and Ragen out next match if booked.

Fun Fact

Sounders FC Reserves managed their first victory since 10 August with a 1:2 victory over Houston Dynamo II at SaberCats Stadium on 17 September. Yu Tsukanome scored his club-leading 18th goal in all competitions, with Seattle native and former Ballard FC midfielder Leo Burney scoring his first goal for the Reserves.

In the team for Sounders FC Reserves: Newman, Gaffney, Lopez, Sandnes, Burney, Pedder, Carli, Robles, Gomez, Dodzi, Tsukanome. 

Substitutes: Katsaros, Alvarez, Yamada, Flores Gonzales.

Substitutes not used: Anderson.

Well done getting back on your feet, lads! Carry on.