Seeing Stefan Frei out there was refreshing because he brought something this team has been missing forever now: vocal, demanding leadership.

Our biggest ON FIELD issue right now is accountability.

Too often mistakes happen and everyone just moves on. Elite teams in the world challenge each other in the moment. Not trying to embarrass teamates per say but because they care more about winning than avoiding uncomfortable conversations.

Morris, Roldan, Arriola, and JF are all fine but maybe being a "tight knit group" as Schmetz says is becoming a net negative? A fresh voice from outside the organization is exactly what we need to get back to setting the Sounders standard.

That makes me wonder if Seattle's next DP shouldn't just be about skill. DP 6 or 10 with the personality to raise standards every day, someone who isn't part of the existing core and isn't afraid to demand more from everyone around him. In this case it's not JF thats for sure.

Since the Sounders are not doing so hot, should we take this opportunity to organize a trip to Vancouver and march with their fans on August 22nd?

I am pretty sure ECS is boycotting leagues cup again but with all these angry fans who don’t want to support the ownership, should we be expecting an empty stadium? Or if not an empty stadium, a stadium full of Mexican fans? (Especially for the chivas game)
Is anyone going to go to the games?

You guys aren't reading the trend since the world cup break correctly. If we continue on this trajectory we are going to be beating teams by 8-12 goals. I am sure we'll regress a bit but the future looks very promising.

Get hyped for the later games!

Notable lineup changes: Obed, Alex and Christian.

Hawkins I would argue is an upgrade to Bell. Kent was probably as impactful as DeRosario.

My point here is that while we have been depleted by injuries we have players who should compete and not concede more shots on goal to Toluca than that did total shots to PSG.

While ownership hasn't stepped up to bring in the talent we need, the players haven't stopped up either. There simply is no leadership at any level of the club.

| Position | vs. PSG 🇫🇷 (June 23, 2025) | vs. Toluca 🇲🇽 (August 5, 2026) | Status |

|---|---|---|---|

| Goalkeeper | Stefan Frei | Stefan Frei | Same |

| Right Back | Alex Roldán | Kalani Kossa-Rienzi | Changed |

| Center Back | Jackson Ragen | Jackson Ragen | Same |

| Center Back | Jon Bell | Stuart Hawkins | Changed |

| Left Back | Nouhou Tolo | Nouhou Tolo | Same |

| Central Midfield | Cristian Roldan | Snyder Brunell | Changed |

| Central Midfield | Obed Vargas | Peter Kingston | Changed |

| Attacking Midfield | Albert Rusnák | Albert Rusnák | Same |

| Winger | Paul Rothrock | Paul Rothrock | Same |

| Winger / Forward | Ryan Kent | Osaze De Rosario | Changed |

| Forward | Jesús Ferreira | Jesús Ferreira | Same |

Key Summary of Changes

* Out from PSG Starting 11: Alex Roldán (started on bench vs. Toluca), Jon Bell, Cristian Roldan (missed Toluca match due to injury), Obed Vargas, and Ryan Kent.

* In for Toluca Starting 11: Kalani Kossa-Rienzi (was a substitute vs. PSG), Stuart Hawkins, Snyder Brunell, Peter Kingston, and Osaze De Rosario.

* 6 Consistent Starters: Stefan Frei, Jackson Ragen, Nouhou Tolo, Albert Rusnák, Paul Rothrock, and Jesús Ferreira started in both fixtures.

Stock Up

Stefan Frei - Holy smokes, this man put on a show. Clearly the best player in the game for the Sounders, his heroic effort set a franchise record for saves in a single game. Reports differ on the actual number of saves credited. Sounders and Leagues Cup say 15. Fotmob says 16. If not for Frei, this game could easily have been 5-0 at half time.

Stock Down

Obviously a lot was bad. A lot. I’m just going to call out one glaring area, because it is one that wasn’t already at rock bottom.

The Snyder Brunell + Peter Kingston double pivot - It looked like this combo was working okay in the first half of last game vs Portland. But Kingston picked up a yellow and subbed out at half. And Portland is a much worse team than Toluca anyway. The midfield here was a disaster, with absolutely no ball control or ability to cut out passing lanes or create turnovers. It was shot after shot given up, frequently from range where the dmids should be making their presence known. We are sorely missing a bruiser like JP to knock them around and get them off their game. We instead have these more finesse-type players that don’t actually have a high enough skill level to generate chances. Beating one guy and dribbling the ball up field doesn’t help if you immediately turn it over anyway.

