RENTON — After training on Friday, Brian Schmetzer spent over a minute listing what he called “half chances” in the Seattle Sounders’ 1–0 loss to the Houston Dynamo on Wednesday night.
Early missed chances from Cristian Roldan, Albert Rusnák, Jackson Ragen and others, as well as a lack of final quality on second-half pushes left Seattle without a point and shut out for the second time in a four-game winless run that has the Sounders (11–11–10) just two points above the playoff line with two games left.
Of course, Schmetzer spent time showing his team the missed chances against Houston, but insisted he wasn’t overly critical of his team. He went as far as to say the loss, which came at the hands of a poorly defended corner kick in the first half despite a strong defensive showing overall, would have simply been considered “unlucky” earlier in the year. He has a point; Seattle outperformed Houston on expected goals 2.0–0.4 (per MLS).
But the veteran skipper knows stakes are simply too high right now for bad luck to be accepted as the sole culprit for dropped points against CF Montreal, San Diego FC and now Houston.
“We don’t have that luxury anymore,” Schmetzer said. “We have two games left, and so I talked them through that situation — not to build undue pressure, but to be realistic…
“We can’t afford to have too many more stumbles, or we won’t be in the playoffs.”
With frustration mounting on the offensive end, Seattle is moving onto arguably its toughest test on Sunday afternoon, playing away at the Western Conference-leading Vancouver Whitecaps with its playoff life on the line.
Midfielder Albert Rusnák said after Wednesday’s loss that it will take “maybe a bit of magic in front of goal” for the team’s offense to get back in a rhythm.
Striker Dejan Joveljić has fit the bill of being that magician this season, placing himself atop Seattle’s list of go-to scorers with five goals in nine games. But the Sporting KC transfer has shown plenty of frustration in this untimely winless run. He scored once in last Saturday’s 2–2 draw at San Diego, netting a blazing shot to strike first blood in the early second half.
But Joveljić’s awe-inspiring shotmaking ability, something Seattle missed before his addition, has been overshadowed lately by more manageable missed looks.
Call it growing pains or a slump, but the star striker hasn’t gotten into many spots to score easy goals in his early Sounders tenure.
“Yes and no,” Joveljić said when asked whether the ball is being served to his preferred spots right now. “If you are playing the (way) Seattle played before, then I’m going to score a lot of goals.”
The style of play that had Paul Rothrock leading the team in scoring is likely what Joveljić is referring to; capitalizing on transition chances and overloading the opposing box to create easier scoring chances. It’s hard to accomplish that feat when a team is playing from behind, as Seattle did for more than 75 minutes on Wednesday.
As he and the Sounders look to escape this slump, Joveljić is focused on opening up the game by striking first in Vancouver on Sunday, thereby avoiding the low block Seattle faced against an emboldened Houston side.
Predictably, the numbers support Joveljić’s focus: When Seattle strikes first in 2026, the team is 10–1-2 in league play, leveraging its top-five scoring defense to hold onto leads.
“It’s so important to score (first), especially in Seattle. I mean, I know how it’s tough when I need to come here and play against Seattle, and that’s the same feeling that other teams have when they need to face us,” Joveljić said. “To get that first goal, to set the tone, and after that everything is going to be smoother because teams need to open up… then we are going to punish them again.”
Seattle, of course, beat Vancouver 5-1 on aggregate in the Concacaf Champions Cup back in the spring before losing its last league matchup at home 2-0 in August to continue what was a franchise-worst losing streak. To make Joveljić's goal of scoring first more difficult, Vancouver boasts the second-best scoring defense in MLS, with 33 goals allowed in 32 matches.
Seattle, however, may have some reinforcements.
Rothrock, who led the squad in scoring before suffering a potentially season-ending hamstring injury on Sept. 12 against the LA Galaxy, has fast-tracked his return timeline and will be available on Sunday, per Schmetzer. Elsewhere on the wing, Sebastian Gomez has burst onto the scene in his first Sounders season, but struggled in a start against the Dynamo while Jesús Ferreira managed one blazing shot on target in the late first half.
Look for Schmetzer, who typically leans on veteran talent in the advanced stages of a season, to stick with experience as Jordan Morris and Paul Arriola each had impact moments off the bench in the Houston loss. Regardless of the lineup decisions, however, Schmetzer expects to see his team look desperate for points as it fights to keep its season going.
“I don’t think we need any sort of motivation from our opposition,” Schmetzer said about playing a top team in Vancouver. “We know where we sit in the standings, and we understand the importance of the games to us.”
