“The season hasn't started well, but that's a proud group,” Schmetzer told reporters. The Sounders certainly showed some of that in their win over the Philadelphia Union, just their second of the season and first on the road. After jumping out to a 3-0 lead and playing just about perfectly in the first half, the Sounders had a couple of decent chances to add a fourth goal only to come up a bit short. Buoyed by three halftime changes, the Union came storming back shortly after the Sounders failed to put the game away ..read more

Welcome back to the Guardian's MLS Power Rankings, where I have a beef with your specific team and your specific team alone. If you have complaints, toss 'em in the comments down below, but be warned: I'm better at blocking out negativity than Pedro Gallese has been at stopping shots this season ..read more

Christian Benteke scored two goals, Alex Bono had four saves and D.C. United rallied from an early deficit to beat the shorth-handed Seattle Sounders 2-1 Saturday night. The 33-year-old Benteke has scored eight goals this season, tied with Real Salt Lake's Cristian Arango for second in MLS, behind only Lionel Messi (nine) of Inter Miami ..read more

Seattle's Jackson Ragen was sent off for a red card in the 43rd minute, Alex Roldan was forced to leave in the 75th and the Vancouver Whitecaps took advantage to post a 2-0 victory over the Sounders on Saturday night. Ragen left the Sounders (1-4-3) a man down after a video review upgraded his foul on Ryan Gauld. Roldan exited after a foul on Vancouver's Ali Ahmed ..read more

In a season where seemingly everything that could go wrong has gone wrong, the Seattle Sounders finally had a game where that wasn't the case. “Winning in MLS is hard; winning away from home against the Eastern Conference leaders is really hard,” Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer said in the postgame press-conference, perhaps overstating the Union's standing by just a smidge. The Sounders played what has to be their best half of soccer of this so-far disastrous season, looking like they might actually cruise to victory through about 55 minutes. It was the exact kind of play we've been waiti ..read more

Nights like Tuesday are why it's hard to dismiss Raul Ruidiaz. The Sounders striker floated a penalty kick over keeper Oliver Semmle, who was snared by the Panenka, and celebrated with an infectious head bob down the endline of Subaru Park in Chester, Pa. For a wary Sounders nation, Ruidiaz's first-half brace was the brazen performance expected when a lineup is released and the Peruvian's name is printed up top. Ruidiaz ripped a 45-yard shot into an empty goal to open the wild 3-2 win ..read more

Apr. 30—PASCO — Two Basin Sounders squads claimed titles at last weekend's Washington Premier League 14U-11U WA Cup in Pasco. The B2011 Mayo and G2011 Mohs teams both finished their respective tournaments with an undefeated record. The 13U boys team, coached by Edgar Mayo, opened the tournament two weeks ago with 9-1 and 8-0 wins over the NPSA Titans B11 Navy Medina and the Seattle Celtic B11 ..read more

The Seattle Sounders will have another 84 minutes to find their first road win of 2024. Philly is now 3-1-4, +4, but is only 1-1-1 at home. Seattle is 1-5-3, -1 with a 0-4-1 road record. Answering Four Questions for Philly Soccer Now is Joe Lister ..read more

The Philadelphia Union and Seattle Sounders both will hope to rebound from close defeats when they meet in Chester, Pa., on Tuesday night to resume a suspended match. The fixture originally kicked off on March 9 only to be suspended in the sixth minute because of unplayable conditions after heavy rain. Philadelphia (3-1-4, 13 points) continued an unbeaten start to the season that spanned seven matches in total before last weekend's 2-1 loss to Real Salt Lake. Three-time MLS Goalkeeper of the Year Andre Blake made a rare mistake handling Andres Gomez's shot on RSL's opening goal ..read more

First it was a way to avoid thinking about the real world. Fellowship and avoidance are still why I spend too much time following sports, mostly the Seattle Sounders, Reign and Defiance. Each of us should choose to participate in this Puget Sound soccer phenomena at a level that's best for us – if it's not entertaining or at least giving you some pleasure, step away for a bit. Nothing about being a soccer fan requires you to make yourself miserable ..read more