SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC v. FC DALLAS

Greetings to my brothers and sisters in Green. The Dallas have arrived, fresh off the plane from Planet Texas. They will be our guests at Royal Brougham Park on Saturday night. Oh, and um, errrrr, hard pass on that gift card, Tex.

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

Where: Royal Brougham Park, Occidental Avenue, Seattle, Washington.

When: 7:30 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time, Saturday 25 April 2026 CE.

At Stake: Points in the league. Sounders are currently 7th in the MLS league table on 16 points, eight points adrift of leaders San Jose. Should Sounders win, we could climb as high as 4th place. That scenario would involve Minnesota and LAFC getting no better than a draw in their match, and New England on the road defeating Miami. Should Sounders be defeated on Saturday night, we could drop as low as 13th, the position Dallas currently hold.

Where to Watch: Apple TV.

Where to Listen: KJR 93.3 FM and El Rey 1360 AM. As this is a home match, you have the option of listening to the KJR commentators by selecting alternate audio and then Seattle home radio in the Apple TV control layer.

Things have settled down a bit since our CONCACAF Champions Cup elimination. We gave a bit of a battering to St. Louis last Sat by hitting four goals past them, and restored a bit of our dignity in the process.

All that in the rear-view now, the MLS fixture list continues to supply opponents, and next up are our close friends from the Metroplex, FC Dallas.

The Dallas haven’t had much luck at Royal Brougham Park, and there’s little reason for that to change. That said, Dallas has only two losses in their nine league matches this season (3-4-2), so I doubt they’ll be pushovers. With all that in mind, let the mayhem ensue.

If you have the means and time, get ye down to the ground and link up with ours. If that’s not possible for whatever reason, link up with your mates at anyplace that will show the match, pub, house, flat, boat, wherever, and cheer your lungs out. I mean don’t actually do that, it would be very difficult to re-situate lungs, but you get the gist.

It’s Sounders football, under the Saturday night lights of Royal Brougham Park. GO ON YOU SOUNDERS!!! GET IN!!!

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

Before Saturday night’s match against the Dallas, Cristian Roldan will be honoured for having made his 400th appearance for Sounders FC in all competitions. Cristian currently has 403 appearances. Only Stefan Frei has more with 525.

The Good News

We don’t really lose to this lot at Royal Brougham Park. Our all-time record in the league when playing in Seattle is 12-4-1. That’s a whole tonne of not losing, and mostly winning.

Sounders have a home record of 3-0-0 in all competitions. That statistic increases to 4-0-0 if you count the Spokane fixture as a home match.

Dallas haven’t won a match since 4 April when they absolutely battered DC United 4:0 at Potomac Avenue.

Sounders haven’t lost in the league since 28 February (RSL 2:1 SEA), and haven’t lost in all competitions since 8 April at El Volcan (TIG 2:0 SEA). Sounders overall record in all competitions is 8-1-2. That’s pretty dominant.

The Sounders have the best defence in the league, having only conceded three goals. In all competitions, our defence allows less than a goal per match (0.64).

Against common opponents, Sounders’ results are equal to or superior to those of Dallas.

It is possible that Dallas and Croatia striker Petar Musa may not play due to injury. As Musa is awfully good at scoring goals, his absence would make Dallas’ attack a bit easier to contain.

I give credit to Brian Schmetzer for utilising more of the squad against the St. Louis on a short turn-around. Although the Gaffer could extend this to Tsukanome, Baker, Hawkins, Gomez, and get even more efficiency and utility out of the squad. This is a marked improvement over how it used to be, with so many riding the bench whilst their teammates were run out over and over even when completely thrashed. Credit given where credit is due. We’ll see if turning this new corner continues after our injured defenders return to fitness.

The Bad News

Although Dallas has been far from dominant, they haven’t lost many matches. That means they’re getting results, even if those results are sometimes draws.

Dallas scores more goals than we do. They are the side statistically more likely to score two goals. Dallas averages 1.89 goals/match, and we average 1.64 goals/match. So something to pay attention to.

If Petar Musa is fit enough to play, that creates problems for our defence. Musa has hit nine goals this season, and 43 goals in 69 matches for Dallas in total. Musa has scored wherever he has played. He previously played for Slavia Prague, Union Berlin, Boavista, and Benfica.

Musa is the danger man (9 goals) if he’s fit enough to play. Farrington (4 goals, 3 assists) is next on the list and can also turn provider. After that, Dallas’ attack drops off a fair amount. Valiente (3 assists) is also a top playmaker for them.

Cristian Roldan will be out today, as he got clouted in the head with the football in training and is in concussion protocol. Roldan plays a massive role holding in front of our back four, and also is one of our better playmakers. He often wears the captain’s armband. Any match that he misses is not good for us.

It is also possible that Albert Rusnak may be limited by leg issues, and he may or may not play, depending on the severity of the injuries. Rusnak is first-choice in our midfield, and arguably one of our most dangerous goal threats, wether he is smashing in goals or setting them up for his teammates.

