RENTON – The Seattle Sounders have played in bigger games than the final against Inter Miami. They’ve even hosted bigger games than this one – the 2019 MLS Cup Final and the Concacaf Champions League Final both probably qualify – but they’ve almost certainly never done so with as little pressure on them.
By reaching the final Seattle qualified for next year’s Concacaf Champions Cup. They’re hosting an Inter Miami side led by Leo Messi and featuring global superstars and World Cup winners like Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets, Rodrigo De Paul and Luis Suarez, to say nothing of the plethora of promising and talented players that fill out the roster.
The pressure, despite the huge crowd that will fill Lumen Field on Sunday, is largely upon the shoulders of Messi and his teammates, who bear the burden of justifying the humongous outlay required to assemble their team and the hype surrounding them. Theirs is a team as star-studded as an MLS squad can possibly be, and they’re looking to add to the Leagues Cup trophy and Supporters Shield in their cabinet.
Opposite them will be a Sounders team missing two of their three Designated Players, their typical starting left back, as well as three other players who would at least have been expected to contribute from the bench in this match if they were healthy. During this tournament the Sounders have used 20 different players, 18 of whom have started at least once, while outscoring their opponents 13-2 across 5 games with 8 different goal scorers. They’ve reached this final by flexing their strength in depth, but that depth may still be tested even further in this final.
During Brian Schmetzer’s segment on KJR with Dave ‘Softy’ Mahler, the Sounders head coach indicated that he had to take a player out of the game against the LA Galaxy earlier than he would have liked. When asked after training about who that player may have been, Schmetzer was reluctant to provide any additional information, but looking at the substitutions from Wednesday night only Cristian Roldan coming off in the 76th minute really stands out as a player exiting the game earlier than one might expect.
To add to the idea that Roldan may have been the player in question, he appeared to finish his participation in training earlier than the rest of the presumed starters for Sunday. It could be a matter of giving some rest to a player who’s already logged 3,096 minutes across all competitions, or managing a knock, but regardless of the cause it does cast a slight shadow of doubt over the status of perhaps Seattle’s most crucial player. With that said, there is a surprising air of ease around the team about the possibility of a player like Snyder Brunell or Danny Leyva being pressed into a more prominent role.
Another player taking a more prominent role than most would have expected coming into this tournament is Osaze De Rosario. Following Danny Musovski’s red card against Puebla, De Rosario was crucial from the start on Wednesday, playing as the focal point of Seattle’s attack as he battled and bossed the Galaxy centerbacks, created chance after chance, and scored an absolutely spectacular goal to cement the win.
“To look back a year from now where I was … helping my team go to a Leagues Cup final feels very good,” De Rosario said to the gathered media following training.
Despite his relative lack of experience, De Rosario looks as calm and confident as a player could in his position. He has built himself up for this opportunity, cultivating an attitude and approach that allows him to simultaneously carry the weight of the starting striker spot for a tournament final and shrug that weight off. You can see it in how he carries himself on the field, despite a miss, a saved shot or a misplaced touch, he not only leaves those moments behind him, he greets each new moment and opportunity with the absolute confidence that he not only knows what needs to be done and how to do it, but that he can and will do it and do it with aplomb.
That attitude and work to prepare himself have given him confidence, but they’ve also given Schmetzer and his staff confidence in him.
“When he first came into training it was like ‘yeah, okay, he’s got a few things’,” Schmetzer explained. “But I didn’t expect him to score that goal … I didn’t expect him to combine with the players in the middle of the field.” De Rosario has shown in still-limited opportunities that he not only has a set of tools that would be the envy of many a player, but that he’s put in the time and effort to know how to use them to full effect.
Other notes
- Jordan Morris has graduated from a sling to a shoulder brace, marking the first major step in his path towards a return to the field.
- Morris joined João Paulo and Albert Rusnák in taking part in some small-sided drills during full-squad training and doing additional ball work to the side. None of them will participate in Sunday’s game, but each is moving closer to being available when the Sounders return to league play after the international break.
- The Sounders announced earlier today that they’ve already surpassed the Leagues Cup record of 50,675 tickets sold and they continue to open and sell additional sections of the stadium.
