LOS ANGELES FC v. SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC

Greetings to my brothers and sisters in Green. Sounders FC make the trip south to Figueroa street to face the free-spending upstarts known as Los Angeles FC. LAFC, whose marketing partners include: Allied Universal, Allied Universal, you know those corpos who are sacking you from your jobs and making it impossible for you to live with dignity? Yeh, we’re making sure you never so much as put your filthy peasant fingers on them. Chevron, here at Chevron we were afraid to lose money from an environmental suit that polluted an entire ecosystem and waterways in Ecuador, so we patched together a kangaroo court to detain environmental lawyer Steven Donzinger in a gross miscarriage of justice. Chick-Fil-A, Here at Chick-Fil-A we love selling our hate chicken to everyone that despises minorities and the LGBTQ+ community, and donating to fascist superPACs. PepsiCo, who once set the CIA and the Chilean military on the democratically elected government of Chile, because they were afraid the Allende administration would damage their earnings. What a swell bunch of corpo partners LAFC have assembled.

What: MLS league match, Los Angeles FC v. Seattle Sounders FC.

Where: Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, California.

When: 6:00 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time, Sunday 24 May 2026 CE.

At Stake: Points in the league. Sounders are currently 9th place in the MLS league table (at the conclusion of Saturday’s fixtures) on 24 points, 9 points adrift of new leaders Nashville. A Sounders victory would see us move up four positions to 5th place. Should we be defeated by LAFC, we would both be level on 24 points. As it currently stands LAFC’s goal difference is +6 and ours is +7 so it is possible that a loss on Sunday would drop us into 10th place depending on tie-breakers.

Where to Watch: Apple TV, Fox, and Fox Deportes.

Where to Listen: KJR 93.3 FM and El Rey 1360 AM.

I look forward to the partisan bluster and unshakeable confidence of the ECS pre-match write-up. The reality of reporting the actual numbers is far more grim. We don’t really play well at Figueroa Street in league fixtures. I mean you never have a true idea of the outcome with MLS being engineered for parity and all. It is possible for any team to beat any team in our league. Which is in one way a strength, and in another providing us with match after match and season after season of ‘neutral toned’ football. The football equivalent of the colour beige.

We do have a fair amount of talent in our squad, sure. But management’s refusal to upgrade our squad at key positions sees us continue to fall behind. That means that Sounders often need to work twice as hard as our most free-spending opponents to get results. It’s a shitty deal, and I don’t see it changing any time soon. It makes us play  a generally ugly brand of defensive football, relying on counter-attacks and set pieces to try and level the odds. The problem is, the teams who are spending on players have figured out our game. LA Galaxy defeated us using our own playbook. They were content to cede possession, biding their time to wait and counter-attack with pace and technique.

Martins, Dempsey, Lodiero, Ruidiaz, Victor Rodriguez, none of these players were ever truly replaced. So we developed players in our academy system. This is a good thing. However, outside of Brunell and Kossa-Rienzi, our youngers struggle to get in the team. It’s pretty difficult to develop players who don’t play, and the core of the side is not gettin’ any younger.

All of that said, this has kind of always been the struggle for the Sounders FC. Our system is designed to get results, and those results are better than average in our league. It’s possible for us to beat the top teams in this league, but it’s harder than it needs to be. That’s a problem. The type of problem that doesn’t show up until the later rounds of tournaments (with the notable exception of last season’s Leagues Cup) and in an inability to win the league.

If you can make it to the away match, definitely do that. It will be difficult, but not impossible to drown out that lot. Look after each other. Make a noise that shakes the earth. If you’re here in The Evergreen it’s getting together at local pubs for watch parties, and gathering members of our Green Family at our houses, flats, and in rarer instances, boats.

It’s Sounders football in the Hunger Games-like reality of MLS under the Sunday night lights of Figueroa Street. The tributes from district Evergreen against the tributes from district Big Cash. May the odds be ever in our favour. GO ON YOU SOUNDERS!!! GET IN!!!

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

This is a photo of Gabriel Pec, the LA Galaxy right-forward who scored the first goal against us, and set up the second. He has an estimated transfer value of €7M. Number of Sounders FC players with an estimated transfer value of €7M: Zero. (photo credit: givemesport.com)

The Good News

Sounders have the edge on recent form. LAFC have lost their last four league matches, and have only won one of their last eight (1-2-5). Sounders FC are 2-2-1 in their last five, and have only been defeated three times in all competitions to date (10-3-3).

Sounders have good away record at 4-2-2 (all competitions). So we’ve generally travelled well this season.

