Three weeks after their appearance in the FIFA Club World Cup and almost five months removed from their last home match, the Seattle Sounders are ready to kick off the 2023 MLS season. The reigning continental champions return nearly everyone from last year’s team, including a healthy João Paulo, and the club is looking forward to starting off the year on the right foot.
“We’re excited for another opportunity to win trophies,” said midfielder Cristian Roldan. “That’s always our mindset going into the season. As professional athletes, we want to win.”
The Sounders had a polarizing 2022, becoming the first MLS team to win the modern iteration of Concacaf Champions League but failing to qualify for the postseason for the first time in their 14-year MLS history. They will start their domestic redemption tour with a visit from a new-look Rapids side on Sunday (5 p.m. PT; FS1, Watch Free On Apple TV App | TICKETS) and are eager to implement a different approach offensively.
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At times struggling to get on the score sheet last year, the Sounders have adjusted some of their attacking movements and buildup play. Head Coach Brian Schmetzer has stressed the importance of tinkering how they move the ball from back to front, as well as emphasized key areas on the pitch where they want to force the issue.
“Maybe we became a little bit too predictable last year and teams knew exactly what we were trying to do,” said midfielder Albert Rusnák, who enters his second season in Seattle after signing as a Designated Player free agent last year. “This preseason, we were working on more options on how to attack and how to break teams down.”
Added forward Jordan Morris: “We’ve worked on some changes this year going into the season of trying to get everyone in their best spots, especially going forward. We have so much balance in attack and ways to break teams down.”
The Sounders have historically dominated the Rapids at Lumen Field, winning 15 of their 18 all-time meetings in Seattle and only losing once. Colorado underwent a bit of a face lift this offseason, with forward Gyasi Zardes departing for Austin FC, while bringing in reinforcements in the likes of winger Kevin Cabral, midfielder Connor Ronan and defenders Andreas Maxsø and Alex Gersbach.
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Rapids Head Coach Robin Fraser runs a 4-3-3 and loves to press high and aggressively, and the Sounders know that their success on Sunday hinges on how well they can break that pressure effectively. But while every other MLS team begins their 2023 campaign in earnest this weekend, Seattle has the added benefit of an early competitive taste when it battled in the FIFA Club World Cup against Egypt’s Al Ahly in early February. The Sounders are hoping that early test translates into a sharper start to the season.
“Part of the bigger conversation we’re starting this year is trying to return Lumen Field to be a real fortress,” said Schmetzer, “a real place where teams come in here and don’t want to play us or teams don’t think that they can steal points off us.
“It’s not just scoring a goal or three goals in a game, it’s those timely goals. It’s the goal that starts you off in the beginning of the game, it’s the goal before halftime, it’s the goal right after halftime when you come back out, or maybe you’re leading 2-1 and you get the third goal. We’re going to have to do a better job of that.”
The Sounders know this season is going to be a long one even without the added intensity of a parallel CCL campaign that they had to maneuver last year. There is a months-long Leagues Cup tournament over the summer in addition to U.S. Open Cup and, of course, the hunt for their third MLS Cup title.
Sunday won’t make or break those ambitions, but a win would be a promising start and set the tone early.
“The motivation has always been there,” said Roldan. “Not making the playoffs [last year] was tough, we want to [qualify] each and every year, but the motivation is always raising a trophy. We don’t want to be an average team throughout the year, we want to be at the top.”
