Abysmal in Austin: Seattle concede another late winner

The Seattle Sounders fell on the road against Austin FC, giving up a winning goal in the 90+6’ to make it 2-1 Austin on Sunday. Goals for Austin by Diego Rubio in the 43rd minute and Myrto Uzuni in the 90+6th minute outweighed a 46th minute goal by Georgi Minoungou for Seattle.

Throughout the first half, Seattle had the bulk of possession - a lopsided 70% to 30% in favor of the Sounders – and the majority of the looks at goal as they outshot the hosts 8-4. For all that possession and all their shots, though, they rarely troubled goalkeeper Brad Stuver as they took half of their shots from outside the area and only forced him to make a pair of saves. In truth, despite all that dominance, Austin led at halftime in the only stat that matters: goals scored.

In the 42nd minute Jackson Ragen was under pretty minimal pressure with the ball in the back but hit his pass directly into Diego Rubio who jumped on the rebound and drove at goal. With a 1-v-1 against Andrew Thomas he simply smashed his shot beyond the GK’s reach and into the back of the net to give Austin a 1-0 lead that they’d take into the halftime break.

Brian Schmetzer made a halftime substitution, taking Snyder Brunell off and bringing in Georgi Minoungou in a move that immediately paid off. Not even a minute into the second half and Cristian Roldan picked the ball up around the midfield stripe and picked out the run of Danny Musovski behind the defense and into the right channel. Musovski got on the ball and played the ball across goal where Minoungou was able to redirect it into goal with his first touch of the game to level the score!

Seattle went on to create numerous chances, with Jesus Ferreira and Jordan Morris coming off of the bench and combining on multiple looks, but Stuver had excellent save after save to keep them from adding to their one goal. Morris also set up Minoungou for a look at a wide open goal only for Stuver to dive back across to make the stop. That inability to grab a winner, followed by an inability to play shutdown defense late in the game proved the Sounders’ undoing.

In the 6th minute of stoppage time Dani Pereira was given as much time as he could have wanted to line up a cross from outside the area. He found C.J. Fodrey at the back post and Fodrey headed it to the center of goal where Myrto Uzuni was essentially unmarked to flick the ball in.

The loss leaves Seattle winless since the Leagues Cup final, with just one point from three games played. They’ve been outscored 7-4 in those games, have given up a result-changing goal in the 87th minute or later twice, and only held a lead in one game. They now get to turn their attention to the 2nd in the West Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday, September 27. The Whitecaps currently sit 2 points behind San Diego FC with 2 games in hand.

Lineups

Andrew Thomas starts in place of Stefan Frei, who misses due to an illness. Jackson Ragen sends Kim Kee-hee back to the bench as he starts alongside Yeimar, and Alex Roldan starts at right back over Kalani Kossa-Rienzi. Paul Rothrock moves to the left with Albert Rusnák in the middle and Snyder Brunell on the right of the band of three in midfield, with Jesus Ferreira and Georgi Minoungou on the bench. Finally Danny Musovski returns to the starting lineup in place of Osaze De Rosario as the Sounders make five changes to the group that started on Tuesday against Inter Miami.

Our Delta Starting XI in Austin! 🤙 📝 sndrs.com/n1cwkwik | #ATXvSEA
— Sounders FC (@soundersfc.com) 2025-09-21T22:13:37.159Z

Key moments

6 - Recovery. Yeimar turns the ball over in Seattle’s defensive end, but the Sounders get back quickly to shut down a 3-v-2 and get bodies behind the ball.

10 - Shot! Vargas takes a rip from outside the box after a corner gets recycled, but Stuver is able to hang onto it.

13 - Chance! Ragen plays a dime over the top for Alex Roldan, but his cutback can’t find a teammate and the ball is cleared out for a throw-in.

31 - Chance! Rusnák gets a dangerous shot off, but it’s blocked and Austin eventually puts it out for a corner.

32 - Shot! Ragen knocks down a corner at the back post and Brunell traps it before taking a shot, but it’s blocked out for a corner.

37 - CHANCE! Alex Roldan gets a short corner and plays it quickly with a cross to Cristian Roldan, whose header is saved off the post and out for a corner by Stuver!

40 - Sub. Austin are forced to make a change as Mikkel Desler comes out with an injury and is replaced by Jon Gallagher.

43 - Goal, Austin. Ragen tries to pass out of the back and hits Rubio, who takes it the other way and smashes his shot into goal. 1-0, Austin

45+3 - Chance! Rothrock receives a ball over the top into the right channel and cuts it back for Musovski, but it’s blocked out for a corner.

45+4 - Save! Rubio works his way through the defense and fires from the top of the box looking for a second goal, but Thomas easily grabs it.

HT - Sub. Synder Brunell comes off for Seattle, replaced by Georgi Minoungou.