Sounders have been demonstrably better than LAFC against common opponents (Houston, St. Louis, San Jose, and Colorado) with the exception of Dallas, San Diego, and Minnesota. That’s a pretty good sign.

Sounders FC Reserves won against Galaxy Reserves. Super Tsukanome struck again hitting his 5th goal for the Reserves this season. Looks like our lads in MLS Next Pro, might just be turning a corner. Well done to, Paulo, Joao Paulo, the lads, and the support staff.

Top danger men for the Sounders went quiet against Galaxy. However, Rothrock (4 goals), Cristian (3 goals, 2 assists), Rusnak (3 goals, 4 assists), and Ferreira (2 goals, 5 assists) will hopefully be back to their old selves for Sunday’s match in the Southland.

We did have our chances against Galaxy, and it was a competitive match. We were better than LA Galaxy in nearly every metric: Possession (55%:45%), shots (15:8), total passes (615:461), pass accuracy (87.5%:81.8%), corner kicks (5:1), crosses (12:0). Also Galaxy players received four bookings to our one. An indication that they felt they had to kick us to stop us. Or just knock someone’s tooth out, with zero punishment and not even a whistle.

The Bad News

LAFC spent the better part of €5M (€4.97M) improving their squad in the off-season. The Seattle response? €0 spent, four players signed from the Reserves: Tsukanome (0 minutes), Gomez (14 minutes), Kingston (239 minutes), and Lopez (446 minutes). Dotson (503 minutes), Anchor (0 minutes), Sailor (0 minutes) who, to be fair, has only recently regained fitness, signed on free transfers. And a loan player brought on in Petkovic (136 minutes) who suffered a severe, season-ending knee injury. These were meant to replace Joao Paulo (retired to coach for Sounders FC Reserves), Danny Leyva (sold to Necaxa), Obed Vargas (sold to Atletico Madrid), Reid Baker-Whiting (sold to Nashville), Georgi Minoungou (sold to Colorado), Jon Bell (signed on a free with Austin). The previous list does not include the players who left the previous season: Josh Atencio (sold to Colorado), Leo Chu (sold to Dallas), and Raul Ruidiaz (out of contract). Young talent and also veteran talent continue to leave the club. Where are their replacements?

LAFC are 6-0-1 when Ramy Touchan is Referee, whereas the Sounders record with Touchan presiding is 1-1-5. So that’s not good.

Our record at LAFC in the league has been absolute shite. We have never won a league match at Figueroa Street (0-1-8). We have an all-time record in the league of 4-4-10 when LAFC is our opponent. Four wins in 18 matches is not good enough. Not by a long shot. This season, LAFC has only been defeated once at home (6-3-1) in all competitions.

Sounders currently have the best defence in the league. That said, we have the best defence in the league because we’ve played two or three games less than the rest of the league. So that sword cuts with two edges.

LAFC danger men are really good at scoring goals. Bouanga (6 goals, 5 assists), Martinez (5 goals, 2 assists). They’re also pretty adept at creating goals. Son (9 assists), Eustaquio (1 goal, 4 assists), will be difficult to contain. Our defence had better be prepared.

Sounders FC striker Yu Tsukanome has hit 5 goals in the reserves. How come he has played zero minutes in the league for us this season? We are 15th place in the league in goal scoring. Soooo, what’s up with that?

Galaxy gave us a taste of our own medicine, sagging into a defensive shell and playing for the counter-attack. That’s usually our modus operandi. Is the jig up? Has the rest of the league started to figure out what we do and decided they’re just not having it anymore?

The Side I Would Select

With a comfortable seven days between fixtures I’d imagine everyone that’s not hurt will be more than ready and well-rested. LAFC presents a challenging opponent and even more so that it’s a Sounders away day. I would select these players to be in the team on Sunday night:

Rationale:

Thomas is in because he’s played extremely well. Nouhou is in because he is literally our only left-back, in addition to being quite good and first choice for Cameroon. Ragen is a fortress at left-centre-half. With Gomez Andrade out, I truly believe the best option at right-centre-half is Lopez. Kossa-Rienzi has a bit of pace, and he’ll need it to attempt to help contain Bouanga, and also I don’t think Kingston is best deployed at right-back. At left-defensive-midfield you could put Brunell, Dotson, or Kingston and no matter which way you go you’re getting a quality player there. Cristian for leadership, passing, and ball-winning in midfield. Rothrock at left-forward because he scores goals and is absolutely relentless. Rusnak or Ferreira at the #10 are equally good in my opinion within the run of play. Rusnak is the better penalty-taker, Ferreira a bit better with the ball at his feet. Morris on the right, as he’s still got a bit of pace, and can score you a goal when playing the inside forward positions. Musovski is the best choice we currently have at centre-forward, though De Rosario deserves consideration as well.

