The Vancouver Whitecaps will be playing about as short-handed as any MLS team has ever been asked to play this weekend. On this week’s availability report, they have 18 players listed as either out or questionable through international duty, injury or healthy. Reportedly, they needed to call up seven players from their MLS Next Pro affiliate just to field a roster.
Obviously, that should make Seattle the favorites. Points are nice — and should be expected — but this won’t be a referendum on anything but a crowded schedule.
That LAFC 5-2 was nice. It was a bright spot in the early doldrums. Two sides diminished by injury and in the middle of continental competition faced off. Seattle took the win and then promptly laid eggs again.
Now, with Seattle diminished (four out due to injury, two out due to call up, one questionable) and with Vancouver Whitecaps decimated (10 out, eight questionable) one could be tempted to have Sounders as a rare road favorite in MLS.
One would be right, and wrong.
There’s a joke around MLS that every match is a potential “trap game because” the league is so balanced.
Tonight’s match (6 pm PT, MLS Season Pass) is an actual trap. It’s easy to be confident. It’s foolish to be over confident. Even a lineup spotted with Whitecaps 2 players is capable of pulling off a result, just look at the Tacoma Defiance match against the Portland Timbers earlier this year.
Vancouver is still the best or second best team in the league, and despite their big loss in the CCC final they showed well in a tournament where they never beat a Liga MX teams.
Whitecaps do it by having an extremely good defense that stifles the opposition, giving up only 12 goals all season, less than one per game. That’s the fewest in the league. The advanced stats — although not the standard ones — suggest the Sounders also have a very good defense. Both teams are missing their key defenders. But that doesn’t mean they are missing the tactics and approaches that make them better than everyone else.
When the Sounders break through the stifling possession of Vancouver it will feel great at the time. The points on the table will strengthen Brian Schmetzer’s team for the late summer surge that's defined his time here.
The tactics? Meaningless.
Individual performances? Likely also meaningless.
Scoreline? It obviously matters, but won’t mean much either.
This game isn’t just a trap, it’s a reminder that asking pro athletes to travel thousands of miles a month, to play eight games in 36 days in multiple concurrent tournaments with a side of international play that can’t be avoided is just too much.
That’s today’s lesson. Nothing more, nothing less.
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Catching up on Sounder at Heart
Here's what you missed on the site this week.
Sounders
Next match: Sunday, June 8 at Vancouver Whitecaps FC | 6 pm PT | MLS Season Pass
- As of now, Whitecaps game still appears to be happening
- Under The Lights: Can the Sounders bounce back at Vancouver?
- Jordan Morris suffers ‘setback’ in latest return from injury
- Whitecaps cancel training due to ‘gastrointestinal symptoms’
- Lobbing Scorchers: Inside America's BIGGEST Soccer Rivalry
- There’s interesting precedent for what players want from MLS
- Stefan Frei looking to clear air with Adrian Hanauer
- Lobbing Scorchers: The Real Reason Sounders Players Are Furious Right Now
- League could submit revised Club World Cup bonus offer soon
- Mailbag: Why players are protesting Club World Cup bonuses
- Realio’s Ratings: Gotta be better to beat better
- FIFA announces training sites for Club World Cup teams
- FIFA closing sections, giving partial refunds due to slow Club World Cup ticket sales
This newsletter was made possible through the support of Full Pull Wines, a boutique wines reseller that has been sponsoring us since 2011.
Reign
Next match: Saturday, June 14 at Chicago Stars | 2 pm PT | iON
- Young players power Seattle Reign to road win in San Diego
- Reign at Wave: Highlights, stats, quotes
- Reign add local goalkeeper Neeku Purcell on short-term deal
Defiance
Next match: Wednesday, June 11 at Real Monarchs | 6:30 pm PT | MLS Season Pass
Looking back at the news
Everything else you need to know
The Club World Cup and World Cup 2026 celebrations are underway. The Sounders and Reign want you to help them break the 'record' for largest soccer training session. There will be expanded community events before each of the Sounders’ three games. At the same time FIFA is cutting the price of tickets to the CWC, again. Locally those cuts do not seem too significant for PSG or Madrid, but the other four matches. Sound Transit and the various Departments of Transportation are expanding services during the Club World Cup, but they're still warning you of heavy traffic – whether or not the stadium is full. There's a lot of construction going on right now.
Jordyn Bugg, turning pro at 17 & Seattle Reign's identity (Full Time Focus)
Sources: England train in tents to mimic U.S. heat (ESPN)
MLS In-Depth Power Rankings: Chicago Fire's new stadium, San Diego FC's depth & more (Backheeled)
Fire plans $650M stadium in South Loop's long-dormant The 78 tract (Chicago Sun-Times)
NWSL approves intraleague loans for first time (ESPN)
NWSL MVP Tracker 2.0: Can Thompson keep up with Debinha, Cascarino & Co.? (ESPN)
OPINION: The NWSL needs more female coaches. Why are women held to a higher standard? (All for XI)
Boston Legacy FC unveils new team crest: 'It's been a learning process. We had a hiccup' (The Athletic)
Awkward Giraldez exit leaves Spirit with more questions than answers (Pro Soccer Wire)
Your favorite fantasy TV series was cancelled, now what? RPGs (Full Moon Storytelling)
