SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC v. ST. LOUIS CITY SC

Greetings to my brothers and sisters in Green. Sounders FC prepare to host St. Louis City. St. Louis City, a club representing a region of fried ravioli, thinly-veiled racism, shitty politicians, and attempted biblical justification for scores of incredibly bad ideas, will make its debut on the freshly-installed natural grass pitch of Royal Brougham Park. I’m quite certain there will be zero blow-back from the above statements of fact. One-thousand one…one-thousand two…one-thousand three…

What: MLS league match, Seattle Sounders FC v. St. Louis City SC.

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

When: 6:30 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time, Saturday 18 April 2026 CE.

At Stake: Points in the league. Sounders find themselves currently in 7th place in the MLS league table on 13 points, eight points adrift of leaders Vancouver. A win might place us as high as 5th, but it is not possible for us to ascend higher than that this weekend and said ascension would require both Nashville and LAFC to drop points. A loss could drop us out of the top ten as Colorado, Dallas, Miami, New York City FC, San Diego, Charlotte, Toronto, the Red Donkeys, and Minnesota could all surpass 13 points with a victory. Although it would be a massive overstatement to say the match is meaningless, it is fair to say that it is one-34th of a slice of the MLS league championship.

Where to Watch: Apple TV.

Where to Listen: KJR 93.3 FM and El Rey 1360 AM. Don’t much care for the commentary of Apple TV’s Blake Price and Brian Dunseth? Select alternate audio in the control layer of Apple TV for the KJR feed with Danny Jackson and Steve Zakuani.

Although the ultimate result of the cup tie was disappointing, our lads produced a top effort. Our Boys in Green hit three goals in the second leg only to be eliminated by slack marking during one Tigres set piece. Sounders FC created more than enough chances to win the tie, despite digging themselves a 2:0 deficit in the away leg.

With the cup tie firmly in the rear-view, we move on to our league opponent on Saturday, St. Louis. We managed them quite nicely in the reverse fixture, and I see no reason why we shouldn’t repeat the process this weekend. Time to get back on the horse and remind our opponents that we have won the most trophies of any MLS Club since our entry into the league in 2009.

If you have the means to get to the football ground, tie your scarves proper and link up with ours for the march to the match from Pioneer Square. For those of us who can’t get there, it’s pubs and dwellings for stories and tellings. Houses and flats for pints and cats. Boats and ships for pie and chips.

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!!!”

It’s a two-day turn-around for the Sounders FC. You know what that means.

It means “ROW YE BASTARDS!!!”. No rest for the weary.

The Good News

Sounders are tied for best defence along with San Jose and LAFC conceding only two goals in league play. 25th placed St. Louis has conceded nine league goals in seven matches.

Danger men for the Sounders are: Paul Rothrock (5 goals in all competitions), Albert Rusnak (3 goals in all competitions), Paul Arriola and Danny Musovski (2 goals each in the Champions Cup). Jesus Ferreira leads the club with four assists in the league.

Sounders are doing extremely well this season playing 10 matches in all competitions and losing only twice (7-1-2). Over this period we have scored 14 goals and only conceded six. That my friends is a recipe for dominance.

Sounders centre-half, Stuart Hawkins, who had been sidelined with a quadriceps issue, has been rated fit for selection. This is vitally important, as we still have three defenders, all centre-halves, still on injury list.

The Bad News

Although St. Louis currently find themselves in 25th place in the league table, the quality of their football is improving. They are unbeaten in their last four matches in all competitions (2-2-0). Over this period they have scored nine goals (2.25 goals/match), and conceded only three (0.75 goals conceded/match).

In all competitions played, St. Louis are averaging roughly the same amount of goals per match as the Sounders, trailing our average goals scored by only 0.15 goals/match.

