SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC v. LOS ANGELES GALAXY

Greetings to my brothers and sisters in Green. Our close personal friends from the Southland have travelled north to be our guests here in The Evergreen. The only way we could get them to show up is if we promised them first-dollar gross. Then we make a tonne of cash, get a less-than-ethical accountant to write everything off as a loss, and tell LA Galaxy that the film lost money and thus no revenue sharing. Annnnnnnd, action! (sound of film slate snapping shut)

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

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

When: 6:15 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time, Saturday 16 May 2026 CE.

At Stake: Points in the league. Buoyed by the midweek victory over San Jose, Sounders find themselves back in 5th place in the league table. We’re currently on 24 points, a mere five points adrift of new league leaders Vancouver. Should Sounders be victorious, we have a chance to leapfrog Miami (v.POR) should they lose or draw, propelling us into 4th place. Should we be defeated, we could fall as far as 7th, if Salt Lake (v.COL) and New England (v.MIN) win their respective matches. So in the short view, the stakes are quite low. In the long view, with an eye towards winning the league, every point is vital.

Where to Watch: Apple TV and Fox Sports 1. Remember, if you’re viewing the match on Apple TV, you can listen to the KJR simulcast by selecting it through the alternate audio option in the application’s control layer.

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

What a difference a few days makes. Sounders clearly trained their socks off after the listless draw against San Diego. An early turnover due to a poor decision by Kossa-Rienzi spotted the Quakes an early goal, which could have been a crushing blow. Instead, it rallied Sounders who made it their mission in life to correct the damage. It was a beautiful thing to behold, if somewhat nerve-wracking in execution.

Rusnak converting a penalty, cool as ye like, Ferreira hitting a goal as well, and last but not least, a clutch header by none other than Osaze De Rosario, the oft-left out centre-forward with seemingly unlimited upside. It was a close one, not gonna lie, but in the end, our Boys in Green prevailed.

LA Galaxy present a new challenge. They’re a bit more free-spending than some of our opponents, and have some fairly high-end talent in their squad. All that said, there’s no reason we can’t handle them if we play the football we’re capable of playing, if we apply the lessons from midweek and make good runs, move the ball quickly and sharply, create and utilise passing lanes, play swiftly in combination, and make our build-up play significantly less predictable.

The duty is clear. If you have the means and can get free of the multitude of tasks and responsibilities life throws at ye, get ye to the ground and link up with ours. We’ll make a noise that both the city, those pompous arses from both Olympia and Washington DC, and our guests from Avalon Boulevard will nae soon forget. Those of you that shall remain home, your duty is clear. Link up with your mates. Pubs and dwellings for stories and tellings. Houses and flats for pints and cats. Boats and ships for pie and chips. Transfer all psychic energy not required for life support towards the lads, as we work together to see our storied football club…to victory.

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 oh so quiet / It’s oh so still / You’re all alone / And so peaceful until…”

The Good News

An emotional victory midweek will hopefully bring us energy to face the new challenge on short rest. Thankfully, Galaxy, along with most of the rest of the league, also had to play Wednesday night. This levels the playing field as both teams will be a bit run down. I like our chances in that scenario.

Sounders are unbeaten in their last six matches (4-2-0), whereas form has been a bit more spotty for Galaxy, who are 2-1-2 in their last five, including a 3:1 defeat at 29th place Kansas City on Wednesday.

The pages of history favour the Sounders against our friends from Carson. Sounders have gotten the better of Galaxy all-time in the league (15-15-11), with similar quality when we play them at Royal Brougham Park (8-8-4).

Sounders have bounced back into 5th place in the MLS league table, whilst our opponents languish in 17th place, eight points adrift of us. They have a -2 goal difference compared to our +9. By the numbers, it’s pretty clear who is playing the better football.

Royal Brougham Park is a fortress. Sounders at home this season are 5-1-0 in all competitions. Galaxy have decent road form, but hardly dominating, with a 3-3-4 away record. Advantage: Sounders.

Sounders are scoring 1.67 goals per match, which is decent form in front of goal. Galaxy are averaging 1.47 goals/match, so that’s pretty much a statistical wash. However, Sounders are currently tied for the best defence in the league and are only conceding an average of 0.80 goals/match. Galaxy, on the other hand, are conceding an average of 1.53 goals/match. Advantage: Sounders.

We’re starting to score more goals, and our attack is starting to appear more balanced. Rothrock (4 goals, 1 assist), Cristian (3 goals, 2 assists), Rusnak (3 goals, 4 assists), Ferreira (2 goals, 5 assists), and De Rosario (2 goals, 1 assist) have shown that they not only score goals, but also make their mates better when they turn provider. A balanced attack is much more difficult to defend.

Due to injury, Galaxy leading goal scorer Joao Klauss (5 goals) will not line up against us on Saturday night. One less clinical finisher to mark.

The Bad News

Galaxy have an extremely talented if somewhat more predictable attack featuring legendary German star Marco Reus (4 goals, 4 assists), Pec (4 goals, 4 assists), and Paintsil (2 goals, 4 assists).