The Side I Would Select

There’s been a solid week between matches. In this situation, you select your first-choice players. Note: MLS player availability, injury, and disciplinary information are one week old, as the league’s website had not updated this information as of 9:58 p.m. PDT.

Rationale:

I prefer Lopez to Alex at centre-half, because Alex is a midfielder that was converted to a right-back and Lopez’ natural position is centre-half. I like Morris better at left-forward than centre-forward. I prefer Musovski at centre-forward because he is a better passer, and lately a better finisher compared to Morris. In the instance of fixture clutter I think it’s a bad idea to play Rusnak and Ferreira in the team at the same time, as they are the top two #10s in the team, and the quality at that position dramatically drops from there. As there’s a week ’til the next match, it should be just fine to deploy both of them. With Cristian out, then Dotson is the logical choice to deputise.

GK     Thomas

LB     Nouhou

LCH    Ragen

RCH    Lopez

RB     Alex

LDM    Dotson

RDM   Brunell 

LF     Morris (If Albert sits then Rothrock here)

CAM   Rusnak (If Albert sits out due to injury, insert Ferreira here)

RF     Ferreira (If Albert sits then Morris here)

CF     Musovski

The Side I Think The Gaffer Will Select

Credit to the Gaffer for doing a decent job of resting players against St. Louis. Look for him to re-assert his selections from previous matches, barring injury, now that the players have had a bit of rest and recovery.

GK     Thomas

LB     Nouhou

RCH    Ragen

LCH    Alex

RB     Kossa-Rienzi

LDM   Brunell (If Albert sits and Brunell to right-forward, then Dotson here)

RDM   Kingston

LF     Rothrock

CAM   Rusnak (If Albert sits out due to injury, insert Ferreira here)

RF     Ferreira (If Albert sits then Arriola or Brunell here)

CF     Morris

Intangibles

The Referee for Saturday night’s match will be Tori Penso.

SEA record with Penso as Ref: 0-0-1

DAL record with Penso as Ref: 0-2-2

SEA 2026 transfer fees paid: €0

DAL 2026 transfer fees paid: €5.68M

General notes on personnel

Dallas transfers IN:

Binyamin (Hapoel Tel Aviv) €1.49M

Louis - draft

Simmonds - draft

Johansson (Mjallby)

Swann - reserves

Contreras - reserves

Scabin - reserves

Starnes - draft

Sirois (CF Montreal) €127,000

Valiente (Defensor) €1M

Thompson (Lexington SC) loan

Moreno (Fluminense) loan (fee: €560,000)

Dallas transfers OUT:

Endeley - released

Jackson - released

Lletget (Monterey Bay) free

Pedrinho (Maccabi Netanya) free

Pepi - released

Pondeca (Corpus Christi) free

Ramirez - released

Sainte (El Paso) free

Scott (Lexington SC) free

Urzua - released

Sali (Al-Riyadh) loan

Paes (Ajax) €1.5M

Pomykal - released

Comparison against common opponents

HOU 0:1 SEA

DAL 4:3 HOU

(against HOU: SEA 1-0-0 +1, DAL 1-0-0 +1) even

SEA 4:1 STL

DAL 1:1 STL

(against STL: SEA 1-0-0 +3, DAL 0-1-0 0) decisive edge SEA

MIN 0:0 SEA

DAL 0:1 MIN

(against MIN: SEA 0-1-0 0, DAL 0-0-1 -1) marginal edge SEA

Know Thine Enemy

The Dallas as they lined up against Minnesota United in their 0:1 defeat at Hunt Way on 22 April.

GOALKEEPER

Michael Collodi, 24

United States

Notable Clubs: FC Dallas (18/0)

Estimated Transfer Value: €400,000

Notes: Developed by FC Dallas. Played his university football for Columbia (58/0).

DEFENCE

Nolan Norris, 21

United States

Notable Clubs: FC Dallas (25/0)

Estimated Transfer Value: €250,000

Notes: Developed by FC Dallas. Has played at youth levels for United States (27/3).

Sebastien Ibeagha, 34

United States

Notable Clubs: AC Horsens (17/0), Fram Reykjavik (19/1), San Antonio FC (30/0), New York City FC (64/0), Los Angeles FC (30/0), FC Dallas (104/4)

Estimated Transfer Value: €300,000

Notes: Developed by Houston Dynamo. Played his university football for Duke (70/8). Nigerian by birth, Ibeagha was named USL Defender of the Year and to the USL All-League First Team during his time at San Antonio FC. Won MLS Cup and league double with LAFC.

Osaze Urhoghide, 25

Netherlands

Notable Clubs: Sheffield Wednesday (19/0), Oostende (34/0), Amiens (35/2), FC Dallas (35/3)

Estimated Transfer Value: €2M

Notes: Developed by CD Hounslow United and Wimbledon.

