CARSON, Calif. – The Seattle Sounders came back to draw the LA Galaxy 1-1 on the road on Saturday night. Marco Reus opened the scoring with a 44th minute penalty for the Galaxy, while Paul Arriola provided Seattle’s response in the 81st.
The Sounders were plagued throughout the first half by sloppy play. Nearly every opportunity the Galaxy had during the first 45 minutes came from an error of some sort from Seattle. Whether it was Andrew Thomas coming out to try to head a ball away at the edge of the box and forcing Stuart Hawkins to make a successful but desperate challenge to clear the danger in the 6th minute; or in the 38th when an attempt to switch the field by Dejan Joveljić dropped right to a Galaxy midfielder allowing Reus a golden chance that forced a quality save at the near post from Thomas; the Sounders were often their own worst enemy.
Seattle created a handful of chances of their own, including a penalty shout when Chucky Lozano looked like he brought down Cristian Roldan in the area just before Lozano drew a penalty of his own on the other end going down under what some angles showed to be minimal contact from Paul Rothrock in the 42nd minute. Reus stepped up to take the penalty and buried his shot as Thomas dove the wrong way to give the Galaxy a 1-0 lead in the 44th minute that they’d take into the locker room for halftime.
The Sounders came out for the second half with a personnel change, as Sebastian Gomez replaced Paul Rothrock, and some good energy. They created a handful of chances early in the half, and seemed to have equalized around the hour mark when Jordan Morris beat the back line on a ball over the top and chipped his shot over goalkeeper JT Marcinkowski. But the offside flag came up despite replays seeming to show Morris having timed his run perfectly as he was in line with Jakob Glesnes when the ball was played.
Despite that, the Sounders continued to push for their equalizer and eventually found it in the 81st minute. Peter Kingston, who had entered the game in place of Kalani Kossa-Rienzi at right back, drove down the right side line before playing an excellent pass behind the back line for Morris to run onto. Morris then clipped the ball over a defender sliding in and Marcinkowski to Arriola who was arriving at the back post to knock in the equalizer. There were some decent chances on both sides, but that was how the game ended after 7 minutes of stoppage time.
The result stretches Seattle’s winless run to 12 league games, leaving them 2 points out of a playoff place on 28 points with a game in hand on San Diego FC who currently sit in 9th on 30 points. They’ll next face the Colorado Rapids next Saturday at 6:30 pm.
Lineups
Snyder Brunell returns to the starting lineup alongside Cristian Roldan in the center of midfield, as the Sounders make just one change to the lineup that started against Red Bull New York after Kalani Kossa-Rienzi’s remarkable recovery from his ankle injury.
Tonight’s Delta Starting XI! 👊 📰: sndrs.com/cpdg75tz | #LAvSEA
— Sounders FC (@soundersfc.com) September 12, 2026 at 6:40 PM
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Key moments
5' - Shot. Reus takes the first shot of the game after a touch from Cristian Roldan gives him the ball at the top of the box, but his effort goes high.
6’ - Tackle! Thomas comes out of his box to head a ball away, but isn’t able to fully clear the danger and eventually Hawkins slides in to deny Reus a follow-up shot.
11’ - Chance! Morris times a run perfectly to receive a ball to the end line from Brunell and finds Rusnák lurking near the penalty spot, but his shot is blocked and a follow up effort misses just wide.
24’ - Shot. Rusnák has a look from the top of the box that’s blocked by Marcinkowski. The ball recycles and a cross comes in for Morris who gets a header off that’s easily saved.
29’ - Save. Thommy sends in a cross and Haak rises up well to get the header, but Thomas is there to catch and hold onto the ball.
29’ - Save! Another stop by Thomas as Kyogo hits a low, knuckling shot that Thomas reacts well to get a hand to and then catch.
38’ - Save! A loose pass from Joveljić across the middle gives the Galaxy the ball and it ends up with Reus on the left side of the box, but his near post shot is saved by Thomas.
40’ - Another giveaway in midfield creates a chance to counter for the Galaxy, and this time as the Sounders scramble it’s Hawkins providing the necessary block.
42’ - Penalty. Rothrock collides with Lozano from behind, and the Galaxy have a chance from the spot.
44’ - Goal, Galaxy. Reus sends Thomas the wrong way and buries the penalty. 1-0, Galaxy
HT - Sub. Sebastian Gomez enters the game, replacing Paul Rothrock for the Sounders.
