SEATTLE – The Seattle Sounders ended their winless streak on Wednesday night, beating Real Salt Lake 2-0. Second-half goals from Danny Musovski (48′) and Albert Rusnák (73′), and Andrew Thomas’ seventh clean sheet of the season secured the result for Seattle and ended a winless streak. The first half was as boring as a football half could be. With both teams playing rotated sides, the Sounders managed to generate some good chances (Paul Arriola had a couple of good looks, including one he largely set up for himself in the 15th minute), but never generated much genuine threat from either of them. Paul Arriola and Kalani Kossa-Rienzi received yellow cards for fairly unnecessary fouls, but otherwise there wasn’t much to talk about in the first 45 minutes. The Sounders maintained most of the possession, but struggled to do anything with their 55% to 45% lead, as the players seemed reluctant to take too many risks to make anything happen in the final third. Fortunately for the Sounders, games last 90 minutes and not just 45. Three minutes into the second half, Danny Musovski, who had struggled to make an impact in the first half, put the Sounders on the board with a fantastic shot. Almost immediately after a great play by Andrew Thomas to take advantage of a great touch from Sergi Solans who tried to round the goalkeeper after picking Jackson Ragen’s pocket in the 47th minute, Paul Arriola took advantage of a loose touch in midfield as Salt Lake tried to build from behind and immediately moved forward, passing the ball to Musovski. Musovski returned the ball and made a run parallel to Arriola, receiving a return pass in space and taking a second to line up his shot, then perfectly placing his shot low and inside the near post to make it 1-0 in the 48th minute. RSL pushed hard to respond, taking 6 shots in the next 16 minutes before Seattle had another shot of their own in the 65th. Thomas once again had a big shot with a particularly dangerous shot in the 50th, jumping to his right to deny Solans as his shot headed into the top corner. After a stretch in which RSL outshot the Sounders 7-2, Rusnák put a dagger in the hearts of the visitors. Once again, it was Arriola who made the final pass, carrying the ball across midfield before finding Rusnák, who then drove about 30 meters with runners in front of him. While Jordan Morris made a good run through the center and Sebastian Gómez ran down the left into the open field, Rusnák made the most of the defenders’ movements to follow the runs and shot from the top of the box and escaped at the near post against his former team to make it 2-0 in the 73rd minute. Both teams continued to search for more, but against all odds it was Nouhou who came closest to scoring goals. In the 89th minute, after Rusnák won a free kick at the top of the area, Nouhou seemingly surprised everyone as he took a free kick as RSL appeared to continue preparing their defense. Goalkeeper Rafael Cabral was paying enough attention to rush to his near post and push the shot that Nouhou deflected just past the barrier towards a corner. Despite a couple of looks from RSL and some counterattacking attempts by Seattle, the game ended 2-0 for the hosts. This ends the Sounders’ 13-game winless streak, while the unbeaten streak is now 6 games. Seattle will look to rack up back-to-back wins for the first time since late April when it hosts Minnesota United on Saturday night. Lineups Heavy turnover for Seattle as the Sounders moved half of their outfield players from the starting lineup against the Colorado Rapids for a variety of reasons. Danny Musovski starts up top with Dejan Joveljić absent due to international commitment. Paul Arriola and Sebastián Gómez start on the wings, while Jordan Morris and Peter Kingston are available on the bench. Jackson Ragen returns to the starting lineup, replacing Stuart Hawkins at center back alongside Alex Roldán. Our Delta Starting XI v. RSL ⚡️ 📰: sndrs.com/xk7itxn2 | #SEAvRSL[image or embed]— Sounders FC (@soundersfc.com) September 23, 2026 at 5:41 p.m. Key moments3 – Corner. The first dangerous moment of the game comes for Seattle when Nouhou wins a corner, but Cristian Roldán’s header goes wide. 15′ – Shot. Arriola receives the ball from Rusnák on the left and takes it into the area, setting up his own shot but it misses the near top corner. 18′ – Chance. Kossa-Rienzi picks up the ball and puts it into the area, passing it to Musovski who cannot hold it, but Arriola runs towards him for a shot that is blocked. 36′ – Chance. The Sounders get the ball into a dangerous spot with some possession around the edge of the box on the right side, eventually winning a corner. 42′ – Danger. RSL goes on the attack as the Sounders struggle to break their rhythm, but Guilavogui cannot control the ball and takes a goal kick.45′ – Shot. Solans takes RSL’s first shot of the game after a quick transition, but his attempt to reach the top corner goes wide. HT – Subs. Seattle brings in Stuart Hawkins and Peter Kingston to start the half, replacing Kalani Kossa-Rienzi and Alex Roldan. 