Hartel leads St. Louis in goals scored with two. Baumgartl, McSorley, Becher, and Durkin have hit one goal each. Their top playmaker is Edelman who has three assists. All that said, they seem to be on a mission to turn their season around. We had better be prepared, as this lot hit 4 goals past Tulsa midweek in the US Open Cup.

The Side I Would Select

Anyone who played 60 or more minutes midweek in the cup tie, probably shouldn’t be in the team for Sat. Especially if they’re older veterans. This would be my selection.

Rationale:

Right. So it’s a two-day turn-around from midweek to the Saturday league match against St. Louis. If you’re looking at my selection and thinking: “Wow, that’s completely mental, what kind of drugs is that bloke on?” Here is a well thought out and researched defence of this selection.

GOALKEEPER

Thomas has been the regular selection so far in league matches, and has been exceptional. No reason to change that paradigm anytime soon.

DEFENCE

Right now we’ve got seven defenders available for selection. Of those, only Hawkins, Lopez, and Ragen are centre-halves. Hawkins is rarely in the team because he’s not in Schmetzer’s “circle of trust” - despite being a United States youth international, and he’s also just come off injury list, which means that the Gaffer is rightfully protecting the player and making sure he’s fully fit, before deploying him in a match. Ragen played 90 minutes midweek in the cup tie, and is generally playing at left-centre-half every match, which Jackson has rightfully earned by being dead reliable over the years. I don’t know how much longer he can keep that pace up, although at 27 years-old, and a week after this match for recovery, you can probably get away with running him back out. Even if you wanted to rest Ragen, there’s no one healthy to put in his place just now with Gomez Andrade, Sailor, and Kim all still out with leg issues. Bloody difficult to play football when your legs don’t work proper. Also very hard on your teammates that need the occasional respite from match play for reasons of muscle recovery. Love Alex Roldan. Very good footballer. Works his socks off every match. All that said - he is not a centre-half, and he also played the full 90 midweek. Antino Lopez IS a centre-half, for that is the position he is best deployed at. Lopez is also 23 years-old, and hasn’t been selected in the team since 5 April when he played the full 90 in our 0:1 victory at Houston. As Kossa-Rienzi (71 minutes) and Alex played heavy minutes midweek, Baker is the sensible choice at right-back. A no-nonsense defender with more than his fair share of toughness and bite, Baker at 22 years-old gives you fresh legs to spell a weary team. Nouhou has to play, after running 83 minutes midweek, because we, inexplicably, have only one left-back in the entire squad. Maybe selling Baker-Whiting wasn’t such a good idea. Just sayin’.

HOLDING MIDFIELD

Cristian played the full 90 minutes midweek, and needs a chance to recover. He’s 30 years-old, and there’s really no reason to run him out three days after that knock-down, drag-out fight midweek. Brunell (45 minutes) and Dotson (7 minutes) are logical choices as they had lesser workload in the cup tie. Add to that Brunell’s magical powers of youthful recovery at 19 years-old, and you can see the wisdom of selecting him in the team for Sat. Peter Kingston would also be a fine selection in this role as he played zero minutes midweek.

#10 AND FORWARD ROLES

Rothrock, Morris, Rusnak, and Ferreira all played 90 minutes midweek. Rothrock and Ferreira could probably handle 45-50 minutes on Saturday, but there’s really no need to push it. Morris, at 31 years of age, has a history of leg, knee, and ankle issues, so it would be bloody foolhardy to select him for Saturday. Rusnak, although seemingly durable over the years is also 31. You would think it would be sensible to play Ferreira in the #10 role to let Rusnak sit this one out, but our Manager played the both of them the entire 90 minutes midweek, in what I could best describe as wanting to win so desperately that we’ve really got no cover at the #10 for Sat. Unless, of course, you would consider Alex at the #10, as his original position was midfield, and his passing is good enough to manage quite nicely in that role. But then, Alex also played 90 minutes midweek, so maybe not the best choice. Tsukanome, who bashed in 18 goals for the Sounders FC Reserves last season, can play a second-striker role, behind Musovski at centre-forward who only played 45 minutes midweek. Arriola is the logical choice on the left, as Rothrock went 90 whilst Arriola (a former Yanks stalwart with 50 caps and 10 goals on his international resume) only played 19 minutes midweek and is also a player that provides both experience and quality at left-forward. Gomez is a sensible choice at right-forward because Ferreira and Morris who can also play this position both played 90 minutes midweek. Neither Gomez nor Tsukanome have been selected in the team even once this season. This is a mistake. Either they are ready at any time to step into the team and contribute, or they should be loaned out, or sold.