GK     Thomas

LB     Nouhou

LCH    Ragen

RCH    Lopez

RB     Kossa-Rienzi

LDM    Brunell

RDM   Cristian

LF     Rothrock

CAM   Rusnak

RF     Morris

CF     Musovski

The Side I Think The Gaffer Will Select

I’d say this is a safe bet. Morris likely to come on as a substitute on 60 minutes or so.

GK     Thomas

LB     Nouhou

LCH    Ragen

RCH    Lopez

RB     Kingston

LDM   Brunell

RDM   Cristian

LF     Rothrock

CAM   Rusnak

RF     Ferreira

CF     Musovski

Intangibles

The Referee for Sunday night’s match will be Ramy Touchan.

LAFC record with Touchan as Ref: 6-0-1

SEA record with Touchan as Ref: 1-1-5

LAFC 2026 transfer fees paid: €4.97M

SEA 2026 transfer fees paid: €0

General notes on personnel

LAFC transfers IN:

Choiniere (Grasshopper) €820,000

Shaffelburg (Nashville SC) €850,000

Evans - reserves

Carter - reserves

Boyd (Nashville SC) free

Boudri (GAIS) €3.3M

Eustaquio (Porto) loan

Diaz - reserves

LAFC transfers OUT:

Bombino (San Diego FC) €173,000

Amaya (Toluca) end of loan

Baluta (Boluspor) free

Holm (Celtic) end of loan

Jailson - released

Moran (Brighton) end of loan

Ochoa - released

Saldana - released

Yeboah (QD Hainiu) free

Comparison against common opponents

HOU 0:2 LAFC

LAFC 1:4 HOU

HOU 0:1 SEA

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

LAFC 1:0 DAL

SEA 2:1 DAL

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

LAFC 2:0 STL

STL 2:1 LAFC

STL 0:1 SEA

SEA 4:1 STL

(against STL: LAFC 1-0-1 +1, SEA 2-0-0 +4) decisive edge SEA

LAFC 1:4 SJ
SJ 0:1 SEA

SEA 3:2 SJ

(against SJ: LAFC 0-0-1 -3, SEA 2-0-0 +2) decisive edge SEA

LAFC 0:0 COL

SEA 2:0 COL

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

MIN 0:1 LAFC

MIN 0:0 SEA

(against MIN: LAFC 1-0-0 +1, SEA 0-1-0 0) edge LAFC

SD 2:2 LAFC

SEA 1:1 SD

(against SD: LAFC 0-1-0 0, SEA 0-1-0 0) even

Know Thine Enemy

LAFC as they lined up in their 3:2 defeat against Nashville at The Fairgrounds on 17 May.

GOALKEEPER

Thomas Hasal, 26

Canada (5/0)

Notable Clubs: Vancouver Whitecaps FC (34/0), Los Angeles FC (5/0)

Estimated Transfer Value: €200,000

Notes: Developed by Aurora SC, Whitecaps Saskatchewan Academy, and Vancouver Whitecaps FC. Won a Canadian Championship with Vancouver Whitecaps FC.

DEFENCE

Eddie Segura, 29

Colombia

Notable Clubs: Deportiva Pereira (52/1), Atletico Huila (77/2), Los Angeles FC (155/4)

Estimated Transfer Value: €1.8M

Notes: Developed by Deportivo Pereira. Won 2x MLS league titles an MLS Cup, and a US Open Cup with LAFC, including the 2022 league and  MLS Cup double.

Nkosa Tafari, 29

United States

Notable Clubs: FC Dallas (107/7)

Estimated Transfer Value: €1.5M

Notes: Played his university football for Connecticut (46/1) and Seattle University (20/1).

Ryan Porteous, 27

Scotland (13/1)

Notable Clubs: Hibernian (120/11), Watford (76/7), Preston North End (11/1), Los Angeles FC (22/0)

Estimated Transfer Value: €3M

Notes: Developed by Edina Hibs, Aberdeen, and Hibernian.

Ryan Hollingshead, 35

United States

Notable Clubs: FC Dallas (193/18), Los Angeles FC (134/14)

Estimated Transfer Value: €600,000

Notes: Played his university football for UCLA (81/16). Won an MLS League Championship and US Open Cup double with Dallas in 2016. Won MLS league and MLS Cup double in 2022 with LAFC. Won a US Open Cup with LAFC.

