Flushed Away: A Derby Day Disaster

Well, to say that wasn’t very fun would be an understatement. The Seattle Sounders traveled north in their second Cascadia Derby of the season to take on a depleted Vancouver Whitecaps side, who had 18 players total on the injury report! In what was easily their worst performance of the year, the Sounders embarrassingly lost 0-3 with two red cards in their last game before the Club World Cup.

The match started reasonably well for the Sounders. During the first half-hour or so of the game, the Sounders dictated the tempo, making great runs and finding themselves in the final third. The Vancouver defense was under pressure, but instead of using that pressure to create chances, the Sounders found themselves falling into old habits and just simply passing the ball backwards or side-to-side. Even more dynamic players, such as Ryan Kent and Pedro de la Vega, found themselves passing it backwards instead of taking players on. This isn’t unusual for Sounders wingers under Schmetz, but still surprising coming from those two.

After a multitude of counters, the Whitecaps punished the Sounders' lack of ambition in the final third in the 40th minute. Some all-around poor defending from Seattle as Vancouver had played the ball around the edge of the box for a bit before working it out to Ngando on the wing. When he received the ball, the Sounders' defense dropped back, leaving Badwal entirely unmarked to poke the ball into the net.

Much like the first half, the second half began to show that the Sounders had some fight in them, with sharp passing and solid off-ball movement. It was capped when Obed Vargas showed his quality after a rough first half, working his way into the box before losing the ball again, but Pedro de la Vega grabbed a loose ball and ripped a curler that was blocked in the 48th minute. There was a bit of hope for an equalizer, but you know what they say, it’s the hope that kills you.

Just as you thought the Sounders were finding their rhythm, Nouhou was shown the first red card in the 52nd minute when Mathias Laborda got the best of him, then reached around to pull him back with Laborda through on goal. Things escalated very quickly in the 55th minute when Cristian Roldan, having moved over to left back, dropped too deep and kept Emmanuel Sabbi onside for a ball over the top. Jon Bell attempted to recover and chase, but ended up clipping Sabbi, who went down right outside the box, and Bell was the second Sounders player to leave the pitch. There is an argument that JB barely got a touch on him, but regardless of the level of contact, it was still a DOGSO red card.

After that second red, the Sounders responded by making four subs, opting to take off the creative players Jesús Ferreira, Ryan Kent, Albert Rusnák, and Pedro de la Vega and replacing them with Energizer Bunny work horses Kalani Kossa-Rienzi, Danny Musovski, João Paulo and Paul Rothrock as they tried to cover the ground left by being down to nine men and hoping to find an equalizer. In case you didn’t know already, they did not. If anything, it got worse.

Daniel Rios provided Vancouver their second goal in the 70th minute, hitting an absolute thundercunt of a shot from just outside the box past Frei as he dove in the right direction but couldn’t get a touch on the ball. But to be fair, I don’t know if any keeper could. In the 88th minute, Damir Kreilach capped things off from the penalty spot after a diving JP slid into Sabbi in the box to put the game to bed and make it 0-3.

Conceding the Cascadia Cup

The current Cascadia Cup standings are as follows:

1. Whitecaps - 6 points
2. Timbers - 1 point
3. Sounders - 1 point

We’re only two games into the race for the 2025 Cascadia Cup, but it feels like the Vancouver Whitecaps, the littlest of little brothers, are keeping the Cascadia Cup for the second year in a row. And honestly, they deserve it! After years of mediocrity, they've been getting better and better year after year. While the Sounders still have two Cascadia Derbies left this season in the last games of the year, unless the Whitecaps lose one, the Timbers lose/draw one, and the Sounders win both, there’s no way we can catch up to secure the cup. And you know what? I am perfectly okay with that.

WOOF

Everyone at the Sounders and their mothers knew this would be a trap game. Schmetz even brought it up with the press (not me, who still lives in Portland) in the days leading up to it. And despite knowing it was a trap game, it felt as though the Sounders looked out of their depth and were not ready for it. This game should serve as a reality check for this Sounders team. Yes, on paper, we are still one of the best teams in the West. But if we don’t have the mentality to bring ourselves out of a hole we dug, then all the talent in the world can’t help us. We've seen this team eek out tough performances and go on decent runs in previous seasons, but the vibes at the club are incredibly low, and that’s while heading into the club’s biggest competition yet. I’m sure the team will find a way out of this post Club World Cup, but man, things just kind of suck right now.

I also just want to give massive props to Manager of the Year candidate Jesper Sørensen because he has his players fighting tooth and nail for him. Despite being down ten players due to international duty and not one player being fully match-fit, they pulled together, played their game, and deservedly got the win.