NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION v. SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC

Greetings to my brothers and sisters in Green. Sounders FC make the transcontinental voyage to Foxboro, Massachusetts to face New England Revolution. Don’t forget to stop the team coach at Wawa for hoagies and grinders.

What: MLS league match, New England Revolution v. Seattle Sounders FC.

Where: Foxboro, Massachusetts.

When: 4:30 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time, Saturday 10 October 2026 CE.

At Stake: Points in the league, for the purposes of MLS Cup qualification. Sounders are currently in 13th place in the MLS league table on 38 points, 22 points adrift of leaders Nashville. The western region table for MLS Cup qualification currently looks like this:

6 LAFC 6 matches remaining 41 points

7 Sounders 7 matches remaining 38 points

8 Colorado 7 matches remaining 36 points

9 LA Galaxy 6 matches remaining 36 points

———————————————————————————————————————————————

10 Portland         7 matches remaining 32 points

11 Salt Lake 7 matches remaining 32 points

12 San Diego 7 matches remaining 32 points

13 Austin 7 matches remaining 31 points

14 Minnesota 7 matches remaining 29 points

15 Kansas City 7 matches remaining 21 points

Relevant matches this weekend:

LAFC v. VAN || COL v. SJ || STL v. LAG || SKC v. POR || PHI v. RSL || NYRB v. SD ||

ATX v. NSH || MIN v. HOU

Where to Watch: Apple TV.

Where to Listen: KJR 950 AM and El Rey 1360 AM.

We are on a crazy, crazy ride just now. Unbeaten in eight matches and having won three matches on the trot, Sounders are looking more and more like themselves with each passing test. “Where are the goals coming from?” you ask. They are coming from literally everyone in the side. Over our last three matches, all victories, with seven different Sounders scoring one goal each. That has to be nearly impossible to defend. Our momentum seems unstoppable. The thing about being friends, supporters, and fans of the Sounders FC, though, is that objectivity is not necessarily our greatest strength.

Objectively, the three teams we defeated in securing our first league wins since May are teams that are currently struggling in the western region. When Salt Lake lined up against us on 23 September, they hadn’t won a match in the league (0-4-9) since 16 May. When we lined up against the Loons, they had only won one league match since 10 May (1-6-9). When we lined up against Kansas City, they were (and still remain today) bottom of the league. Although they had shown signs of life with recent wins against LAFC and at Houston, they had dropped six of their last seven before that.

Conversely, New England hasn’t had any such problems this season. Sure, it was a bit of a clunky start, winning only one out of their first four, but since then, little has gone wrong for the Revs as far as league football is concerned. New England are currently 5th place in the MLS league table on 46 points, which is good for 2nd best record in the eastern region.

All of this information tells me that this is a benchmark match. The Kansas City match asked of us, “Are we were good enough to defeat the team with the worst record in the league?” We passed that test. The New England match asks of us, “Are we good enough to beat one of the league’s best teams when we are the visitor?” It’s a very different ask. What happens when our momentum and their momentum collide head-on?

If you’ve headed up to Foxboro to see the match in person, link up with ours and make sure your scarves are properly tied. Behave yourselves in town, and be absolutely raucous on the terraces. For those of us here in The Evergreen, it’s the same as it ever was. Pubs and dwellings for stories and tellings. Houses and flats for pints and cats. Boats and ships for pie and chips. What psychic energy that is not necessary for life support must be directed towards our Boys in Green.

It’s MLS league football, under the Saturday night lights at Foxboro. GO ON YOU SOUNDERS!!! GET IN!!!

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

Yeah, so if you’re goin to the soccah game at Foxburrah, don’ forget to get y’self a lobstah roll, some oystahs, some chowdah, some bahston baked beans and wash it down with some beeahs, because the Soundahs play soccah wicked good. But don’t packh ye cah in Havahd yahd, because it’s nowheres near the stadium.

The Good News

For quite some time now, I’ve maintained that Jordan Morris is not a true centre-forward and should only be deployed in that position as emergency cover. Although generally speaking that is an accurate assessment, Morris was playing on another level last Sat against Kansas City, when he moved from his right-forward position into the centre. He was holding the ball up facing away from goal to make passes to late runners, like an old-skool centre-forward from the 60s and 70s. In fact, when Morris assisted on young Sebastian Gomez’ 51st minute equaliser, he was being physically dragged down by a handsy defender as he was laying the pass off to the trailing Gomez. If Morris can manage that level with any consistency, I’d rate him above Musovski and just behind Joveljic on the depth chart. So the point of writing all this is to give credit where credit is due and to say I see how hard you’re working, Jordan and I am suitably impressed.

