The Seattle Sounders' late-season resurgence has hit a snag.

After rattling off four consecutive victories and nine unbeaten, the Rave Green have taken just one point from their last two matches, most recently delivering a tough-to-watch first half in Saturday's 1-1 home draw against CF Montréal.

In this week's Scouting Report, we're examining whether the Sounders have undone their recent progress, breaking down the starting lineup decisions against Montréal and outlining what needs to change in this weekend's match at San Diego FC.

Let's get into it.

The Big Thing

If you want an indication of just how far off the rails things went in the first half of Saturday's draw against CF Montréal, look no further than some pointed postgame comments from both Brian Schmetzer and Cristian Roldan.

"I told them that yeah, you guys deserve to get booed. I deserve to get booed, me, because I'm the one that's in charge," Schmetzer said. "So I didn't like it as I walked off, but I have to accept it. It's part of sports."

Roldan was similarly blunt about the implications of that performance, especially with the playoffs approaching.

"For us, it's that first half," Roldan said. "We can't have a half like that. If we're trying to compete for a good spot in the playoffs, we can't come out flat against teams, especially at home.
"...Look, we're treating every game like a playoff game, and we come out flat in the playoffs, our season's over."

If there’s one thing everyone agrees on, it’s that the first-half performance against Montréal was egregious. It was a disjointed, mistake-riddled 45 minutes that looked nothing like the team we'd watched during the recent winning streak. The second half wasn't nearly as bad, but the damage was largely done. Seattle salvaged the draw, but dropped two points at home against a cellar-dwelling opponent.

Things I Noticed

The lineup questions are legitimate

Let's start by being fair to Brian Schmetzer: The Sounders were dealt a difficult hand at center back in this game.

With Jackson Ragen out with the flu and Stuart Hawkins also out, Seattle were suddenly without the two players who probably would have been their starting pairing. That's a significant disruption, particularly on short notice.

But starting Ryan Sailor alongside Yeimar was not the only option in this situation. Seattle could have deployed Alex Roldan at center back with Kalani Kossa-Rienzi at right back, a configuration they've used before with legitimate success. It wouldn't have been some radical tactical experiment. It was an established alternative that the team already knew could work.

Instead, Schmetzer opted for Sailor, who hasn't established himself as a reliable MLS contributor. The pairing looked extremely shaky, particularly in the first half, when Seattle's defensive organization was all over the place. By the end of the match, Cristian Roldan was out there playing center back, adding a new chapter to the organization's "Just put a Roldan on it" philosophy.

With the league's worst team coming to Lumen Field, perhaps the thinking was that Seattle could afford to run out an entirely new CB duo and still take care of business. If that was the calculus, it didn't pan out. At this stage of the season, with playoff positioning on the line and the team trying to solidify itself heading into the postseason, it just feels like introducing an unnecessary variable when you have a viable alternative.

Upon further review, I'm a little more sympathetic to the decision to start Caden Clark.

My Lobbing Scorchers Kickoff co-host Jackson Felts made a reasonable point that Paul Arriola had just played 90 minutes in Dallas, Jesús Ferreira was working his way back from injury and Sebastián Gómez had been logging heavy minutes himself. From a workload-management standpoint, there was at least a coherent argument for giving Clark the opportunity. And to be clear, I've actually been encouraged by some of what we've seen from Clark since his arrival. He's shown enough flashes that I'm more optimistic about the acquisition than I initially expected.

But Saturday wasn't his night. He looked out of sync, struggled to make an impact and never really found his footing in the attack. Schmetzer himself acknowledged afterward that perhaps Ferreira should have started.

Still, I view the two situations differently. I can understand the logic behind starting Clark, even if the decision ultimately backfired. The center back selection is harder for me to justify. It felt like an avoidable risk at a point in the season when Seattle should be minimizing those kinds of uncertainties, not creating new ones.

The Sebastián Gómez breakout appears to be real

For all the deserved frustration surrounding the draw, I think one encouraging development deserves attention: Sebastián Gómez continues to look actively good.

The 20-year-old homegrown was instrumental in Seattle's second-half turnaround against Montréal, providing a much-needed injection of energy and attacking dynamism before scoring the equalizer.

But what excites me most isn't any one performance. It's the possibility that the Sounders are finally developing something they've struggled to produce over the years: a homegrown attacking player who consistently contributes to the scoresheet. Seattle's academy has a pretty impressive track record of producing quality midfielders and fullbacks. Developing legitimate difference-makers in the attacking third, however, is an entirely different challenge.

The statsheet isn't everything, but I think it's by far the most important thing to consider when evaluating any attacking player.

It's great to have technical ability, creativity and the occasional highlight-reel moment. We saw plenty of that from Georgi Minoungou, for example. But at some point, the production has to follow. If you're an attacking player who isn't consistently generating goals and assists, there's a ceiling on how much value you can provide.

