Spokane, WA- In front of a record-breaking crowd of 5,126 fans, the Seattle Sounders once again put CONCACAF, and MLS, on notice.
FIFA World Cup 2026 renovations are well-underway at Lumen Field, meaning the team made the 228-mile trek across the Cascades to the Lilac City. Fortunately, Spokane-based Sounders fans were treated to a proper showcase of Sounders-branded soccer.
Photo: Sandra Agbotse / Sounders FC Communications
Coming in with a healthy three-goal lead on aggregate, one could have expected perhaps a conservative approach by Brian Schmetzer’s men- and for some moments in the first half, it was looking so. The match began with Sounders’ clearest chance of the night, that was ultimately put wide right by Osaze De Rosario in the first minute of action.
From then on, Vancouver made it a point to take advantage of a retreating Seattle team, that looked on the ropes from time to time. This high pressure from the Whitecaps ultimately yielded its fruits in the form of a Jeevan Badwal curler past Stefan Frei in the 24th minute. Murmurs could be heard around ONE Spokane Stadium—was Spokane in for a night of disappointment?
Photo: Sandra Agbotse / Sounders FC Communications
The clear man of the match was short-term loanee Peter Kingston, who came on as a substitute and earned two assists in 24 minutes. Kingston’s first contribution came in the form of a perfectly delivered, 79th minute,out- swinging cross to the head of Danny Musovski, who bundled it past a hopeless Yoehi Takaoka.
“I’ll talk Adrian, I’ll talk to Craig…we’ll find a spot for him…he makes plays.” Brian Schmetzer’s words at the post-match press conference regarding Seattle’s Peter Kingston could not have been more justified.
Photo: Sandra Agbotse / Sounders FC Communications
Kingston not only looked lively throughout the entirety of his cameo, but, as Schmetzer would go on to say, “he made some plays tonight that were critical for us to have a win, not just a draw, but a win.”
Less than 5 minutes later, in a moment of Deja-vu, Kingston repeated his heroics out on the right wing, where his searching low-driven cross almost found Musovski for a second time. However, the ball instead found the feet of a red-hot Rothrock who, in Paul Rothrock fashion, slotted it away to cement the final scoreline of 2-1 for the night, 5-1 on aggregate, statement made.
Photo: Sandra Agbotse / Sounders FC Communications
In a special night, in a special venue, the Sounders once again paid testament to their unrelenting “next man up” mentality, which was perfectly encapsulated by Schmetzer, who told media- “All I ask is for my players to run as hard as they can, for as long as they can, with the confidence that the guys on the bench will do the same.”
The Sounders, now safely through to the quarter-finals of the CONCACAF Champions Cup and were waiting for the news on who will be the next opponent: Mexico’s Tigres UANL or FC Cincinnati.
The following evening, after some insane second leg action, where Cincinnati gave up their three-goal advantage, later scored to set themselves up to advance on away goals, and then conceded a 98th minute goal to have Tigres advance. The game ended 5-4 on aggregate in favor of Tigres, who will be Seattle’s quarterfinals opponent
Cover Photo: Sandra Agbotse / Sounders FC Communications
