Sounders advance to Leagues Cup semi-finals with gritty penalty-shootout win over Puebla after scoreless 90

The Seattle Sounders escaped a frustrating match with a win on PKs over Liga MX club Puebla at Lumen Field on Wednesday Night, putting them into the Leagues Cup semi-finals.

Seattle came into the match off the back of having their 10-game unbeaten streak snapped last week in a 1-0 loss at Minnesota. The Rave Green entered the quarterfinals as Leagues Cup’s only 3-0-0 squad. Puebla had lost their previous two matches 2-0 and 7-0 in Liga MX play, but qualified for the Leagues Cup second phase after picking up five points between games at Columbus, NYCFC and Montreal.

First Half

Puebla looked intent on clogging up space and playing for a shootout, putting five in the back with a compact block and keeping open turf to a minimum for the Rave Green going forward.

Seattle’s best chance of the first half came in the 16th minute, when Paul Rothrock got on the end of a spinning through ball from Pedro De La Vega, forcing the first save of the night from Julio González on a point-blank shot from a wide angle.

By the 20th minute the Sounders had settled in and pushed the line of engagement into the visitors defensive third, but couldn’t seem to find the cracks in Puebla’s 5-4-1 defensive shape.

Despite dominating the ball with 80% possession and amassing almost six times more completed passes, Rothrock’s effort and a handful of wayward shots from distance were all the Sounders had to show for the first 45.

Second Half

The second half started much as the first, with the ball locked within 30 yards of the Puebla net, but not finding any daylight through a sea of defenders.

The Sounders saw the best chance of the match go wide in the 71st minute. A clever dummy from Danny Musovski on a Paul Rothrock cross gave Jesús Ferreira space in the middle of the box, but the Sounders #9 pulled his shot left of the net.

The frustrations of a full match of suffocated play came to a head in the 77th minute. Danny Musovski received a harsh yellow card for a hand to the face, and immediately popped up off the turf and into the face of head referee Juan Gabriel Calderon, bumping the chest of the official and prompting an immediate red card. 

Despite being down a man, the flow of play did not change, with the visitors staying true to the plan of forcing penalty kicks. They would succeed, as an uneventful final 15 minutes gave way to the referee’s whistle and the coin flip of a shootout.

Penalty Shootout

The experienced veteran Christian Roldan stepped up for the first penalty, but rang his effort off the right post.

Andrew Thomas, who has proven himself to be an elite penalty-stopper, parried Ricardo Marín’s shot to his left to keep it even at 0-0.

Alex Roldan was then able to calmly deposit the second penalty right down the middle, 1-0.

Estaban Lozano returned the favor with his own center-cut finish, 1-1.

Jackson Ragen showed his spot-kick ability with a confident finish to make it 2-1.

Owen González rocketed Puebla’s third shot into the side-netting, 2-2

Jesús Ferreira kept the pressure on with a roofed penalty, 3-2

Fernando Monárrez responded with an unsavable effort into the top right corner, 3-3

Obed Vargas, the 19 year old, stepped up and looked far beyond his years with a calm rolled finish to put the pressure on Puebla’s fifth shooter, Nicolás Díaz.

Díaz’s effort was unconvincing, low and too close to Andrew Thomas, who quickly got down to make his second penalty save, and send the Sounders through to the Leagues Cup Semi Finals.

Never in doubt.

Post-Match

Head Coach Brian Schmetzer emphasized postgame the emotions of a difficult match in which Seattle ended up with 80% possession, but still had to find a way to win via penalties.

“That was a hard game mentally. Puebla played hard, which made the game hard. Am I disappointed with anything? No. We’re going to enjoy this moment because we are in a semi-final… This is a hard tournament to win.”

Schmetzer also talked postgame about the performance of goalkeeper Andrew Thomas, who despite an inactive 90 minutes was able to step up in PKs in familiar fashion.

“Andrew did what he needed to do, and he did what he’s good at, which is shootouts.”

Thomas looked confident during the shootout, even showing a smile before Puebla’s final kick, gesturing to the Lumen Field crowd that he had it under control

“I like shootouts, they’re a good time. And it helps when you go the right way.”

Thomas and the rest of the Sounders players were in agreement that they believed themselves to have been the stronger side, despite the 0-0 regulation result.

