The Seattle Sounders will have a new look up front when they host the Chicago Fire on Saturday.
The Sounders (7-9-4, 25 points) have struggled to score goals all season with just 22 in 20 matches, good for the second-fewest in MLS.
To combat that, Seattle acquired 27-year-old Dejan Joveljic from Sporting Kansas City on Tuesday in a $6 million deal. Joveljic has 67 goals and 22 assists in 165 MLS regular-season and playoff appearances and helped the Los Angeles Galaxy claim the MLS Cup in 2024. He scored the winner that year against the Sounders in the Western Conference championship.
“I’m here to bring goals and to help win the games,” Joveljic said during his introductory press conference. “I’m a striker who works hard, who is helping the team in every possible way. I can score with left, right, head — doesn’t matter. If Seattle is playing the way they’ve played the last couple of years, I’m going to score a lot of goals I’m sure and I’m ready for it.”
The Sounders snapped an eight-match league losing streak, a franchise record, with a 1-1 draw last weekend at FC Cincinnati as Kalani Kossa-Rienzi scored the equalizer in the 83rd minute off a pass from Albert Rusnak.
It has been a busy week for the Fire (11-6-3, 36 points), who had a six-match winning streak in all competitions snapped with a 1-1 draw last Saturday at the New York Red Bulls. The Fire then lost to CF Monterrey 2-1 on Tuesday in the quarterfinals of the Leagues Cup.
Chicago also has a new look up front this summer after acquiring Polish international Robert Lewandowski, 38, just before the World Cup. Lewandowski, who has more than 700 career goals for club and country, has four goals in ten total appearances with the Fire thus far.
South African forward Puso Dithejane, 22, also has four goals in eight appearances for the Fire since the World Cup break.
“We see it every day in training, we see what he does,” Fire coach Gregg Berhalter said of Dithejane. “When we came back from the World Cup break, we had a chance to go home, and we played a couple friendly games and we’re training, and every day he’s scoring goals. He’s a dynamic player and gets in good spots. He still needs to develop and still has got a long way to go, but there’s a ton of potential in him.”
–Field Level Media
