Sounders Nightmare in BC As Vancouver Thrash Rivals 3-0

It was a perfect evening for the Western Conference leaders Vancouver Whitecaps on Sunday, handing an embarrassing result for Seattle as the Sounders lost 3-0. The Sounders ended up going down to nine men early in the second half, and it not a good look for the team considering this loss was the final MLS fixture before Seattle's FIFA Club World Cup campaign.

The Whitecaps first team was compromised by a stomach bug while they were in Mexico following their defeat in the CONCACAF Champions Cup Final. Therefore, the Whitecaps 2 were forced to postpone their game to field a full team against Seattle. The Sounders, coming off a home loss to Minnesota, had no room to afford anything short of a victory against a weakened Vancouver Whitecaps.

Vancouver sent out a surprisingly strong lineup relative to the circumstances, starting players like goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka, defender and captain Ranko Veselinovic, and defender Tristan Blackmon. Sounders Head Coach Brian Schmetzer sent his strongest possible lineup to BC Place.

Max Erik Stagen / Area Sports Network

Schmetzer told his team after the loss to not blame the easier reasons to the result: "What I tried telling them (his team) after the game was 'you can look at the easy thing to do. You can look at Nouhou, you can look at Jonathan Bell, and the red cards as the reason why we lost the game.' But that's the easy thing to do. I think it's more the offensive struggles in the first half to create clear scoring chances."

Though the Sounders had a few promising chances, Vancouver kept most of the momentum in the first 30 minutes. Before halftime, the Sounders cracked and conceded off a square ball through swift possession by the Whitecaps. 19-year-old Jeevan Badwal, being the receiver off the squared ball, scored the first of his MLS career.

Max Erik Stagen / Area Sports Network

Nouhou was sent off at the 52nd minute after stopping a counterattack by Vancouver, where the Cameroonian was beat on the ground by Mathias Laborda and as a result, Nouhou committed the foul as the last man and denying the obvious goal scoring opportunity. Cristian Roldan dropped to left-back as Seattle went down to cover. Shortly after Nouhou’s red card, the Whitecaps found the back of the net but was disallowed due to a foul on Frei.

Shockingly, the Sounders went down to nine men when Jon Bell was sent off just minutes after the Nouhou red card. Bell appeared to take down Emmanuel Sabbi as he broke through the defensive line, and though Bell did not seem to make clear contact, VAR was not used and the decision stood.

 Max Erik Stagen / Area Sports Network

Vancouver doubled their lead off a banger goal in the 70th minute, raising the roof off BC Place and ending any hope for the nine-men Sounders to have any chance of coming back. The goal came from about 25 yards out and left Stefan Frei no chance to his top-right corner.

Stefan Frei made a few great saves to keep the Sounders in the game, but a penalty for the Whitecaps put the cherry on top of their Cascadia victory with an 88th-minute penalty converted by Damir Kreilach.

Max Erik Stagen / Area Sports Network

The Whitecaps turned the tables of expectation with this landslide victory over their rivals, and given their circumstances as the club entered the day, Whitecaps Head Coach Jesper Sorensen will be very proud of his team. Seattle, on the other hand, must do lots of internal thinking on how to find consistency—and finding it quickly.

"The mental state of the team, obviously is a... shot to the chin," said Brian Schmetzer following the loss. Schmetzer does believe the team will be fine because he believes in his squad's unity: "You got guys in there that are good pros. You've got guys that been through ups and downs. So they're going to keep working."

The Sounders will now pause MLS play to participate in the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, where the team will open their first match at Lumen Field against Brazilian giants Botafogo on the next weekend's Sunday evening.

Cover Photo: Max Erik Stagen / Area Sports Network