“We were the better team even at ten men… All that matters is that we won. Nobody is going to look back on this run and say, ‘you should have won that game in regulation.’”

The Leagues Cup semi-finals feature all MLS teams, with LA Galaxy, Inter Miami and Orlando city all advancing against Liga MX opposition. Seattle will travel to play LA in the semi-finals.

MATCH NOTES

• Seattle advances to the Leagues Cup 2025 Semifinals with the result and travels to face the LA Galaxy on Wednesday, August 27 at Dignity Health Sports Park (7:45 p.m. PT).
• This marks the second time Sounders FC has advanced to the Leagues Cup Semifinals. The club also reached the same stage in 2021, ultimately advancing to the Final before falling 3-2 to Club León. Seattle reached the Quarterfinals in last year’s edition of the tournament.
• The Rave Green have only lost one match since playing in the FIFA Club World Cup 2025™ in June, holding a 7-1-4 record in all competitions, including a 3-0-1 mark in Leagues Cup 2025 play.
• Seattle is 8-5-1 all-time in Leagues Cup action following tonight’s result.
• With the result, Seattle now has a 12-12-6 all-time record against Liga MX teams since 2009, including a 3-1-2 record this year.
• Brian Schmetzer made three changes to the starting lineup from Saturday’s match in Minnesota, with Andrew Thomas, Pedro de la Vega and Danny Musovski replacing Stefan Frei, Reed Baker-Whiting and Osaze De Rosario, respectively.
• Seattle now returns to MLS play and hosts Sporting Kansas City on Sunday, August 24 on the Emerald Queen Casino Pitch at Lumen Field (6:15 p.m. PT / Apple TV, FS1, FOX Deportes, 93.3 KJR FM, El Rey 1360 AM).

MATCH SUMMARY

Seattle Sounders FC 0 (4) – Club Puebla 0 (3)

Wednesday, August 20, 2025

Venue: Lumen Field

Referee: Juan Gabriel Calderon

Assistants: Juan Carlos Mora, William Arrieta

Fourth Official: Keylor Herrera

VAR: Érick Miranda

Attendance: 18,362

Weather: 66 degrees and sunny

SCORING SUMMARY

None

MISCONDUCT SUMMARY

PUE – Alejandro Organista (caution) 69’

SEA – Danny Musovski (caution) 76’

SEA – Danny Musovski (ejection) 76’

PUE – Nicolás Díaz (caution) 84’

PUE – Ricardo Marín (caution) 90’+4’ 

SHOOTOUT SUMMARY

SEA – Cristian Roldan (miss)

PUE – Ricardo Marín (saved)

SEA – Alex Roldan (score)

PUE – Esteban Lozano (score)

SEA – Jackson Ragen (score)

PUE – Owen González (score)

SEA – Jesús Ferreira (score)

PUE – Fernando Monárrez (score)

SEA – Obed Vargas (score)

PUE – Nicolás Díaz (saved)

LINEUPS & STATS

Seattle Sounders FC – Andrew Thomas; Alex Roldan, Yeimar Gómez Andrade, Jackson Ragen, Nouhou (Danny Leyva 90’+3’); Obed Vargas, Cristian Roldan – Captain; Paul Rothrock (Osaze De Rosario 78’), Jesús Ferreira, Pedro de la Vega (Georgi Minougou 64’); Danny Musovski

Substitutes not used: Stefan Frei, Jacob Castro, Cody Baker, Reed Baker-Whiting, Travian Sousa, Kalani Kossa-Rienzi, Jonathan Bell, Kim Kee-hee, Snyder Brunell

Total shots: 13

Shots on goal: 1

Fouls: 12

Offside: 0

Corner-Kicks: 10

Saves: 2

Club Puebla – Julio González; Juan Fedorco, Efraín Orona, Luis Gabriel Rey; Nicolás Díaz, Ariel Gamarra, Alejandro Organista (Esteban Lozano 83’), Jesús Rivas; Fernando Monárrez, Emiliano Gómez (Owen González 71’), Ricardo Marín

Substitutes not used: Jesús Rodríguez, Juan Gómez, Carlos Baltazar, Iker Moreno, Jose Pachuca, Miguel Ramírez, Eduardo Navarro, Franco Moyano, Jafet Cortés, Mateo González

Total shots: 5

Shots on goal: 2

Fouls: 16

Offside: 0

Corner-kicks: 0

Saves: 1