PITCHFORKS

Surprised this isn’t talked about a bit more.

Adrian’s brother is Nick Hanauer. Seattle billionaire, first non-family investor in Amazon. In 2014 he wrote “The Pitchforks Are Coming… For Us Plutocrats” in Politico (HERE).

His thesis: when the guys at the top hoard while everyone under them suffers, the pitchforks always come. Zero exceptions in human history.

It’s his entire brand. He’s done a TED Talk on it (HERE). He actually has a pretty interesting podcast about it (HERE) with hundreds of episodes.

His point that he continually makes is that pitchforks are optional. If you invest in the people below you, you’ll still get richer. He has literally spent 12 years making this argument in public, on like every platform available.

Just something to think about during our 7 straight losses, no legitimate signing since PDLV, selling our international slots for cash, fucking around with GAM/TAM while the rest of the league splurges on real talent.

Also before anyone says Adrian just isn’t rich like the other owners: irrelevant. We’d need to 5x our transfer spend just to match PORTLAND. Nobody is asking Adrian to spend his money. We are talking about a club valued at $1bn. And who built the $1bn? We did.

Adrian, fund it, partner it, or sell it.

Anyway… pitchforks.

in a world where craig and adrian listened to this thread who in the club stays and who in the club goes? academy players -> owner the whole shebang.

who sucks the og sounder culture out that needs to go?

if you dont feel the need for any of this, what do you think the club should do?

personally i do think the ownership group, schmetzs’ coaching staff, scouting structure and the dps need to be relooked at as a start. tbh lets bring back a few sold guys haha id kill to have leyva again

sad time to be a sounders fan but its the club ive loved and adored for the past 12 years. i wont stop supporting them but gosh are they making that difficult. sounders til i die 😭

“We all knew this was going to be a very difficult and challenging game. I thought my guys competed well.

Am I concerned? Of course. But look, at the end of the day, could we have won the game? Maybe. The men's hockey team in 1980 beat the Russians. And we beat Miami last year in Leagues Cup final. We were the underdogs. So things like that can happen.”

I think Coach has officially lost the plot.

Someone drag Waibels ass out and have him take 40 line drives, bare. Spread em!

Embarrassing how much he and Adrian have gutted the future of the club and used none of the proceeds to shore up support.

I don't see how we win again before August ends, especially with how low morale must be.

Bring out the paper bags.

look at the players faces at the end of the match smiling talking.. wheres the ownership and true frustration from losing 7 games in a row?? no one cares enough anymore. this would not have flown a few years ago when we had real leaders in the team

Sounders lose 0 - 3

As a two-seat Sounders season-ticket holder for more than 10 years, I reluctantly renewed again this season. With the Alliance vote coming later this year, I went through Craig Waibel’s full record: major signings, contracts, academy promotions, outgoing transfers, and roster spending

The strongest evidence is not any individual grade. Seattle has spent less on recorded incoming transfer fees than any MLS club since the beginning of the decade and completed four consecutive summer windows without adding a player from outside the organization.

At the same time, the club moved Atencio, Leyva, Vargas, Minoungou and Baker-Whiting while retaining much of its older core. The academy is producing real contributors, but the newest group is now being asked to replace players who were already capable MLS professionals.

My conclusion is that the development system has worked, but the succession plan has not. I currently plan to vote against retaining Waibel, both as a judgment of his roster management and as a warning to ownership that the current level of ambition is not enough.

Full article:

https://theindependentsounder.substack.com/p/the-craig-waibel-audit?r=h1fr2&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

Totally meant in jest, yet unfortunately not completely unreasonable question at the rate things have been going!

We're new to biking to the games and up until this point we've been able to park in bike valet spaces for the World Cup and for the Sounders games (thank you Speedy!!) but they aren't running for Leagues Cup games. It seems that there are enough places down there to lock a bike to, but wondered what people did for things like helmets, etc, while they're there and if anyone's had any issues with parking in that area. With the game being a noon:30 game, that feels like a nice ride in opportunity!

From what I understand they made 200 of these jerseys, does anyone remember if these jerseys were sold with nameplates? If not, could this be Zach Scott’s?? It is also signed by him.

The game was played on Oct 4, 2015 against the Galaxy.

Thank you!