Albert Rusnak is playing at a crazy high level of late, having four goals and a club-leading 12 assists to show for it. He had been struggling over the summer, but has bounced back to deliver a level of performance that is remarkable.

Cristian Roldan, in hitting his 90th minute winner against Kansas City, has tied Paul Rothrock for the club lead in goals scored with five. As I mentioned earlier, we have no clear-cut leading goal scorer amongst us. Our goals are evenly spread out amongst 12 different players. That’s gotta be nearly impossible to defend.

Looks like we’ve gotten Jesus Ferreira back from injury list. That means that only Rothrock, De la Vega, and Petkovic remain on the injured list. Given that we suffer no more severe injuries this season, this places us well for a determined and resolute MLS Cup qualification run.

We’ve gotten Joveljic and Brunell back from national team duty. That will strengthen the squad even further in general, but specifically we get back a clinical finisher in Joveljic, and ye cannae win if you don’t score goals.

Our form is slightly better than the Revs over the last five matches. Sounders have an unbeaten record of 3-2-0 over this period, whilst the New Englanders have managed a record of 3-0-2.

The Bad News

New England doesn’t really lose at home. At Foxboro this season in the league, they have a record of 9-2-2. Sounders all-time league record at Foxboro is quite grim at 1-2-4. Combine this with the Sounders 4-5-7 away record, and you begin to realise that any kind of good result on Sat is gonna take some doing.

Sounders have made significant improvement in scoring goals of late but are still tied for 16th in the league, averaging 1.38 goals/match. New England score an average of 1.69 goals/match and are 9th best in league goal scoring.

Both teams are defensively good enough that it’s a wash. Sounders have the league’s 5th best defence and concede an average of 1.29 goals/match, and New England are tied for 6th best in defence and concede an average of 1.41 goals/match. This could end up being a one-nil’er or even a scoreless draw.

New England are led in goal scoring by Gil (12 goals, 9 assists), who can hurt you with a goal or a killer pass. Miller (7 goals, 4 assists) and Turgeman (7 goals, 7 assists) are next in line and also seem to be equally good at playmaking as finishing. Langoni (3 goals, 6 assists) rounds out the most dangerous players in attack for the Revs.

Matt Turner has played all of New England’s matches between the sticks this season. He’s currently on loan from Olympique Lyon and has 55 caps for the Yanks in international football. So…nothin’s gonna come easy, barring calamity at the back.

The Side I Would Select

So it’s three matches in eight days starting with the Revs at Foxboro. There is a two-day turn-around between Dallas on 14 October and when we host Montreal on 17 October. It’s worth a bit of risk to veteran players, as after the Montreal match, there’ll be six days recovery time to look after whatever knocks, bumps, and bruises our lads have picked up along the way.

GK     Thomas

LB     Nouhou

LCH    Ragen

RCH    Gomez Andrade

RB     Alex

LDM    Brunell

RDM   Cristian

LF     Arriola

CAM   Rusnak

RF     Morris

CF     Joveljic

The Side I Think The Gaffer Will Select

I’d be pretty surprised if these weren’t in the team at kick-off.

GK     Thomas

LB     Nouhou

LCH     Ragen

RCH    Gomez Andrade

RB     Alex

LDM    Brunell

RDM    Cristian

LF     Arriola

CAM   Rusnak

RF     Morris

CF     Joveljic

Intangibles

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

NE record with Tori Penso as Ref: 4-1-2

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

NE aggregate squad estimated transfer value: €49.48M

SEA aggregate squad estimated transfer value: €50.83M

NE 2026 transfer fees paid: €2.9M

SEA 2026 transfer fees paid: €5.2M

New England Manager, Marko Mitrovic, has previously worked for Red Star Belgrade U-15s, Serbia U-15s, was an assistant at both Chicago Fire and Reading, and managed United States U-19s, U-23s, and U-20s. Mitrovic holds a UEFA Pro License.