47’ - Corner. Gomez and Joveljić combine well to work the ball into the box setting up a shot for the striker that was blocked out for a corner.
47’ - Header. Rusnák’s corner goes to Alex Roldan who heads it back across to Morris at the near post, but his header is easily handled by Marcinkowski.
53’ - Shot. Morris receives the ball on the left and plays it centrally to Joveljić near the top of the box, but his shot is easily caught.
62’ - Sub. Seattle swaps Kalani Kossa-Rienzi out for Peter Kingston.
66’ - Subs. LA takes off Kyogo Furuhashi, Erik Thommy, and Robert Taylor, bringing on Harbor Miller, Joao Klauss, and Pablo Ruiz.
71’ - Shot. Brunell wins the ball back and lines up a shot from 20 yards out that swings about a foot wide of the far post.
78’ - Subs. Stuart Hawkins, Dejan Joveljić, and Cristian Roldan come off to make way for Paul Arriola, Hassani Dotson, and Kim Kee-hee for Seattle. Marco Reus comes off, replaced by Lucas Sanabria for the Galaxy.
81’ - GOAL! Morris runs onto a great ball from Kingston and clips it up over Marcinkowski for Arriola to put away at the far post. 1-1
WHAT A TEAM GOAL 👏 Paulie levels the match after some beautiful build-up play!
— Sounders FC (@soundersfc.com) September 12, 2026 at 9:29 PM
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89’ - Sub. Maya Yoshida comes on to take the place of injured Sergi Roberto for LA.
Quick thoughts
No excuses: The Sounders came into this game on full rest, while the Galaxy were coming off of a Wednesday night loss to the Vancouver Whitecaps. The Galaxy were able to rotate midweek and are bringing back players from injury, but regardless the Sounders looked more like the team playing on short rest. Seattle seemed at times to struggle to cover the same field dimensions as LA, and sloppy play and imprecise passing throughout the side suggested a team with less gas in the tank than their opponents. Things were somewhat better in the second half, but Seattle still lacked the sharpness necessary to claim all 3 points.
The luck of the bounce: It’s certainly not satisfying when your team is in a bad run of form, whether it’s a couple games or a dozen, to say that for better and worse luck is a significant part of the game. For the last several months, on top of pretty consistently putting in less than adequate performances, the Sounders just haven’t seemed to have a single drop of good luck. The injuries are part of that, and so is creating more than enough chances to come away with more than a single point. Those were both partly in play tonight, but so was the fact that it certainly felt like any time a call was anywhere in the same region as 50/50 it went in favor of the Galaxy. Sometimes it was Chucky Lozano buying a foul, then doing the exact same thing a minute later with no repercussions, or it was a linesman raising his flag for offside on a call that seemed at least to have been close enough that it would be better to let it be checked on review. The referee crew weren’t the reason the Sounders didn’t claim all the points tonight — they had plenty of opportunities that they should have done better on that they can blame for that — but it contributes to the feeling that nothing is going the team’s way right now.
More options: We still haven’t seen Caden Clark take the field for the Sounders yet, but this game showed that as players come back from injury this team does have players who can make an impact from the bench. Not only that, but the variety of talents in the squad allows Brian Schmetzer and his staff to change the sorts of problems the team poses based on personnel. Gomez wasn’t able to directly impact the game as a substitute but he was still able to help put the Galaxy under pressure, while fellow subs Kingston and Arriola both contributed to the tying goal. Getting 90 minutes from Morris, while being able to take off Paul Rothrock at halftime without worrying about the level dropping is huge for this team, and based on his ability to walk off with no visible limp Dejan Joveljić should hopefully be back on the field next weekend (Schmetzer later added it was only cramps). It’s not the win they needed, but there are still (limited) positives that can be taken away.
Notable quote
Schmetzer on balancing a comeback point with a 12th straight winless game: “We didn’t shy away and pull punches. We need to be better in these areas but they showed a lot of determination to get a point. We have to start collecting wins. The runway is getting shorter all the time.”
— Sounder at Heart (@sounderatheart.com) September 12, 2026 at 10:28 PM
Player spotlight
Jordan Morris probably should have had a goal, but he still got his first goal contribution since April and looked like a genuine threat against the Galaxy. He led the team in chances created (4), touches in the box (8) and was tied for the most shots (4).
