SEATTLE – The Sounders open their 2025 season on the road with a CONCACAF Champions Cup match against Guatemala’s Antigua GFC on Wednesday. The MLS home opener is Saturday against Charlotte FC at Lumen Field.
Here’s what to watch for on the field this season:
Numbers game
Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer is being intentional about the team playing in different formations. One tactic is playing with three center backs, which the team has done before, mainly as an in-game change. The team has also played with two forwards in the past. All have been an effort to get more players in the box to create more goal-scoring chances. Productivity increased to 51 goals last year from 41 in 2023 when Jordan Morris was moved from the wing to the sole forward up top. Morris had a career-best 13 goals during regular-season play. Does the staff have the personnel to make a dedicated shift successful this season? Aside from being more entertaining soccer, an improved offense would help take pressure off the defenders, who’ve had to be perfect nearly every match just to give the team a chance at winning. The Sounders conceded a league-low 35 goals and led MLS with 13 clean sheets last season.
Deceptive bench
The Sounders re-signed one of their better defenders in club history in center back Kim Kee-hee. The South Korean international isn’t expected to arrive until after the team begins the season. If he can mesh quickly, he’ll be another player who could start elsewhere, but is adding depth for the Sounders. Kim anchored Seattle’s backline during the winning 2019 MLS Cup run. His calmness and MLS experience, albeit two seasons, are a needed asset. Schmetzer also has a healthy and reinvigorated João Paulo, a 2021 league MVP finalist, to boost the defensive midfield rotation and trade acquisition Paul Arriola, a U.S. international and eight-year MLS veteran, to use in the attack or defensive positions. Encore performances by wingers Paul Rothrock and Georgi Minoungou and breakout season from Jon Bell on the backline could make the Sounders scary to line up against.
Spin the block
Success could hinge on the play of midfielder Pedro de la Vega. The Argentine suffered a hamstring injury before signing with the Sounders last year and it lingered throughout the season, morphing to both hamstrings and a groin injury. De la Vega only played 16 regular-season MLS matches (nine starts). But he was healthy in time to start all four playoff matches, including 82 minutes in the Western Conference final loss to the LA Galaxy. De la Vega’s creativity and ability to keep defenses off balance is needed as the Sounders try to shake up their attacking movements. The team hopes the experience gained in the postseason and time to heal during the offseason allows de la Vega to be the player hyped when he signed in January 2024.