General notes on personnel

New England transfers IN:

Raines (Houston Dynamo) €1.35M

Kohler (Werder Bremen) free

Oliveira - reserves

Yow (KVC Westerlo) €550,000

Gunn - reserves

Fagundez (Los Angeles Galaxy) free

Harris (Maccabi Netanya) free

Turner (Lyon) loan

Baker (Seattle Sounders FC) loan

Zambrano (Real Salt Lake) loan

Harrison (Leeds United) €1M

Smith (Queens Park Rangers) loan

Siqueira - reserves

Gazdag (Columbus Crew SC) free

Wynder (Benfica) loan

New England transfers OUT:

Bye (Portland Timbers) free

Ganago (Nantes) end of loan

Omsberg - retired

Chancalay (Minnesota United FC) €85,000

Suarez (San Antonio FC) loan

Bono (DC United) €42,000

Panayotou (Loudoun United) loan

Hughes (Birmingham Legion) loan

Fry (Lexington SC) loan

Ceballos (CF Montreal) €660,000

Oyirwoth (Dunfermline Athletic) loan

Klein (Rhode Island FC) loan

Comparison against common opponents

NYRB 1:0 NE

SEA 0:0 NYRB

(against NYRB: NE 0-0-1 -1, SEA 0-1-0 0) marginal edge SEA

NE 6:1 CIN

CIN 1:1 SEA

(against CIN: NE 1-0-0 +5, SEA 0-1-0 0) decisive edge NE

STL 3:1 NE

STL 0:1 SEA

SEA 4:1 STL

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

NE 2:1 PHI

PHI 1:0 SEA

(against PHI: NE 1-0-0 +1, SEA 0-0-1 -1) decisive edge NE

NE 2:1 MIN

MIN 0:0 SEA

SEA 3:1 MIN

(against MIN: NE 1-0-0 +1, SEA 1-1-0 +2) marginal edge SEA

NE 0:2 HOU

HOU 0:1 SEA

(against HOU: NE 0-0-1 -2, SEA 1-0-0 +1) decisive edge SEA

LAG 2:1 NE

SEA 0:2 LAG

LAG 1:1 SEA

(against LAG: NE 0-0-1 -1, SEA 0-1-1 -2) even

CHI 1:2 NE

SEA 2:2 CHI

(against CHI: NE 1-0-0 +1, SEA 0-1-0 0) edge NE

RSL 3:0 NE

RSL 2:1 SEA

SEA 2:0 RSL

(against RSL: NE 0-0-1 -3, SEA 1-0-1 +1) decisive edge SEA

Know Thine Enemy

New England as they lined up in their 3:0 defeat against the Salt Lake at State Street on 26 September.

GOALKEEPER

Matt Turner, 32

United States (55/0)

Notable Clubs: New England Revolution (139/0), Richmond Kickers (27/0), Nottingham Forest (17/0)

Estimate Transfer Value: €2.5M

Notes: Played his university football for Fairfield (39/0). Won an MLS league championship with New England. Won an FA Community Shield with Arsenal. Won an FA Cup with Crystal Palace. Won a CONCACAF Gold Cup and 2x CONCACAF Nations League with United States. Won CONCACAF Gold Cup Golden Glove 2021. Named to CONCACAF Gold Cup Best XI 2021. Named MLS Goalkeeper of the Year 2021. Won 2x CONCACAF Nations League Golden Glove. 2x named to CONCACAF Nations League Finals Best XI.

DEFENCE

Will Sands, 26

United States

Notable Clubs: Columbus Crew SC (25/0), New England Revolution (51/1)

Estimated Transfer Value: €1M

Notes: Developed by New York SC and New York City FC. Played his university football for Georgetown (52/4). Won an MLS Cup with Columbus Crew SC.

Mamadou Fofana, 28

Mali (50/2)

Notable Clubs: Alanyaspor (25/0), Bandirmaspor (10/0), Metz (69/0), Amiens (114/0), New England Revolution (56/1)

Estimated Transfer Value: €2M

Notes: Developed by Stade Malien and Alanyaspor.

Joshua Wynder, 21

United States

Notable Clubs: Louisville City (38/2)

Estimated Transfer Value: €900,000

Notes: Developed by Louisville City. Has played for United States (21/1) at youth levels.

