Lumen Field witnessed perhaps the best 45 minutes of soccer ever played by the Seattle Sounders on Thursday night.
The Rave Green embarrassed the defending Concacaf Champions Cup winners, Cruz Azul, racking up seven second-half goals en route to the biggest margin of victory in the Sounders’ MLS-era across all competitions.
Cruz Azul came into the match riding high, having only lost one match since February and recently defeating Vancouver Whitecaps 5-0 in B.C. Seattle arrived on a six-match unbeaten run of their own, and hungry for revenge over the squad that knocked them out of the CCC in March.
First Half:
The Sounders came out of the gate extremely aggressive, pushing the line of engagement deep into Cruz Azul territory and keeping the Mexican giants penned into their own defensive third for almost the entire first half. Seattle would pepper the box with crosses and through-balls, but were unable to find an opener in a chippy first 45.
The visitors had sparse opportunities on the counter-attack, with their best move resulting in a shot from Lorenzo Faravelli that struck off the post in the 19th minute.
Second Half Explosion
The Sounders eventual breakthrough came from a source which we had not seen yet in 2025 the corner flag. In the 48th minute, an inswinging corner from Albert Rusnak directed towards Yeimar, who rose far above his columbian countrymen Willer Ditta to head it home.
The second would come just moments later in the 50th, when Obed Vargas was able to find a pocket of space between the lines. The young Mexican international received a pass from Alex Roldan and took a shot from the edge of the box, benefiting from a deflection off of a hapless Ditta which looped over the head of goalkeeper Kevin Mier and into the back of the net.
Another corner kick provided the third Sounders tally in the 58th. In a set-piece routine that looked straight off the training ground. Rusnak’s corner was flicked to the back post by Christian Roldan, straight into the path of Jesus Ferreira, who already had two goals called offside in the match. Ferreira calmly slotted it in, and this time the flag stayed down.
Seattle smelled blood in the water and kept pushing, finding a fourth goal in the 69th, once again created through the man of the match, Obed Vargas. Vargas picked up the ball at midfield, putting a defender on his backside before sliding it to Ryan Kent, who centered for an Osaze De Rosario tap-in.
Number five came down the right side in the 76th, as Vargas bent a ball through for Danny Leyva, who switched it to the far side of the box via Jesus Ferreira to Pedro De La Vega. De La Vega continued his form in front of goal, smashing an unsavable effort into the far upper 90.
As if the second 45 wasn’t already ridiculous enough, the sixth goal came from the unlikeliest of Sounders. An 88th-minute Danny Leyva free kick from over 30 yards out rang off the crossbar, and was followed up by Nouhou, who headed in his third ever goal in RaveGreen. Touchdown, Sounders.
The seventh was an instant all-time Sounders FC goal, and the best extra-point Lumen field will see in 2025. In the dying embers of the match, Alex Roldan played a 40 yard cross-field ball to Pedro De La Vega, who hit a volley from the corner of the box which looped over the head of Mier, off the post and in. The show-stopping effort was the last kick of the match, as head referee Victor Hernandez mercifully blew for full-time.
Post-match:
“In this club’s history, it ranks up there with all of the big wins that we’ve had.”
The opening quote of Brian Schmetzer’s post-game press conference sums up the significance of the result:
“We played against the CCC champions, and they’re the best team in concacaf, and we scored seven, let that sink in.”
Schmetzer had nothing but praise for his squad in everything from preparation, to mindset and execution.
“That group in there is completely together. They know they’re a good team… That’s a motivated group, and if you can’t see that, then there’s something wrong.”
A performance that stood out even among a host of excellent shifts was the All-Star Obed Vargas, who looked comfortable and experienced beyond his years in an all-around dominant showing. Schmetzer made sure to highlight the 19-year-old post-match.
“(Obed) could be the best player on that field. You can see the way he glides past people…I don’t understand why more people don’t watch this and say ‘that kid’s worth 10, 12, 15 million dollars.’”
Vargas seemed to show no surprise in the result, and said the benchmark set during the Club World Cup has elevated the squad’s expectations in themselves.
“We feel like we can play against anyone. We played against the best team in the world, why not a Liga MX club?”
While Schmetzer had nothing but good things to say about the win, his attention must now shift to a Sunday night matchup against old CONCACAF foes Santos Laguna.
“Everybody played up to a higher level… I don’t think there is one negative thing about this result… We will come back tomorrow and make sure they are grounded, because this is just the first game.”
Quick Facts:
- First Sounders FC win against Cruz Azul (all-time series: 1W-1L-1D).
- Biggest-ever win by an MLS team against a Liga MX opponent.
- Biggest win in Sounders history (MLS era) across all competitions.
- Pedro De La Vega has now scored in three straight matches, bringing his season total to five across all competitions.
- Nouhou’s goal to make it 6-0 was his third career goal for Seattle across 267 total appearances.
- Seven goals scored by six different goal scorers, with ten of the 16 Sounders players to appear picking up goal contributions.
- Osaze De Rosario has scored his first two Sounders goals in back-to-back matches.
- Heaviest Cruz Azul defeat since a 7-0 loss against Club America on August 20, 2022.
- Seattle now sits in first place in the overall Leagues Cup table.
- Snyder Brunnel makes Sounders debut as 80th-minute substitute
- Alex Roldan tallies a pair of assists, his first goal contributions of 2025.
