The Seattle Sounders gave up a two-goal lead to draw on the road 2–2 against San Diego FC on Saturday. Dejan Joveljić (50’) and Sebastian Gomez (55’) seemed to have secured an important three points, but a pair of goals from Cedric Bakambu (60’, 90’+6) erased the deficit and earned the hosts a VERY late point.
While San Diego has made giving up leads their schtick throughout this season, the Sounders came to town and stole the bit. The first half was pretty dull with neither side generating much in the way of genuinely good chances. Anders Dreyer nearly put one past Andrew Thomas just before the half-hour mark when his shot from the edge of the box struck the post in the 29th minute, but the ball came back out and Nouhou was able to clear the danger.
The Sounders had started the first half pretty well, and repeated the feat in the second half but with a bit more payoff. A strong defensive play by Kalani Kossa-Rienzi in the 49th minute in which he managed to deny service to Amahl Pellegrino by taking the ball out of the air before shepherding it out for a goal kick to prevent a dangerous chance on one end. A minute later, Cristian Roldan won a header and Joveljić picked up the loose ball, dribbled toward goal and let rip from just outside the box. San Diego goalkeeper Pablo Sisniega couldn’t do anything about the shot, and just like that the Sounders looked to be out and running.
A few minutes later, the game really seemed to be locked up when Gomez made it 2–0 in the 55th minute. Cristian Roldan played a ball over the top for Hassani Dotson to run onto down the right, Dotson battled with CB Manu Duah and got the best of the young player as he turned the corner and played a low cross that Gomez was able to smash home after getting goal-side of a defender.
Unfortunately things quickly took a turn. In the 57th minute Amahl Pellegrino had a look at goal that looked pretty innocuous as Andrew Thomas easily stopped it, but then came a review for a possible penalty due to Alex Roldan sliding in on the play. Roldan caught Pellegrino with his challenge after he got the shot away, and Allen Chapman awarded the penalty after reviewing the play. Thomas was able to save the penalty from Anders Dreyer, but Bakambu was among a crowd of players who pounced on the rebound and had the final touch before it found its way to the goal to cut the deficit in the 60th. Although a San Diego was clearly encroaching on the penalty, he was apparently deemed to have not impacted the play.
Seattle managed to grab hold of the game and continued to generate chances. Failing to find their third goal, the Sounders opted instead to try to play the game out and were doing a commendable job as stoppage time rolled. Players like Gomez and Snyder Brunell made smart plays to keep possession in the corners rather than play low-percentage chances, San Diego forays into Seattle’s end were cleared far and wide, all until a simple mistake by Stuart Hawkins in the 5th minute of stoppage time. Hawkins was wrestling with Marcus Ingvartsen, and as the ball went out of bounds Hawkins still had a grip on Ingvartsen’s jersey, creating the opportunity for the San Diego player to go down and Chapman immediately pointed to the spot. Bakambu stepped up to take the penalty this time, and made no mistake to level it at 2-2 in the 6th minute of stoppage time.
The road draw isn’t itself an awful result, but against a struggling 12th place San Diego side and having had a two-goal lead approaching the hour mark it’s a decidedly frustrating one. Especially following the loss to FC Dallas and the draw against CF Montreal. The Sounders now turn their attention to Houston Dynamo who come to Lumen Field on Wednesday night.
Lineups
Three changes for the Sounders from the group that started against CF Montreal in the 1-1 draw. Jackson Ragen returns from illness to start alongside Alex Roldan at centerback as Ryan Sailor returns to the bench and Yeimar is out injured, while Kalani Kossa-Rienzi slots in at right back. Jesus Ferreira starts on the right wing over Caden Clark for the final change.
Our Delta Starting XI in San Diego! 🫡 📰: sndrs.com/tuvcan3u | #SDvSEA
— Sounders FC (@soundersfc.com) October 24, 2026 at 6:41 PM
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Key moments
1’ - Shot. Dreyer has the first shot of the game after Seattle struggles to clear the ball out of the box, but he launches the ball into the crowd.
13’ - Corner. Morris cuts in and fires off a shot from the top of the box, but it’s blocked and goes out for a corner.
17’ - Danger. Bakambu gets in behind as Nouhou pushes up to try to pressure the ball, but his cross goes all the way out for a throw-in.
18’ - Shot. Kossa-Rienzi gets into the box and cuts the ball back to Rusnák at the top of the box, but his shot goes high.
21’ - Shot. Cristian Roldan picks up a poor pass out of the back from San Diego and drives across before taking a long-range shot that misses wide.
29’ - Post! Dreyer gets a good look after prolonged possession in Seattle’s end, he beats Thomas but hits the post and the rebound falls to Nouhou to clear.
HT - Sub. Sebastian Gomez enters the game for Seattle, replacing Jesus Ferreira.
49’ - Stop! Good defensive play by Kossa-Rienzi who gets a touch to take a ball out of the air away from Pellegrino, then shepherds it out for a goal kick.