We have some players that are a bit getting on in their careers, and this is a match on short rest. There’s always that risk of injury. We have only just started to get some of our injured players back to fitness. Alex Roldan has gone down to injury, and that’s leaving that left-centre-half position as a question mark yet again. De la Vega remains out with no clear path to fitness known, and Gomez Andrade is still out. Petkovic is out for the season with a severe knee injury that was successfully repaired by surgery. We can’t really afford to subject our most veteran players to overuse…but that is likely what management will choose to do on Saturday night.

This would be a bad time to have a wobble after such a resurgent victory over the Quakes midweek. The sharpness and increased tempo must be maintained. That’s difficult to do on two day’s rest, but that’s one of the biggest challenges facing us for Saturday night.

The Side I Would Select

If it were up to me to select the team, I’d usually select fresh legs on a two-day turn-around. However, there will be seven days after Saturday’s match against Galaxy, before our trip to the Southland to play LAFC. Then it’s the World Cup Finals break until July. Maybe it’s worth lumping on one last match, provided we can get three points off Galaxy.

Rationale:

With Alex out, there’s a vacancy at right-centre-half. I’d choose Lopez over Kim or Hawkins, because I think he will flourish in that role, given the opportunity. Baker over Kossa-Rienzi due to Kalani’s error in the 2nd minute, which badly hurt us against San Jose. His lack of composure in a critical moment cost us a goal. Baker doesn’t really have Kossa-Rienzi’s upside in attack, but Cody is a dead-reliable defender with a bit of extra bite in his game. Rusnak played 74 minutes on Wednesday. If possible, we should rest the 31 year-old Slovakian midfielder despite his contributions from midweek. It makes more sense to let Ferreira cook for the Saturday match and bring Albert back on the 24th. With Ferreira at the #10, let’s let Jordan have a free run at right-forward. I would be willing to guarantee that that move will pay handsome dividends.

GK     Thomas

LB     Nouhou

LCH    Ragen

RCH    Lopez

RB     Baker

LDM    Cristian

RDM   Brunell

LF     Rothrock

CAM   Ferreira

RF     Morris

CF     Musovski

The Side I Think The Gaffer Will Select

I think this is a safe bet:

GK     Thomas

LB     Nouhou

LCH     Ragen

RCH    Kim

RB     Kossa-Rienzi

LDM    Cristian

RDM   Brunell

LF     Rothrock

CAM   Rusnak

RF     Ferreira

CF     Morris

Intangibles

The Referee for Saturday night’s match will be Joe Dickerson.

SEA record with Dickerson as Ref: 12-1-8

LAG record with Dickerson as Ref: 8-5-4

SEA 2026 transfer fees paid: €0

LAG 2026 transfer fees paid: €2.9M

I’m going to be there, thanks to KB and JH. That rarely works out well for the visiting team. West Sound Armada: FROM THE SEA TO THE FIGHT!!! GO ON!!!

General notes on personnel

LA Galaxy transfers IN:

Glesnes (Philadelphia Union) €935,000

Haak (New York City FC) free

Nascimento (Botafogo) loan

Joao Klauss (St. Louis City SC) €2M

Thommy (Sporting Kansas City) free

Elgersma - reserves

LA Galaxy transfers OUT:

Berry (Charleston Battery) free

Fagundez (New England Revolution) free

Zavaleta - released

Zanka - released

Vivi (Tampa Bay Rowdies) loan

Ramirez (Austin FC) free

Essengue (Loudoun United) loan

Lepley (Oakland Roots SC) loan

Comparison against common opponents

SEA 2:0 COL

COL 4:1 LAG

(against COL: SEA 1-0-0 +2, LAG 0-0-1 -3) decisive edge SEA

RSL 2:1 SEA

LAG 2:1 RSL

(against RSL: SEA 0-0-1 -1, LAG 1-0-0 +1) decisive edge LAG

MIN 0:0 SEA

LAG 1:2 MIN

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

SEA 2:1 DAL

DAL 2:2 LAG

(against DAL: SEA 1-0-0 +1, LAG 0-1-0 0) edge SEA

SKC 1:1 SEA

LAG 1:2 SKC

SKC 3:1 LAG

(against SKC: SEA 0-1-0 0, LAG 0-0-2 -3) edge SEA

VAN 0:3 SEA CCC

SEA 2:1 VAN* CCC *at Spokane

LAG 1:1 VAN

(against VAN: SEA 2-0-0 +4, LAG 0-1-0 0) decisive edge SEA

Know Thine Enemy

Galaxy as they lined up in their 3:1 loss to Kansas City at State Avenue on 13 May.

GOALKEEPER

JT Marcinkowski, 29

United States

Notable Clubs: San Jose Earthquakes (95/0), Los Angeles Galaxy (12/0)

Estimated Transfer Value: €200,000

Notes: Developed by San Jose Earthquakes. Played his university football for Georgetown (56/0).