This exercise in thinking out loud regarding team selection should establish the overarching concept of how a disproportionally small portion of our squad (13-15 players) gets unnecessarily over-used. There is more than enough cover and quality in the squad (except in defence, due to injuries, as illustrated above), that no player should have to play anything more than a cameo substitute role on short rest. This is colloquially referred to as ‘load management’.

GK     Thomas

LB     Nouhou

LCH    Ragen

RCH    Lopez

RB     Baker

LDM    Dotson

RDM   Brunell

LF     Arriola

CAM   Tsukanome

RF     Gomez

CF     Musovski

The Side I Think The Gaffer Will Select

Fire up the cryo-chambers Sounders FC medical staff. I’d expect few changes in the team from the last fixture.

GK     Thomas

LB     Nouhou

LCH    Ragen

RCH    Alex

RB     Kossa-Rienzi

LDM    Brunell

RDM   Cristian

LF     Rothrock

CAM   Rusnak

RF     Ferreira

CF     Morris

Intangibles

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

SEA record with Penso as Ref: 19-3-5

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

Sounders FC 2026 transfer fees paid: €0

St. Louis 2026 transfer fees paid: €7.69M

General notes on personnel

St. Louis transfers IN:

Edelman (NYRB) €600,000

Wallem (Slavia Prague) €2M

Rafael Santos (Colorado Rapids) free

Mbacke Fall (FC Barcelona) free

Polvara (Aberdeen) €200,000

MacNaughton (DC United) free

Cordova (BSC Young Boys) loan fee €300,000

St. Louis transfers OUT:

Alm (Orgryte) free

Kessler (Charlotte FC) free

Morales - released

Padelford (Minnesota United FC) end of loan

Pidro (Velez Mostar) free

Watts - released
Wentzel (Real Salt Lake) free

Antwi (Birmingham Legion) free

Reid (Sporting Kansas City) free

Zalinsky - released

Olivares (SC Jacksonville) loan

Joao Klauss (LA Galaxy) €2M

Comparison against common opponents

n/a

Know Thine Enemy

St. Louis as they lined up in their 4:0 US Open Cup victory over Tulsa at Citypark on 15 April.

GOALKEEPER

Roman Burki, 35

Switzerland (9/0)

Notable Clubs: BSC Young Boys (2/0), FC Thun (4/0), FC Schaffhausen (9/0), Grasshoppers (110/0), SC Freiberg (34/0), Borussia Dortmund (176/0), St. Louis City SC (97/0)

Estimated Transfer Value: €1.2M

Notes: Developed by FC Munsingen and BSC Young Boys. Won a Swiss Cup with Grasshoppers. Won two DFB Pokal and a DFB Supercup with Borussia Dortmund. Named to MLS Best XI 2023. Named MLS Goalkeeper of the Year 2023.

DEFENCE

Mykhi Joyner, 19

United States

Notable Clubs: St. Louis City SC (16/1)

Estimated Transfer Value: €250,000

Notes: Played for United States at youth levels (3/2).

Dante Polvara, 25

United States

Notable Clubs: Aberdeen (65/3), Charleston Battery (18/1), St. Louis City SC (7/0)

Estimated Transfer Value: €400,000

Notes: Developed by New York City FC. Played his university football for Georgetown (56/16). Won a Scottish Cup with Aberdeen.