MIDFIELD

Timothy Tillman, 27

United States (3/0)

Notable Clubs: 1FC Nurnberg (6/0), Greuther Furth (80/2), Los Angeles FC (100/8)

Estimated Transfer Value: €3M

Notes: Developed by ASV Zimdorf, 1SC Feucht, Greuther Furth, and Bayern Munich. Won a German Supercup for Bayern Munich (as an unused substitute). Won a US Open Cup with LAFC.

Stephen Eustaquio, 29

Canada (54/4)

Notable Clubs: Torreense (56/0), Leixoes (20/0), Chaves (29/1), Cruz Azul (1/0), Pacos Ferreira (65/2), Porto (103/4), Los Angeles FC (9/1)

Estimated Transfer Value: €7M

Notes: Developed by Leamington MS, Nazarenos, Uniao Leiria, and Torreense. Won 2x Primeira Liga, 3x Taca de Portugal, a Taca da Liga, and a Supertaca Oliveira with Porto. Named Canadian FA Player of the Year.

Mathieu Choiniere, 27

Canada (22/0)

Notable Clubs: CF Montreal (119/11), Grasshopper (17/1), Los Angeles FC (24/3)

Estimated Transfer Value: €800,000

Notes: Developed by Celtix du Haut-Richelieu, CS St.-Hubert, and Montreal Impact. Won 2x Canadian Championship with Montreal Impact.

FORWARD

Denis Bouanga, 31

Gabon (55/17)

Notable Clubs: Lorient (38/10), Strasbourg (18/5), Tours (36/16), Nimes (35/8), Saint-Etienne (97/26), Los Angeles FC (114/71)

Estimated Transfer Value: €8M

Notes: Developed by SO Maine and Le Mans. Won MLS league and MLS Cup double in 2022 with LAFC. Won CONCACAF Champions League Golden Boot (7 goals) 2023. Named to CONCACAF Champions League Best XI 2023. Won 2023 MLS Golden Boot (20 goals). 3x named MLS Best XI. Won a US Open Cup with LAFC.

Son Heung-min, 33

South Korea (142/54)

Notable Clubs: Hamburg SV (73/20), Bayer Leverkusen (62/21), Tottenham (333/127), Los Angeles FC (22/9)

Estimated Transfer Value: €17M

Notes: Developed by Yukminkwan Middle School, Dongbuk Middle School, FC Seoul, and Hamburg SV. Won a UEFA Europa League with Tottenham. A long list of individual honours is available here.

David Martinez, 20

Venezuela (5/0)

Notable Clubs: Monagas (34/5), Los Angeles FC (59/12)

Estimated Transfer Value: €4M

Notes: Full name: David Enmanuel Martinez Morales. Won a US Open Cup with Los Angeles FC. Has played for Venezuela (23/8) at youth levels.

Familiar Faces

Former Sounders FC Coach Andy Rose is a Coach with LAFC.

LAFC defender, Nkosi Tafari played for Seattle University (20/1) in 2019.

Squads

LAFC from:

Hasal, Carter, Segura, Porteous, Dellavalle, Hollingshead, Smolyakov, Long, Diaz, Nielsen, Tafari, Igor Jesus, Delgado, Tillman, Raposo, Terry, Eustaquio, Boudri, Choiniere, Evans, Son, Ebobisse, Boyd, Ordaz, Martinez, Wibowo, Bouanga.

Sounders FC from:

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

Injury List

(as listed on mlssoccer.com at press time)

LAFC -

OUT: Igor Jesus (leg), Lloris (leg), Palencia (leg), Shaffelburg (leg).

MATCHDAY DECISION: none.

Sounders FC -

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

MATCHDAY DECISION: Alex (hamstring), Arriola (adductor).

Discipline

(as listed on mlssoccer.com at press time)

No players suspended from either club.

Fun Fact

Sounders FC Reserves defeated LA Galaxy Reserves 1:0 Friday night at Starfire on the strength of a 19th minute strike by Sounders FC forward Yu Tsukanome, his 5th goal for the reserves this season. Sounders FC Reserves are currently 23rd in the MLS Next Pro table on 14 points, 14 points adrift of leaders Houston Dynamo 2. Well done on the victory, lads!

In the team for Sounders FC Reserves:

Anchor, Phoenix, Sandnes, Sailor, Alvarez, Gaffney, Gnaulati, O’Neill, Jauregui, Tsukanome, Carli.

Substitutes:

Brown, Shour, Robles, Bronnik, Winslow, Hassan.