SEATTLE – The Seattle Sounders ended their winless streak on Wednesday night, beating Real Salt Lake 2–0. Second-half goals from Danny Musovski (48’) and Albert Rusnák (73’), and Andrew Thomas’ seventh clean sheet of the season secured the result for Seattle to end the winless run.
The first half was about as dull as a half of soccer could be. With both sides playing rotated sides, the Sounders managed to generate some good chances — Paul Arriola had a couple of good looks, including one that he largely set up for himself in the 15th — but never generated much genuine threat from any of them. Paul Arriola and Kalani Kossa-Rienzi each received yellow cards for pretty unnecessary fouls, but otherwise there just wasn’t much to talk about from the opening 45 minutes. The Sounders held the majority of possession, but struggled to do anything with their 55% to 45% advantage as players seemed hesitant to take many risks in order to make something happen in the final third.
Fortunately for the Sounders, games are 90 minutes and not just 45. Within three minutes of kicking off the second half Danny Musovski, who had struggled to make an impact in the first half, put the Sounders on the board with a fantastic strike. Almost immediately after a big play from Andrew Thomas to take advantage of a big touch from Sergi Solans who tried to round the goalkeeper after picking Jackson Ragen’s pocket in the 47th minute, Paul Arriola capitalized on a loose touch in midfield as Salt Lake tried to build out of the back and immediately pushed forward, playing the ball to Musovski. Musovski gave the ball back and made a run parallel to Arriola’s, received a return pass in space and took a second to line up his shot then perfectly placed his shot low and inside the near post to make it 1-0 in the 48th minute.
RSL pushed hard for a response, taking 6 shots over the next 16 minutes before Seattle had another shot of their own in the 65th. Thomas once again came up big on a particularly dangerous looking shot in the 50th, leaping to his right to deny Solans a goal as his shot was headed for the top corner. After a stretch in which RSL outshot the Sounders 7-2, though, Rusnák put a dagger in the visitors’ hearts. Once again it was Arriola playing the final pass, carrying the ball across midfield before finding Rusnák who then drove about 30 yards with runners ahead of him. As Jordan Morris made a good run up the middle and Sebastian Gomez sprinted down the left into open field, Rusnák made the most of defenders moving to track the runs and took his own shot from the top of the box and picking out the near post against his old team to make it 2-0 in the 73rd minute.
Both sides continued to look for more, but against all odds it was Nouhou who came closest to adding to the goals. In the 89th minute after Rusnák won a free kick at the top of the box, Nouhou caught seemingly everyone unaware as he took a free kick while RSL looked to still be setting their defense. Goalkeeper Rafael Cabral was paying enough attention to dive to his near post and push the shot that Nouhou bent around the wall out for a corner. Despite a couple of looks for RSL and a few attempts to get out on the counter by Seattle, the game ended 2-0 to the hosts.
Thus ends the Sounders’ winless run at 13 games, while the unbeaten run now sits at 6 games. Seattle will look to stack consecutive wins for the first time since the end of April when they host Minnesota United on Saturday evening.
Lineups
Heavy rotation for Seattle as the Sounders swap out half of their outfield players from the starting lineup against the Colorado Rapids for a variety of reasons. Danny Musovski starts up top with Dejan Joveljić away on international duty. Paul Arriola and Sebastian Gomez start on the wings, while Jordan Morris and Peter Kingston are available on the bench. Jackson Ragen returns to the starting lineup, replacing Stuart Hawkins at center back next to Alex Roldan.
Our Delta Starting XI v. RSL ⚡️ 📰: sndrs.com/xk7itxn2 | #SEAvRSL
— Sounders FC (@soundersfc.com) September 23, 2026 at 5:41 PM
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Key moments
3 - Corner. The first threatening moment of the game comes for Seattle as Nouhou wins a corner, but Cristian Roldan’s header is off the mark.
15’ - Shot. Arriola receives the ball from Rusnák on the left and carries it into the box, setting up his own shot but misses wide of the near top corner.
18’ - Chance. Kossa-Rienzi picks up the ball and drives into the box, laying it off for Musovski who can’t hold onto it but Arriola runs onto it for a shot that’s blocked.
36’ - Chance. Sounders work the ball into a dangerous spot with some possession around the edge of the box on the right side, eventually earning a corner.
42’ - Danger. RSL make a foray into the attack as the Sounders struggle to interrupt their rhythm, but Guilavogui can’t control the ball and it’s out for a goal kick.
45’ - Shot. Solans takes RSL’s first shot of the game after a quick transition, but his attempt to pick out the top corner sails wide.
HT - Subs. Seattle brings on Stuart Hawkins and Peter Kingston to start the half, replacing Kalani Kossa-Rienzi and Alex Roldan.