47′ – Swipe! Solans picks Ragen’s pocket, but the forward touches him too hard as he tries to round Thomas and the goalkeeper manages to deflect it. 48′ – GOAL! Danny Musovski opens it! He does a give and take with Arriola, takes a touch to prepare and hits his shot from outside the area close to the post! 1-0, Sounders saw it through to the end 🎯 What a shot by Moose to open the scoring![image or embed]— Sounders FC (@sundersfc.com) September 23, 2026 at 7:52 p.m. 50′ – Save! RSL comes down the other end and looks for a response, but Thomas reaches the top corner at his near post to push the ball in for a corner.62′ – Subs. Jordan Morris and Hassani Dotson enter the game replacing Snyder Brunell and Danny Musovski for the Sounders.64′ – Chance. Rusnák plays a pass to Morris, who gets into space, and Cabral gets a touch on his shot that keeps it out and takes it out to Gómez, who is lurking at the far post.67′ – Chance. Arriola pounces on a careless touch as RSL tries to come out from behind, but his attempt to put the ball in is blocked for a corner.70′ – Strip. RSL comes into danger when Guilavogui has the ball on the back line on the edge of the six-yard box, but Cristian Roldán dispossesses him and takes it out.71′ – Sub. Saba Lobjanidze replaces Luca Moisa in the RSL.73′ – GOAL! Albert Rusnák makes the second! With Morris in a central space and Gómez running into the open field on the left, Rusnák sees a window open and strikes from the edge of the area. 2-0, Sounders The boys let it fly 🫡[image or embed]— Sounders FC (@soundersfc.com) September 23, 2026 at 8:14 p.m. 78′ – Subs. RSL makes a triple change, incorporating Taylor Booth, Colin Guske and Lineker Rodrigues, replacing Morgan Guilavogui, Sergi Solans and Stijn Spierings.82′ – Sub. Caden Clark replaces Paul Arriola as Seattle’s latest change. 89′ – Chance! Nouhou takes a free kick from the edge of the area won by Rusnák and almost ducks it over the wall to catch Cabral off guard, but the goalkeeper manages to beat him and push him away. 90′ +4 – Stop. Thomas easily saves a dangerous shot as RSL pushes for a late response. Quick Thoughts You Gotta Buy a Ticket: In the last two games, the Sounders have scored 5 goals, and 4 of them have come from outside the 18-yard box. On a team that often seems to be waiting for the perfect opportunity, the perfect look, the properly constructed sequence to make a shot, it feels like a breath of fresh air to see players try their luck and be rewarded. In the first half of this game, where it seemed like neither side was going to score, the Sounders took 5 shots, but only one of them was from outside the box, as Gomez had an attempt blocked. In the second half, Seattle only took 6 shots, but half of them were from the edge of the box and a couple of them were converted into goals. Shooting from distance can’t be plan A, and it certainly can’t be the only plan, but with the number of capable shooters on the team, it’s worth making it something opposing teams have to keep in mind. There’s still work to be done: a win against a poor RSL team dealing with a substantial absentee list doesn’t mean all the problems are solved, even if the winless streak is over. There were plenty of sloppy moments and cause for concern, even if they went unpunished due to poor execution, quality recovery plays, or some combination of the two. The Sounders still look too easy to play at times, they can get caught out and are susceptible on the counterattack if they lose the ball pushed high in possession, their progression and possession in the final third can be too methodical and slow at times. But they also have a team capable of coming together to keep the game close and find scoring opportunities. They’ll need to do a lot more of that down the stretch, and it starts with the next two games in this home stand. Recover key pieces: Jackson Ragen and Cristian Roldán had not started together since the LAFC game on May 24. They’re not the only players who are important to the Sounders, but it’s notable that perhaps the two most important players at the two most important positions to the way the Sounders want to play haven’t been available together, and when they were, they often weren’t at their best. Ragen and Roldán may not be back to their best, but getting something resembling classic performances from them when they both went the full 90 minutes certainly helps illustrate the team’s path to success this season. Getting Morris back on the field and looking dangerous again doesn’t hurt either, nor does the imminent return of Yeimar, who was available off the bench tonight. The following men have done their best to keep the ship afloat, and we’ve learned a lot about future key contributors in the process, like Stuart Hawkins and Sebastian Gomez, but for the Sounders to be the best they can be they’ll need as many of their best players as possible. Featured Quote Brian Schmetzer: “The only constant with this group is that they are not giving up. They are doing everything they can to make this a meaningful season. That has never left the building.” Featured PlayerPaul Arriola He hasn’t been able to make the impact he or the team hoped for when he joined the Sounders, but he was a big part of this victory even beyond his two assists. He had 4 defensive contributions, 5 recoveries, won 4/5 duels and took the most shots with 3.
