TUKWILA — Keeping the Sounders season in perspective is difficult.
The FIFA men’s Club World Cup loss was the team’s first match of the season. Last week’s loss against FC Cincinnati was the team’s first of 17 league road games. And Saturday’s matchup with Los Angeles FC at Lumen Field is just the fourth overall game in Seattle’s 2023 campaign.
But it’s LAFC.
Intrigue has seemingly been baked into the matchup whether it’s Seattleites not liking Californians or the Sounders crushing LAFC’s dream 2019 season with an upset in the Western Conference championship. Seattle ultimately won MLS Cup that year.
And it doesn’t get any bigger than Saturday’s billing — the defending CONCACAF Champions League titlist in the Sounders against the reigning MLS Cup champion LAFC.
“There’s added pressure of us two always competing for something and wanting to be the favorites in the West,” Sounders midfielder Cristian Roldan said. “It’s all part of the game and hopefully it continues to grow.”
There’s a key difference this season in that the Sounders (2-1) didn’t qualify for the CCL tournament this year. LAFC advanced to the quarterfinals 4-2 on aggregate scoring despite losing 2-1 to Costa Rica’s L.D. Alajuelense on Wednesday.
Saturday will be LAFC’s fourth match in 10 days. Yet, the Black & Gold appear to have the depth to withstand dueling CCL and MLS play, unlike the Sounders last year.
“From the outside looking in, they’re not content and that’s a scary thing,” Sounders keeper Stefan Frei said of LAFC, which also won the MLS Supporters’ Shield last year. “They want to keep going and get more and get more and get more. With all the improvements that they made to their squad, even more young guys that are very capable. Dangerous team, dangerous team. Good service, guys who make good runs and feed off those good services. That’s why they’re scoring a lot of goals in games, so we’ll have to be ready for them.”
LAFC were the envy of the league last summer transfer window when they signed renowned defender Giorgio Chiellini (Italy) and forwards Denis Bouanga (Gabon) and Gareth Bale (Wales). The latter competed in the World Cup in Qatar last winter and retired.
The Black & Gold simply reloaded by signing German midfielder Timothy Tillman in February and he’s already notched a goal for LAFC. Bouanga leads the team through all competitions with five goals and two assists.
And then there’s the now sage veteran in Mexican international Carlos Vela. The captain has been part of the club since its inaugural season in 2018 and tallied 12 goals and 11 assists during league play last year.
“It’s not going to be an easy game,” said Sounders defender Nouhou, who’ll likely be assigned to shut down Bouanga. LAFC is winless in their last six trips to Seattle.
The Black & Gold won their opening two MLS matches this year, outscoring their opponents 7-2. To get their offense going, they typically employ a high press, which is what got the Sounders into trouble against Cincinnati last week.
Seattle had two giveaways in striking distance, the second breaking the defensive line for a goal in the 63rd minute.
“There’s many ways around a press and just because you press doesn’t mean you win or you’re more dangerous,” LAFC coach Steve Cherundolo said. “It depends on what the opponent does with it. [Seattle] has the tools to bypass it, they also have the tools to play through it. It should be good, assuming we do press.”
Sounders striker Raul Ruidiaz is expected to get the start after totaling 41 minutes in the team’s past two matches. He missed the opener due to a hamstring injury.
Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer wants the Peru international to rekindle the 2019 magic when midfielder Nico Lodeiro assisted on his two goals during the 3-1 win in L.A. Ruidiaz hasn’t scored in MLS play since August 2022.
But perspective is needed. It’s Ruidiaz’s first MLS start of the season.
“It’s just an early season test between two big franchises, that’s what it is,” Schmetzer said. “We want to continue, regardless of whoever the opponent is, when they come to Lumen Field, we want to play upbeat, up-tempo.”
Spring call ups
The Sounders will be without multiple players for next week’s road match against Sporting Kansas City due to a FIFA international window. National team staffs announced their rosters this week.
Sounders fullback Alex Roldan was called up by El Salvador for a friendly in L.A. and CONCACAF Nations League match against the U.S. in Florida while Nouhou will join Cameroon for Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches in his native country and South Africa. Sounders defender Xavier Arreaga was tapped by Ecuador for a pair of friendlies in Australia.
U.S. internationals Jordan Morris and Cristian Roldan, who were part of the World Cup team in Qatar last winter, weren’t called up by interim coach Anthony Hudson for this window. Hudson noted the number of games MLS players would miss if they participated in every international window and intends to have two pools of players to also provide breaks for those competing in European leagues.
On the youth level, Sounders defender Reed Baker-Whiting was called up for the U-19 national team camp in Argentina where there will be two friendlies. Sounders midfielder Obed Vargas is headed back to Spain for the U-20 national team camp, which is the final tuneup before the FIFA men’s U-20 World Cup in Indonesia this summer. Neither Baker-Whiting nor Vargas has made an MLS appearance this season.