Matt Polster, 33

United States (1/0)

Notable Clubs: Chicago Fire (82/3), Rangers (7/0), New England Revolution (183/8)

Estimated Transfer Value: €500,000

Notes: Developed by Downtown Las Vegas FC and Colorado Rapids. Played his university football for Southern Illinois - Edwardsville (79/6). Won an MLS league championship with New England Revolution.

MIDFIELD

Jackson Yueill, 29

United States (16/0)

Notable Clubs: San Jose Earthquakes (210/13), Reno 1868 (7/0), New England Revolution (30/0)

Estimated Transfer Value: €1M

Notes: Played his university football for UCLA (40/9). Developed by Minnesota Thunder. Won CONCACAF Gold Cup and CONCACAF Nations League with United States.

Ethan Kohler, 21

United States

Notable Clubs: New England Revolution (23/0)

Estimated Transfer Value: €800,000

Notes: Developed by San Jose Earthquakes. Played for United States (22/1) at youth levels.

Carles Gil, 33

Spain

Notable Clubs: Valencia (8/1), Elche (64/5), Aston Villa (28/2), Deportivo La Coruna (51/1), New England Revolution (220/61)

Estimated Transfer Value: €1.8M

Notes: Developed by Valencia. Won a Spanish Second Division Championship with Elche in 2012-13. Won an MLS league championship with New England Revolution. Named MLS MVP 2021. Named MLS Best Newcomer of the Year 2019. 2x named to MLS Best XI. Named MLS Comeback Player of the Year 2021. MLS top assist provider (18) 2021.

FORWARD

Daniel Gazdag, 30

Hungary (30/4)

Notable Clubs: Honved (175/21), Philadelphia Union (125/59), Columbus Crew SC (43/7), New England Revolution (5/1)

Estimated Transfer Value: €2.5M

Notes: Developed by Nyiregyhaza and Honved. Won a Hungarian league championship and a Hungarian Cup with Honved. Named to MLS Best XI 2022.

Wilson Harris, 26

United States

Notable Clubs: Sporting Kansas City (9/0), Louisville City FC (99/43), Maccabi Petah Tikva (15/5), Maccabi Netanya (18/5), New England Revolution (13/1)

Estimated Transfer Value: €600,000

Notes: Developed by Real So Cal, Seattle Sounders FC, and Sporting Kansas City. Named USL Young Player of the Year 2020.

Luca Langoni, 24

Argentina

Notable Clubs: Boca Juniors (33/9), New England Revolution (56/8)

Estimated Transfer Value: €5M

Notes: Developed by Boca Juniors. Won an Argentine Primera Division and Supercopa Argentina with Boca Juniors.

Familiar Faces

New England centre-forward, Wilson Harris, was briefly at Sounders FC Academy in 2016.

Seattle Sounders FC full-back, Cody Baker, is currently on loan at New England.

Squads

New England from:

Turner, Parisian, Gunn, Beason, Hughes, Smith, Feingold, Baker, Kohler, Sands, Miller, Wynder, Farrell, Polster, Gil, Yueill, Gazdag, Raines, Oliveira, Siqueira, Yow, Zambrano, Harris, Langoni, Fagundez, Turgeman.

Sounders FC from:

Frei, Thomas, Gomez Andrade, Hawkins, Kim, Kossa-Rienzi, Lopez, Nouhou, Alex, Ragen, Sailor, Brunell, Kingston, Clark, Cristian, Dotson, Rusnak, Arriola, Ferreira, Gomez, Joveljic, Morris, Musovski.

Injury List

(as listed on mlssoccer.com at press time)

New England -

OUT: Campana (lower body, we’ll say faecal incontinence), Fofana (lower body, we’ll say pilonidal sinus), Harrison (quadriceps), Yusuf (hamstring).

MATCHDAY DECISION: none.

Sounders FC -

OUT: Rothrock (hamstring), De la Vega (quadriceps), Petkovic (knee).

MATCHDAY DECISION: none.

Discipline

(as listed on mlssoccer.com at press time)

New England: No players suspended. Polster out next match if booked.

Sounders FC: No players suspended. Kingston out next match if booked.

Fun Fact

Sounders FC Reserves will play their MLS Next Pro Cup play-in match against San Jose Earthquakes II at 5:00 p.m. PDT on Sunday 11 October at Coleman Avenue. We’re pullin’ for ye, lads! Pull out the stops. Make us proud.