It's probably at least a little unfair to say that the Seattle Sounders' ceiling is defined by one player. The obvious candidate is Pedro de la Vega. The last time the Sounders had someone playing like an elite playmaker was during their Concacaf Champions League title run in 2022, when Nicolás Lodeiro was summoning the version of himself that also carried them to two MLS Cups ..read more

Leagues Cup 2024 is all set to kick-off at the end of the week, and that means that there are a handful of players to keep an eye on throughout the month-long tournament. Given that Leagues Cup is bet ..read more

You're about to be overwhelmed. There's so much soccer coming at you over the next few weeks that it can be hard to keep track of it all. That's where we come in to provide service journalism. We'll treat Leagues Cup matchdays like any other matchday at The Daily Kickoff and make sure you have a mini-Watchgridometer and The Recap ready to go before and after. You're welcome. Seattle Sounders FC vs. Minnesota United FC WATCH: Apple TV - MLS Season Pass | Friday, 10:00 pm ET Watchability Score: 37/50 There's a basic question facing both of these teams: Are you going to get your life together? Th ..read more

Major League Soccer side LAFC take on Liga MX outfit Club Tijuana in Leagues Cup Group Stage action. LAFC's last three matches have been a little bit all over the place after a heavy 5-1 defeat to cur ..read more

Minnesota United at Seattle Sounders When: 9 p.m. CT Friday Where: Lumen Field Stream: Apple TV Season Pass Weather: 74 degrees, sunny, 9 mph south wind Context: MNUFC, Seattle and Liga MX club Necaxa are the three teams in Leagues Cup West Group 6. The Loons will play Necaxa at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Allianz Field. Seattle and Necaxa don't play until Aug. 4 in Washington. The top two teams advance to the knockout rounds. Flashback: The Loons beat Puebla 4-0 and lost 3-2 to Chicago Fire in the inaugural Leagues Cup group stage last summer. United then topped Columbus and Toluca, each in penalty kic ..read more

“The way I felt after the game, the goals we gave up almost worse on film,” Schmetzer said. “I didn't like the way the [first] two goals manifested themselves and at that point they controlled the game.” Schmetzer's frustrations on the first goal centered around the Sounders failing to cut out the danger before the mad scramble inside the six-yard box that ultimately led to the penalty. Both Obed Vargas and Jackson Ragen had chances to win duels in LAFC's end, Yeimar Gomez Andrade effectively got taken out by a dummy and Cristian Roldan got turned a couple of times before the cross that João P ..read more

Both MLS and NWSL are in a summer break. The two leagues are filling that break with different, similar tournaments for different reasons. The top talents in the NWSL are in the Olympics. Starting Thursday, prior to the Opening Ceremony, you can watch Canada defend its gold . Quinn and Huitema are the Reign reps that get to enjoy the attention of the world while in France. The league created the Summer Cup because many top players would be off at what is the second most important competition in women's soccer. MLS doesn't have that problem. Most of their Olympians are not-quite stars. They're ..read more

Heading into their final game before the Leagues Cup break, the Seattle Sounders could hardly have been feeling better about themselves. Almost three full months of plugging along and doing enough to get results had morphed into a winning streak that had the Sounders genuinely feeling like they might be getting back to their own elite standards. LAFC didn't so much play the Sounders off the pitch in their 3-0 win on Saturday as illustrate the gaps that still need to close. The Sounders showed that they can play with LAFC, but in order to beat them they need the breaks to go their way ..read more

With Leagues Cup 2024 just days away, it's time to take a look at a few dark horse teams for the upcoming tournament between Major League Soccer and Liga MX teams. There definitely be hype surrounding ..read more

Stefan Frei finished with three saves on the way to his 112th career regular-season shutout — tying Kevin Hartman for second place on the all-time list — and the Sounders used an own goal in the first half and a Jonathan Bell score against his former team in the second to beat St. Louis City 2-0 on Wednesday night. Seattle (10-7-7) has won five in a row and is on a seven-match unbeaten streak, going 6-0-1 during the run to climb into sixth place in the Western Conference. St. Louis City (4-10-10), which won the regular-season title as an expansion team last season, continues to struggle in its ..read more