47’ — Swipe! Ragen gets his pocket picked by Solans, but the striker takes too big of a touch as he tries to round Thomas and the goalkeeper is able to swipe it away.
48’ - GOAL! Danny Musovski opens it up! He plays a give-and-go with Arriola, takes a touch to set himself up and slots his shot from outside the area right inside the post! 1-0, Sounders
Saw it the whole way 🎯 What a shot from Moose to open the scoring!
— Sounders FC (@soundersfc.com) September 23, 2026 at 7:52 PM
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50’ - Save! RSL come right down the other end and look for an answer, but Thomas gets to the top corner at his near post to push the ball away for a corner.
62’ - Subs. Jordan Morris and Hassani Dotson enter the game, replacing Snyder Brunell and Danny Musovski for the Sounders.
64’ - Chance. Rusnák plays a ball through for Morris who gets into space, and Cabral gets a touch to his shot that keeps it out and takes it away from Gomez lurking at the back post.
67’ - Chance. Arriola pounces on a sloppy touch as RSL try to play out of the back, but his attempt to knock the ball in is blocked for a corner.
70’ - Strip. RSL get into a threatening spot as Guilavogui has the ball on the end line at the edge of the 6-yard box, but Cristian Roldan strips it and carries it out.
71’ - Sub. Saba Lobjanidze replaces Luca Moisa for RSL.
73’ - GOAL! Albert Rusnák makes it two! With Morris in a pocket of space centrally and Gomez sprinting into open field down the left, Rusnák sees a window open up and smashes home from the edge of the area. 2-0, Sounders
The boys are lettin' it fly 🫡
— Sounders FC (@soundersfc.com) September 23, 2026 at 8:14 PM
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78’ - Subs. RSL make a triple-change, bringing on Taylor Booth, Colin Guske, and Lineker Rodrigues, replacing Morgan Guilavogui, Sergi Solans, and Stijn Spierings.
82’ - Sub. Caden Clark comes on for Paul Arriola as Seattle’s final change.
89’ - Chance! Nouhou takes a free kick from the edge of the box won by Rusnák and nearly sneaks it around the wall to catch Cabral unaware, but the GK is able to get over and push it wide.
90’ +4 - Stop. Thomas easily stops a dangerous shot as RSL push for a late response.
Quick thoughts
You’ve got to buy a ticket: In the last two games, the Sounders have scored 5 goals, and 4 of them have come from outside the 18-yard box. In a team that so often looks like they’re waiting for the perfect opportunity, the perfect look, the correctly constructed sequence to take a shot, it feels like a gust of fresh air to see players trying their luck and being rewarded. In the first half of this game — where it looked like neither side was ever likely to score — the Sounders took 5 shots but only one of them was from outside the box as Gomez had an effort blocked. In the second half, Seattle still only took 6 shots, but half of those were from the edge of the area and a couple of those turned into goals. Shooting from distance can’t be plan A, and it certainly can’t be the only plan, but with the number of capable shooters in the side it’s worth making it something opposing teams have to account for.
Still work to do: A win against a poor RSL team dealing with a substantial list of absentees doesn’t mean the problems are all fixed, even if the winless run has ended. There were plenty of moments of sloppiness and causes for concern, even if they went unpunished through poor execution, quality plays to recover, or some mixture of the two. The Sounders still look too easy to play through at times, they can be caught out and are susceptible on the counter if they turn the ball over pushed high in possession, their progression and possession in the final third can be too methodical and slow at times. But they also have a team capable of pulling together to keep a game tight and find scoring opportunities. They’ll need to do a lot more of that down the stretch, and it starts with the next two games on this home stand.
Getting key pieces back: Jackson Ragen and Cristian Roldan hadn’t started together since the LAFC game on May 24. They aren’t the only players that are important to the Sounders, but it’s notable that perhaps the two most important players in the two most important positions for how the Sounders want to play haven’t been available together, and when they had been they frequently weren’t at their best. Ragen and Roldan might not quite be back at their peaks, but getting something resembling vintage performances from them as they both went 90 minutes certainly helps to illustrate the team’s path to success this season. Getting Morris back on the field and looking dangerous again doesn’t hurt either, nor does the impending return of Yeimar who was available off the bench tonight. The next men up have done their best to keep the ship afloat, and we’ve learned a lot about future key contributors in the process like Stuart Hawkins and Sebastian Gomez, but for the Sounders to be their best they’ll need as many of their best players as they can get.
Notable quote
Brian Schmetzer: "The one constant in this group is they don’t quit. They are doing everything possible to make this a meaningful season. That has never left the building."
Player spotlight
Paul Arriola hasn’t been able to have the impact he or the team hoped for when he joined the Sounders, but he was a huge part of this win even beyond his two assists. He had 4 defensive contributions, 5 recoveries, won 4/5 duels, and took the joint-most shots with 3.
