Match Fitness

Match Fitness: Menswear Madness, the Round of 16

It only gets harder from here.

By Tim Foss@timostlundfoss Mar 27, 2020, 4:49pm PDT

After an initial round of voting for each quadrant (plus a Twitter poll to break a tie), 16 competitors have been eliminated and 16 have moved on to the Round of 16. The bracket has been reseeded, but it hasn’t made the decisions ahead any easier. With the task set before us - determining just who will progress to the semifinals - being such a daunting one, it seems best to get on with it.

Let the voting commence!

Goalkeepers

#1 Bryan Meredith and the Boys vs #6 Stefan Frei: Craft Mixologist

Sounders FC Digital
Sounders FC Digital

Meredith’s squad moved on pretty handily from the first round, and in the Round of 16 they face a look from Stefan Frei that was one of only a few upsets. Frei’s bartender look and his sidekick, Goose, faced a much easier task last time around as they went up against relatively weaker ‘fits from Meredith and Morris. Will the strong looks of Meredith, Morris, and their friends be enough to see them past Frei and Svensson? You decide.

Poll

Who advances?

This poll is closed

42%

#1 Bryan Meredith and the Boys

(74 votes)
57%

#6 Stefan Frei: Craft Mixologist

(102 votes)

176 votes total Vote Now

#2 Dandy Bryan Meredith vs #5 Startup Guy Frei

Sounders FC Digital
Sounders FC Digital

Meredith’s top stand-alone look comes into a Round of 16 match-up facing some surprisingly stiff competition. Seeded as the no. 5, Stefan Frei’s black tee and suit jacket look put up one of the most dominant victories in the first round as it topped Frei’s shorts-and-polo look with a landslide. Will the brightness and fun of Meredith’s Sunday best be enough to beat the crispness of Freist startup guy style?

Poll

Who advances?

This poll is closed

62%

#2 Dandy Bryan Meredith

(110 votes)
37%

#5 Startup Guy Frei

(65 votes)

175 votes total Vote Now

Solids & Tonal Styling

#1 The Cozy Assassin vs #6 Román Torres’s Sunglasses

Sounders FC Digital
Sounders FC Digital

This Round of 16 contest comes down to two all-black outfits that both managed to top looks from Raúl Ruidíaz. Both looks here feature an attention to detail, strong individual pieces, and one star of the outfit. Lodeiro’s scarf can keep out the cold, but can it hold off the challenge from Torres’s stunner shades?

Poll

Who advances?

This poll is closed

50%

#1 The Cozy Assassin

(87 votes)
50%

#6 Román Torres’s Sunglasses

(87 votes)

174 votes total Vote Now

#2 Jordan Morris in Grayscale vs #5 Ennuicolas Lodeiro

Sounders FC Digital
Sounders FC Digital

How do you decide who the best dressed player on a team is? Is it the absolute heights that they reach? Or is it the consistency with which they put strong looks together? If it’s the latter, then Jordan Morris might be the best dressed Sounder, as no one gets a ‘fit off with the regularity that he does. In the Round of 16, Morris’s grey and neutral look goes toe-to-toe with Nico Lodeiro’s Seattle cool guy look, dressed in black and grey to match the Northwest weather. This look from Lodeiro eeked past the combination of Smith and Svensson in the aforementioned twitter poll after finishing level in the original vote. It’ll take more than that to move on this time.

Poll

Who advances?

This poll is closed

63%

#2 Jordan Morris in Grayscale

(111 votes)
36%

#5 Ennuicolas Lodeiro

(65 votes)

176 votes total Vote Now

Color-blocking & Prints

#1 Jordy Delem’s Snack Jacket vs #6 Cristian Sees His Best Friend

Sounders FC Digital
Sounders FC Digital

Jordy Delem and his backup dancers, Joevin Jones and Houhou, come into the Round of 16 feeling good and looking better. While Delem’s jacket may be the flashiest member of the group, it was the strength of Jones’s and Nouhou’s looks that got them through the first round. They’ll now face a tough challenge from Cristian Roldan, who upset Raúl Ruidíaz’s 3 seed, but his look shouldn’t be more than they can handle.

Poll

Who advances?

This poll is closed

67%

#1 Jordy Delem’s Snack Jacket

(120 votes)
32%

#6 Cristian Sees His Best Friend

(58 votes)

178 votes total Vote Now

#2 The Roldans vs #4 A Flex From Román

Sounders FC Digital
Sounders FC Digital

Alex Roldan might genuinely be Jordan Morris’s biggest competition for best dressed on the team, in my opinion, and he and Cristian, accompanied by their parents, come into the Round of 16 riding a very strong color story wave, supercharged by their matching gold chains. They face a very tough group, though, highlighted by the remarkable black-and-white look from Román Torres. The whole group in the second picture is outstanding, but can they beat the Roldans?

Poll

Who advances?

This poll is closed

58%

#2 The Roldans

(103 votes)
41%

#4 A Flex From Román

(72 votes)

175 votes total Vote Now

Patterns & Kim Kee-hee

#1 Broadway Jordan Morris vs #4 Kelvin LeerDAMN

Sounders FC Digital
Sounders FC Digital

Jordan Morris’s bigtime look had a tougher time getting by Román Torres and his son, but he’s here in the Round of 16 looking fly as hell regardless. He faces the purest expression of Kelvin Leerdam’s style: a great tee and a cool jacket. Both looks feature a strong striped top and cool outerwear, but which one deserves to be in the semis?

Poll

Who advances?

This poll is closed

36%

#1 Broadway Jordan Morris

(64 votes)
63%

#4 Kelvin LeerDAMN

(110 votes)

174 votes total Vote Now

#2 Love, Kee-hee vs #3 Big Coat Energy

Sounders FC Digital
Sounders FC Digital

Kim Kee-hee is a perfect, adorable man. His sweater here is a perfect distillation of him into a piece of clothing. It’s bold and eye-catching, could easily be worked into any wardrobe, and is marked by love. Does that description make sense? Does that matter? Is it good enough to see Kee-hee through to the next round over objectively the greatest jacket ever featured in this column? Well, that’s up to you.