Timo Baumgartl, 30

Germany

Notable Clubs: VfB Stuttgart (115/2), PSV Eindhoven (21/1), Union Berlin (33/1), Schalke 04 (12/0), St. Louis City SC (29/1)

Estimated Transfer Value: €600,000

Notes: Developed by GSV Maichingen, SSV Reutlingen, and VfB Stuttgart. Won a 2. Bundesliga championship with VfB Stuttgart.

Lukas MacNaughton, 31

Canada (1/0)

Notable Clubs: Pacific FC (53/5), Toronto FC (28/0), Nashville SC (20/1), DC United (11/1), St. Louis City (5/0)

Estimated Transfer Value: €1M

Notes: Developed by Royale Union Rixensartoise. Played his university football at Toronto (63/17). Won a Canadian Premier League title with Pacific FC. Won a Canadian Championship with Toronto FC.

Tomas Totland, 26

Norway

Notable Clubs: Sogndal (72/7), Tromso (27/5), Hacken (44/1), St. Louis City SC (50/2)

Estimated Transfer Value: €1.2M

Notes: Developed by Fana. Won a Swedish league title with Hacken.

MIDFIELD

Miguel Perez, 20

United States

Notable Clubs: St. Louis City SC (19/1), Birmingham Legion (27/0)

Estimated Transfer Value: €300,000

Notes: Developed by St. Louis City SC. Played for United States (2/1) at youth levels.

Chris Durkin, 26

United States

Notable Clubs: DC United (96/5), Sint-Truiden (68/2), St. Louis City SC (53/2)

Estimated Transfer Value: €1.8M

Notes: Developed by Richmond Kickers and DC United.

FORWARD

Marcel Hartel, 30

Germany

Notable Clubs: 1. FC Koln (8/0), Union Berlin (54/4), Arminia Bielefeld (55/1), FC St. Pauli (98/24), St. Louis City SC (49/14)

Estimated Transfer Value: €4.5M

Notes: Developed by SC West Koln and 1. FC Koln. Won a 2. Bundesliga title with Arminia Bielefeld. Won a 2. Bundesliga title with St. Pauli.

Sergio Cordova, 28

Venezuela (19/0)

Notable Clubs: Caracas (36/4), Augsburg (75/7), Arminia Bielefeld (23/2), Real Salt Lake (33/9), Vancouver Whitecaps FC (19/2), Alanyaspor (53/12), Sochi (10/0), Young Boys (21/2), St. Louis City SC (5/0)

Estimated Transfer Value: €1.5M

Notes: Developed by Caracas. Won a Canadian Championship with Vancouver Whitecaps FC.

Jeong Sang-bin, 24

South Korea (3/1)

Notable Clubs: Suwon Bluewings (28/6), Grasshopper (13/0), Minnesota United FC (70/7), St. Louis City SC (13/1)

Estimated Transfer Value: €1.8M

Notes: Developed by Suwon Bluewings.

Familiar Faces

None.

Squads

Sounders FC from:

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

St. Louis from:

Burki, Lundt, Baumgartl, Fallou Fall, Mbacke Fall, Hiebert, MacNaughton, Polvara, Rafael Santos, Totland, Yaro, Durkin, Edelman, Hartel, Joyner, Lowen, Ostrak, Pearce, Perez, Wallem, Becher, Cordova, Glover, Jeong, McSorley, Teuchert.

Injury List

(as listed on mlssoccer.com at press time)

Sounders FC -

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

MATCHDAY DECISION: none.

St. Louis -

OUT: Orozco (concussion), Celio Pompeu (knee).

MATCHDAY DECISION: none.

Discipline

(as listed on mlssoccer.com at press time)

No players suspended from either team.

Fun Fact

Per Sounders FC Communications: Cristian Roldan recently made his 400th appearance for the club in all competitions. Only Stefan Frei has appeared more times for the club with 426 career appearances. Well done, Cristian!!!