That's what makes Gómez's emergence encouraging. He's not just passing the eye test with his ability to take defenders on, play in tight spaces and inject some unpredictability into the attack. He's been backing it up with tangible end product.

That combination is especially valuable for a Sounders team that's famously been without Pedro de la Vega, whose 1-v-1 ability, explosiveness and general attacking dynamism have been sorely missed.

It's made me think about other successful homegrown attacking midfielders we've seen emerge in MLS in recent years, and what level Gómez could reach if he really continues this breakout.

Brian Gutiérrez developed into a highly productive attacking player for Chicago before earning a lucrative transfer to Chivas. Niko Tsakiris has taken a major step forward with San Jose this season, establishing himself as a genuine creative force for the Earthquakes. I'm not saying Gómez is the Seattle version of that yet. But for the first time in a while, it feels like Seattle might have a young attacking prospect who could realistically develop along those lines.

Fraud watch?

Maybe the most disappointing thing about Saturday's performance was that it felt like a step backward after the progress we'd seen over the past several weeks.

I don't think that improvement was imaginary. The 3-0 road win over New England was legitimately impressive, and even the 1-0 defeat at FC Dallas wasn't a terrible effort. Seattle competed hard, created enough chances that they really should have scored at least once and ultimately lost on an outrageous golazo. That does happen sometimes.

Montréal was different. If someone watched that first half and concluded that Seattle looked completely fraudulent, I honestly wouldn't have much of a counterargument. They did. It was that bad.

But there's a difference between looking fraudulent for 45 minutes and actually being fraudulent. The next few games should tell us a lot. If Seattle keeps producing extended stretches like that first half against Montréal, then yeah, we'll have to ask some serious questions about whether the resurgence was legitimate.

I'm willing to give them a chance to demonstrate that Saturday was an ugly outlier rather than a sign of things to come. The progress was real enough to earn that opportunity. Now they have to prove it wasn't fleeting.

Around MLS

Just hire the interim guy

Remember a few weeks ago when I declared the Portland Timbers one of the biggest winners of the summer transfer window?

That might have been my worst take of the season.

Since I made that proclamation, the Timbies have been tail-spinning, most recently stumbling to a 0-0 home draw against the Colorado Rapids. New striker Vincent Janssen hasn't exactly lit the league on fire, and Portland's playoff hopes are looking increasingly precarious.

Terrible take. But Portland's struggles have also reinforced one of my longstanding MLS agendas: When the interim coach is cooking, just give him the job, à la Brian Schmetzer 2016.

Remember how dangerous the Timbers looked under Jack Cassidy? We certainly saw it firsthand when they demolished Seattle 5-1 at Lumen Field. That team had real energy and attacking verve. Then Martí Cifuentes arrived, and things went south again immediately.

Now, I'm not saying Cassidy would have maintained that form. There's no way to know that. But I still think MLS clubs tend to overthink these situations, chasing the shiny external hire when the guy already in the building has shown he can get results.

Which brings me to the Philadelphia Union.

Ryan Richter has overseen one of the most remarkable midseason turnarounds in recent MLS memory. Philadelphia were sitting at the bottom of the Eastern Conference when he took over. Now they're riding a 15-match unbeaten streak, with a ridiculous 12-0-3 record under his watch.

If I'm Philadelphia, I'm not overcomplicating this. Give the man the job. And yes, I'm aware that I made a similar argument about Marc Dos Santos at LAFC, which blatantly backfired.

On Deck: Seattle at San Diego FC

Saturday, Oct. 24 · 7:30 p.m. PT · Snapdragon Stadium · MLS regular season · Apple TV

San Diego FC took MLS by storm during their inaugural 2025 campaign, setting expansion-team records for wins and points while finishing atop the Western Conference. Year two, however, has been a different story.

Anders Dreyer remains one of the league's most dangerous attacking players, but San Diego have struggled to replicate last season's success, particularly on the defensive end. They've conceded 56 goals in league play, making this a matchup where Seattle should have opportunities to generate some offense.

What I'm watching for

Whether the Sounders can get Dejan Joveljić going again. After looking so sharp in his first couple of appearances, Deki has had a rough two-game stretch. He struggled mightily in Dallas and was largely uninvolved against Montréal, aside from one promising rebound opportunity that was denied by an admittedly terrific defensive block. Seattle simply didn't find him enough in dangerous areas.

That needs to be rectified, both against San Diego and heading into the playoffs. Joveljić has already shown how much of a difference-maker he can be when Seattle get him involved. Against a vulnerable San Diego defense, this would be an ideal time to rediscover that formula.

From Lobbing Scorchers