50’ - GOAL! Joveljić, of course! Cristian Roldan wins a header and Joveljić takes the loose ball, dribbles into shooting distance and blasts it into the back of the net from outside the area! 1-0, Sounders
AN ABSOLUTE BANGER 🤯 Deki finds the back of the net to give us our first!
— Sounders FC (@soundersfc.com) October 24, 2026 at 8:54 PM
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55’ - GOAL! Sebastian Gomez goes two games in a row! Dotson gets around Duah and plays the ball across the mouth of goal where Gomez puts it away! 2-0, Sounders
Immediate impact 💥 Seba comes on and gives us our second!
— Sounders FC (@soundersfc.com) October 24, 2026 at 9:04 PM
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57’ - Chance. Pellegrino has a great chance after San Diego plays through the defense, but it’s hit right at Thomas and there’s a review for a possible penalty.
59’ - Penalty. A penalty is awarded following the review for a foul by Alex Roldan, who receives a yellow card as well.
60’ - Goal, San Diego. Thomas saves the penalty, but the rebound is knocked in the back of the net. 2-1, Sounders
61’ - Subs. Alejandro Alvarado, Anibal Godoy, and Amahl Pellegrino come off for San Diego, replaced by Marcus Ingvartsen, Jeppe Tverskov, and Onni Valakari.
64’ - Sub. Stuart Hawkins replaces Alex Roldan for Seattle.
68’ - Sub. Jordan Morris leaves the game after pulling up with an injury, replaced by Snyder Brunell for Seattle.
70’ - Chance. Brunell gets into the box and hits a cross meant for Gomez that goes over the winger. Gomez collects and tries a shot from a tight angle that’s caught.
71’ - Sub. Sam Vines enters the game, replacing Kieran Sargeant for San Diego.
77’ - Shot. Joveljić has a shot from the edge of the box after a layoff from Rusnák, but he puts it wide.
80’ - Subs. Hassani Dotson and Dejan Joveljić make way for Paul Arriola and Peter Kingston as Seattle’s final changes.
83’ - Chance. Arriola drops a ball back to Brunell who carries it to the right of goal before taking a shot from outside the box that goes just wide of the near post.
90’ +3 - Chance. Cristian Roldan plays Arriola through, but Sisniega beats him to the ball in the box.
90’ +5 - Penalty. Hawkins has a handful of Ingvartsen’s jersey and he goes down to give San Diego a second chance from the spot.
90’ +6 - Goal, San Diego. Bakambu makes no mistake from the spot and sends it right into the back of the net. 2-2
90’ +9 - Stop! Thomas gets rounded by Bakambu, but makes a fantastic recovery to swat the ball out for a corner before a shot comes.
Quick thoughts
Idealism: There has been plenty of discussion of an ideal lineup, or ideal position groups for the Sounders, and I’ve contributed to some of that. This starting lineup at least featured what most of us would think of as the ideal front four in attack, but during the first half they struggled to generate much real threat. Passes were under-hit, runs weren’t made or were made in different directions than expected. The chemistry was lacking, and it’s not exactly surprising at this point that the introduction of Sebastian Gomez made the attack more incisive and provided the punch that had been lacking in the first 45 minutes. We may be seeing that the best XI for Seattle isn’t necessarily the ideal one, but rather the one that works best, and the team seems to work best when Gomez is on the field.
Something special: Seba Gomez wasn’t the only spark plug for the Sounders. While his goal seemed like a cherry on top, then like the winner for a while, we certainly can’t look past Joveljić and his spectacular goal. His ability to do just that — to pop up with a remarkable bit of skill out of nothing and nowhere — is almost becoming commonplace at this point. He’s exactly the striker Seattle has needed in recent years, and having him in the squad changes what’s possible for this team. Wherever the Sounders finish, when the playoffs start the special something that Deki offers could prove the difference, provided they can clean up the mistakes elsewhere.
A tough lesson to learn: Brian Schmetzer turned in large part to the young guys when he needed to change the game and then try to see it out, and it worked until it didn’t. The three youngest — Snyder Brunell, Sebastian Gomez, and Stuart Hawkins — were a big part of Seattle’s firm grip on the game late on, but Hawkins also had the pivotal mistake that meant the Sounders settled for a single point rather than taking all three. It’s a tough moment, and one that he’ll need to learn and bounce back from quickly. He had played well in the 30-or-so minutes leading up to the penalty, but the young CB has just over 1,000 first-team minutes and hasn’t had a ton of experience in these sorts of high-leverage moments. The mistake on the play was small but costly, but for all that it may hurt their place in the final standings it’s almost certainly better to have it happen now than in a playoff match.
Notable quote
Brian Schmetzer: “It feels like a loss. We were much better than them. We should have closed that game out. … Those guys put every piece of themselves into that game. They were busting their ass and we should have come out of here with three points.”
Player spotlight
Hassani Dotson had a bounce back game, not only providing the assist on Gomez’s goal but he also had 8 defensive contributions, went 4/4 on ground duels, 2/2 on aerial duels, and completed 85% of his passes.