46 - GOAL! Minoungou levels the game with his first touch! Cristian Roldan plays a ball into space for Musovski who plays it across to Minoungou for the finish! 1-1

A goal IMMEDIATELY after subbing on 🤩 Georgi scores the equalizer to make it 1-1!
— Sounders FC (@soundersfc.com) 2025-09-22T00:27:08.393Z

53 - Save! Rubio with another look at goal on a volley from the top of the box, but it’s right at Thomas and the GK holds onto it.

54 - Shot! Vargas goes for a 50-yard run before firing off a shot from the top of the box that goes just wide!

60 - Subs. Seattle take off Danny Musovski and Paul Rothrock, replaced by Jordan Morris and Jesus Ferreira.

60 - Shot! Ferreira back heels the ball into space for Morris who drives at goal and takes a good shot that Stuver blocks out for a corner.

61 - Subs. Daniel Pereira and Osman Bukari come on for Austin, replacing Diego Rubio and Besard Sabovic.

70 - Sub. Albert Rusnák comes off, replaced by Danny Leyva for the Sounders.

71 - Chance! Ferreira plays Morris in behind with a great through ball and Morris gets his shot off, but Stuver gets just enough of a touch to keep the ball out.

78 - Subs. Austin make their final changes, replacing Ilie Sanchez and Owen Wolff with C.J. Fodrey and Nicolas Dubersarsky.

82 - Chance! A great sequence for Seattle thanks in large part to Ferreira, who plays a give-and-go with Minoungou but once he gets into the box he tries to round Stuver rather than shooting and the GK is able to take the ball off his feet.

86 - SHOT! Morris sets Minoungou up for what would have been his second of the night, but Stuver comes up with a huge save on the shot!

90+2 - Sub. Alex Roldan comes off, replaced by Reed Baker-Whiting for Seattle.

90+2 - SAVE! Fodrey gets a great header on a free kick, but Thomas makes a spectacular diving save to keep the game tied!

90+6 - Goal, Austin. Fodrey heads a cross from the back post across goal to Uzuni, who flicks it in for a late winner. 2-1, Austin

Quick thoughts

Lineup decisions: Some of Brian Schmetzer and his staff’s lineup decisions were impacted by health and availability: Stefan Frei stayed in Seattle with an illness, and Jesus Ferreira was dealing with a minor injury while Pedro de la Vega continues to manage knee tendinitis. That meant they looked further down the list for winger options and, rather than start Georgi Minoungou who would come on at halftime and immediately score a goal, they chose to play Snyder Brunell in his third ever MLS game and his second MLS start on the right in a position he’s apparently never played before. Perhaps that choice was influenced by how Austin play, but when Brunell unsurprisingly struggled and came out at halftime it severely limited the team’s ability to give either of Cristian Roldan or Obed Vargas a breather despite the miles on their legs and the 89-degree heat during the game. As a result both midfielders played the full 90 minutes, and now Vargas leaves to join Mexico at the U-20 World Cup. The other Sounder headed to that tournament was Reed Baker-Whiting, a player who would have been a good choice at left back against an Austin team that is happy to sit deep, but instead of making use of him before his departure for the World Cup in any sort of meaningful way he came on in stoppage time to relieve Alex Roldan. The lineup choices made the Sounders predictable, and the foreseeable fatigue of the midfielders limited the team’s ability to break Austin down or slow down their attacks.

Impact subs: The starting lineup left plenty of reason for frustration, but credit where it's due: the subs did make a difference. Straight from the start of the second half, Georgi Minoungou was a problem. He scored with his first touch of the game, and continued to give the Austin right side fits, although being more decisive and clinical likely could have earned the Sounders a result. Similarly, Jesus Ferreira and Jordan Morris consistently found ways to get in behind or play through the Austin defense, but again a lack of clinical finishing or better decision-making meant they only created chances rather than putting up goals. It should be noted that Brad Stuver made numerous good plays to deny those goals, but there were plenty of chances that a quicker choice or better shot would have given him no chance. The road to the playoffs is not going to get any easier, and the Sounders need to turn those chances into goals if they want to do anything from here on out, but creating those chances is a good start.

The Sounders Way: A hallmark of Seattle’s run through Leagues Cup was a ruthless attack and a team completely locked in on both sides of the ball. Maybe it’s a hangover after the big win and everything that followed, maybe it’s all the games played catching up with the team, but following the tournament the Sounders haven’t been able to play “their way” from start to finish once. The inability to stay fully engaged, to put full effort in on each play in possession or defending, to punish opposition mistakes and limit their own has repeatedly bitten the Sounders. Especially late in games. This team hasn’t been the defensive stalwart of seasons past, but the struggle to keep opponents off the board recently has been abysmal. There’s nothing the coaches can do when it comes to actually making runs and kicking balls, but it’s their jobs to get players engaged and keep them engaged. The competition for spots as players return from injury is supposed to drive everyone to better performances, but we haven’t really seen that yet. The best time to see it was yesterday, but the second best time to see it is now before too much damage has been done.