Both teams will be short-handed when Real Salt Lake visit the Seattle Sounders on Saturday night with an eye toward joining the hosts in the 2025 MLS Cup playoffs.
That said, RSL manager Pablo Mastroeni knows his team is in no position to complain.
Late in a lackluster season, the Claret-and-Cobalt have won back-to-back games to head into their penultimate fixture in control of their postseason destiny after others faltered.
Salt Lake (12-16-4, 40 points) enters the weekend holding the ninth and final Western Conference playoff spot. In the East, they’d have been long eliminated and 11 points beneath the current playoff line.
That good fortune should override any gripes about playing such a big match during the October FIFA international window, when team scoring leader Diego Luna and fellow midfielders Zavier Gozo and Braian Ojeda are among those unavailable.
“We’ve got to be so grateful and blessed after the season has gone the way it has,” Mastroeni said after last weekend’s 1-0 home win over Colorado. “For them to have the mentality and the resilience to fight, and now kind of dictate our fate these last two games is pretty powerful.”
The Sounders (13-9-10, 49 points) have far less riding on the fixture. They’re guaranteed to finish no better than fifth in the West, a position they’d secure with a win in either of their final two matches.
Last weekend’s 1-0 victory over rival Portland was the Sounders’ first since their Leagues Cup final triumph at the end of August, one reason they’ve been overtaken by surging Los Angeles FC in the closing stages, losing their grip on fourth place.
Seattle manager Brian Schmetzer has lost forward Georgi Minoungou, midfielder Cristian Roldan and defender Nouhou to international duty, while midfielder Albert Rusnak is suspended due to a red card.
Add in a handful of injuries, and Schmetzer will have to call up some short-term loan signings from the club’s MLS Next Pro Tacoma Defiance side just to field a complete roster.
However, after a brief period where Seattle appeared a bit unfocused, that could provide some much-needed energy.
“What I understand, what I know is that anybody that’s been called up, any player, any young guy … what are they going to bring?” Schmetzer asked rhetorically. “They’re going to bring excitement, they’re going to be fired up, they’re going to bring energy. And that’s half the battle.”
–Field Level Media
