The Seattle Sounders are hosting Nashville SC on Sunday in their 2022 MLS season opener. Here is everything you need to know.
WHEN AND WHERE: Kickoff is at 5 p.m. PT at Lumen Field (TICKETS).
WHERE TO WATCH: The match will be televised on FOX 13+ and Prime Video.
WHERE TO LISTEN: The match will air on iHeart Radio and El Rey 1360AM.
FINAL 2021 RECORDS AND STANDINGS: Seattle: 17-8-9 (60 points, 2nd West), Nashville: 12-4-18 (54 points, 3rd East).
HOW 2021 ENDED: Sounders: Lost in Round One of the MLS Cup Playoffs to Real Salt Lake on penalties; Nashville: Lost in the Eastern Conference semifinals to the Philadelphia Union on penalties.
SERIES DEBUT: This is the first meeting between the Sounders and Nashville since the latter entered MLS as an expansion team in 2020.
EARLY MOMENTUM: The Sounders will carry a strong performance into this weekend after a thorough 5-0 thrashing of Honduras’ F.C. Motagua on Thursday in the second leg of their Round of 16 series in Concacaf Champions League. Seattle earned back-to-back clean sheets while also demonstrating the firepower in attack that has many around the league on notice.
BACK LIKE THEY NEVER LEFT: After missing nearly all of last year due to injuries, captain Nicolás Lodeiro and Jordan Morris set the tone for 2022 in a big way on Thursday by each getting on the scoresheet. Lodeiro had a goal and an assist inside 47 minutes, and Morris bagged his first goal since the 2020 MLS Cup Playoffs.
BATTLE OF MVP FINALISTS: Reigning MLS Best XI selections and MLS MVP finalists João Paulo and Hany Mukhtar will square off for the first time on Sunday. The Sounders’ Brazilian central midfielder was indispensable last season, providing a team-high 11 assists and controlling both sides of the ball. Mukhtar, meanwhile, found his stride in his second season in MLS, recording 16 goals and 12 assists in 2,500 minutes.
March to the 50th
This is your club. As we approach 50 years of the Seattle Sounders, help us shape what the future looks like.
SOMETHING’S GOTTA GIVE: The Sounders and Nashville (along with the New York Red Bulls) finished tied for the fewest goals allowed in the league last season with just 33. Seattle, though, boasts new weapon Albert Rusnák along with the returns of Lodeiro and Morris and an elite MLS striker in Raúl RuidÃaz to form one of the most threatening attacking corps in MLS. Nashville is led by two-time defending MLS Defender of the Year and United States international center back Walker Zimmerman.
ROAD QUEST: Nashville will begin its season with eight matches on the road while it waits the opening of its new stadium on May 1.
DRAWS APLENTY: Nashville finished last year with the fewest losses in MLS (four), but it also tied, fittingly, the 2014 Chicago Fire for the most draws in league history with 18.Â
FAMILIAR FACES: A pair of former Sounders will return to Lumen Field in goalkeeper Bryan Meredith and midfielder Handwalla Bwana. Meredith spent five years over two stints in Seattle, most recently in 2019. Bwana became the 10th Homegrown Player in Sounders history when he signed in January 2018. The University of Washington product scored four goals and added three assists in 32 MLS appearances in two and a half years before Seattle traded him to Nashville in 2020 for defender Jimmy Medranda.
MLS VETS: Nashville boasts some strong MLS veterans including Zimmerman, captain Dax McCarty, forward CJ Sapong, midfielder AnÃbal Godoy and recent offseason acquisition Sean Davis.