Shaq Moore, 29

United States (21/1)

Notable Clubs: Huracan (6/0), Levante (6/0), Reus (9/0), Tenerife (90/1), Nashville SC (66/1), FC Dallas (42/3)

Estimated Transfer Value: €1.5M

Notes: Developed by IMG Academy, FC Dallas, and Huracan. Won a CONCACAF Gold Cup with United States. Named to CONCACAF Gold Cup Best XI 2021.

MIDFIELD

Joaquin Valiente, 25

Uruguay

Notable Clubs: Defensor (105/13), Barcelona SC (38/5), FC Dallas (8/0)

Estimated Transfer Value: €1.8M

Notes: Full name: Joaquin Valiente Cioli. Developed by CA Colonia Valdense and Defensor.

Christian Cappis, 26

United States

Notable Clubs: Hobro (62/1), Brondby (49/6), Molde (2/0), Viking (26/0), FC Dallas (20/1)

Estimated Transfer Value: €600,000

Notes: Developed by Texans SC Houston and FC Dallas. Won a Norwegian championship with Viking.

Kaick, 20

Brazil

Notable Clubs: Gremio (1/0), FC Dallas (36/2)

Estimated Transfer Value: €2.5M

Notes: Full name: Kaick da Silva Ferreira. Developed by Gremio.

Herman Johansson, 28

Sweden (2/0)

Notable Clubs: Sandvikens (23/9), Mjallby (117/17), FC Dallas (8/0)

Estimated Transfer Value: €1.8M

Notes: Developed by Ornen and Friska Viljor. Won a Swedish championship with Mjallby.

FORWARD

Santiago Moreno, 26

Colombia (1/0)

Notable Clubs: America de Cali (41/7), Portland Timbers (131/20), FC Dallas (4/0)

Estimated Transfer Value: €3M

Notes: A native of Cali, Colombia. Signed with Portland on 29 July 2021.

Petar Musa, 28

Croatia (10/1)

Notable Clubs: Slavia Prague (30/11), Viktoria Zizkov (34/11), Slovan Liberec (28/7), Union Berlin (14/1), Boavista (27/11), Benfica (44/12), FC Dallas (69/43)

Estimated Transfer Value: €8M

Notes: Developed by Hrvatski Dragovoljac and NK Zagreb. Won two Czech First League titles and a Czech Cup with Slavia Prague. Won a Premeira Liga title and a Supertaca Candido de Oliveira (Portuguese Super Cup) with Benfica. Shared a Czech First League Golden Boot with Libor Kozak seeing each player score 14 goals). Named Czech First League Forward of the Year 2019-20.

Familiar Faces

None.

Squads

Sounders FC from:

Frei, Thomas, Baker, Hawkins, Kossa-Rienzi, Lopez, Nouhou, Ragen, Alex, Brunell, Dotson, Gomez, Kingston, Rusnak, Arriola, De Rosario, Ferreira, Morris, Musovski, Rothrock, Tsukanome.

Dallas from:

Collodi, Sirois, Abubakar, Alvaro, Ibeagha, Moore, Norris, Torquato, Binyamin, Cappis, Delgado, Garcia, Johansson, Kaick, Ramiro, Sarver, Valiente, Deedson, Farrington, Louis, Moreno, Musa, Simmonds.

Note: MLS player availability, injury, and disciplinary information for Dallas are one week old, as the league’s website had not updated this information as of 9:58 p.m. PDT. Sounders FC player availability supplemented through the Gaffer’s press conference from Friday afternoon.

Note: It is possible that Dallas and Croatia striker Petar Musa may not be available as he may have been injured in his last match. Musa’s status has not been reported on or listed anywhere.

Injury List

(MLS player availability, injury, and disciplinary information for Dallas are one week old, as the league’s website had not updated this information as of 9:58 p.m. PDT. Sounders FC player availability supplemented through the Gaffer’s press conference from Friday afternoon.)

Sounders FC -

OUT: Petkovic (knee), Gomez Andrade (hamstring), de la Vega (knee), Sailor (knee), Kim (calf).

MATCHDAY DECISION: Rusnak (adductor/hamstring).

Dallas -

OUT: Anderson Julio (leg), Kamungo (leg).

MATCHDAY DECISION: Musa (status unknown).

Discipline

(MLS player availability, injury, and disciplinary information for Dallas are one week old, as the league’s website had not updated this information as of 9:58 p.m. PDT. Sounders FC player availability supplemented through the Gaffer’s press conference from Friday afternoon.)

Sounders FC: No players suspended.

Dallas: Urhoghide is suspended due to accumulated bookings.

Fun Fact

This is a bit of old (6 April), if under-reported news regarding the results of Seattle Sounders FC Academy teams at the Generation Cup.

Sounders U-15s: Lost in the Final to Valencia 5:0

Sounders U-16s: Lost in the Semi-Finals to RB Bragantino 3:2

Individual Honours: Sounders U-15 forward Cristopher Batiz won the Golden Boot in his age group, scoring six goals.

Congratulations to our Academy scholars for making massive impacts in a high-level international club tournament. Well done, lads!