DEFENCE

John Nelson, 27

United States

Notable Clubs: FC Dallas (30/0), FC Cincinnati (24/0), St. Louis City SC (17/0), Los Angeles Galaxy (65/0)

Estimated Transfer Value: €800,000

Notes: Developed by Internationals SC. Played his university football for North Carolina (41/1). Won an MLS Cup with Los Angeles Galaxy.

Emiro Garces, 24

Colombia

Notable Clubs: Deportivo Pereira (53/1), Los Angeles Galaxy (42/1)

Estimated Transfer Value: €700,000

Notes: Full name: Carlos Emiro Garces Torres. Won an MLS Cup with Los Angeles Galaxy.

Jakob Glesnes, 32

Norway

Notable Clubs: Asane (14/0), Sarpsborg 08 (14/0), Stromsgodset (98/3), Philadelphia Union (181/9), Los Angeles Galaxy (7/0)

Estimated Transfer Value: €2.5M

Notes: Won 2x MLS league championships with Philadelphia. Named MLS Defender of the Year 2022. Named 2x to MLS Best XI.

Mauricio Cuevas, 23

United States

Notable Clubs: Los Angeles Galaxy (60/3)

Estimated Transfer Value: €500,000

Notes: Developed by Los Angeles Galaxy. Played for United States at youth levels (25/2). Won CONCACAF U-20 Championship with United States. Won an MLS Cup with Los Angeles Galaxy.

MIDFIELD

Edwin Cerrillo, 25

United States

Notable Clubs: FC Dallas (87/0), Los Angeles Galaxy (88/1)

Estimated Transfer Value: €3.5M

Notes: Developed by FC Dallas. Won an MLS Cup with Los Angeles Galaxy.

Marco Reus, 36

Germany (48/15)

Notable Clubs: Rot Weiss Ahlen (43/5), Borussia Monchengladbach (97/36), Borussia Dortmund (294/120), Los Angeles Galaxy (40/10)

Estimated Transfer Value: €1.8M

Notes: Developed by Post SV Dortmund and Borussia Dortmund. Won two German Cups and three German Supercups with Borussia Dortmund. Three times named German Player’s Union Bundesliga Player of the Season. Won Bundesliga Breakthrough of the Season. Bundesliga Top assist provider. Named six times to the Bundesliga Team of the Season. Twice named Footballer of the Year in Germany. Germany national Player of the Year.  UEFA Team of the Year. UEFA Champions League Team of the Season. Won an MLS Cup with Los Angeles Galaxy.

Lucas Sanabria, 22

Uruguay

Notable Clubs: Nacional (29/2), Los Angeles Galaxy (34/4)

Estimated Transfer Value: €3.5M

Notes: Full name: Lucas Agustin Sanabria Magole. Developed by Nacional Florida and Nacional.

FORWARD

Harbor Miller, 18

United States

Notable Clubs: Los Angeles Galaxy (21/1)

Estimated Transfer Value: €400,000

Notes: Full name: Harbor Tarczynski-Miller. Has played for United States (4/1) at youth levels.

Joseph Paintsil, 28

Ghana (15/0)

Notable Clubs: Tema Youth (22/10), Ferencvaros (25/10), Genk (130/30), Ankaragucu (33/11), Los Angeles Galaxy (63/22)

Estimated Transfer Value: €6M

Notes: Developed by RB Ghana and Tema Youth. Won a Belgian league title and Belgian Super Cup with Genk. Won an MLS Cup with Los Angeles Galaxy.

Gabriel Pec, 25

Brazil

Notable Clubs: Vasco da Gama (168/25), Los Angeles Galaxy (74/26)

Estimated Transfer Value: €7M

Notes: Full Name: Gabriel Fortes Chaves. Developed by Vasco da Gama. Won an MLS Cup with Los Angeles Galaxy. Named MLS Newcomer of the Year 2024.

Familiar Faces

None.

Squads

Sounders FC from:

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

LA Galaxy from:

Micovic, Marcinkowski, Scott, Yamane, Cuevas, Yoshida, Glesnes, Haak, Rindov, Garces, Nelson, Dalgado, Parente, Cerrillo, Sanabria, Puig, Reus, Wynder, Pec, Miller, Thommy, Paintsil, Nascimento, Ramos, Placias.

Injury List

(as listed on mlssoccer.com at press time)

Sounders FC -

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

MATCHDAY DECISION: none.

LA Galaxy -

OUT: Aude (ankle), Joao Klauss (foot), 

MATCHDAY DECISION: Garces (foot).

Discipline

(as listed on mlssoccer.com at press time)

Sounders FC: No players suspended.

LA Galaxy: No players suspended. Sanabria is out next match if booked.

Fun Fact

The midweek victory over San Jose extended Sounders FC’s home unbeaten streak to 22 matches (16-6-0) in all competitions. The Sounders home unbeaten streak for MLS league matches now sits at 14 (10-4-0). (Per Sounders FC Communications)