After rugged Club World Cup lessons, Sounders face Austin FC

When the Seattle Sounders resume MLS play Saturday night against visiting Austin FC, they will look to make use of lessons learned during the FIFA Club World Cup.

The Sounders went 0-3-0 in the international tournament, but they played in what was considered the toughest group with South American champion Botafogo (a 2-1 loss), perennial La Liga powerhouse Atletico Madrid (a 3-1 defeat) and UEFA Champions League winner Paris Saint-Germain (a 2-0 setback).

"Our quality in front of goal, our composure needs to get better," Sounders midfielder Cristian Roldan said. "That was a point of emphasis for us going into this year, and we really saw it in this tournament. When these giants have their opportunity, they take full advantage of it. If there's something that we can take away from this big tournament is how we can be better in the boxes."

Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer added, "I was very pleased with the intensity that the players showed. That's something we're going to reinforce for the remainder of our MLS season because that was one of the things that we really focused on. The second was the technical ability under pressure. That's what these teams have. And sometimes we were a little loose."

Austin FC (7-7-5, 26 points) and the Sounders (7-6-5, 26 points) are part of a four-way tie with the San Jose Earthquakes and Los Angeles FC for fifth place in the Western Conference.

Austin was idle last weekend after a 2-1 home victory against the New York Red Bulls on June 14. Brandon Vazquez scored the winner in that match, his team-leading fifth MLS goal of the season.

Vazquez and goalkeeper Brad Stuver were named this week to the MLS All-Star team that will play the Liga MX All-Stars on July 23 at Q2 Stadium in Austin.

"You can just see the chemistry is building. The group is coming together at the right time, and hopefully we can push that through the summer," said Stuver, noting Austin has earned positive results at Seattle each of the past two seasons (a 2-1 victory in 2023 and a 0-0 draw last year).

"We can already think about getting three points there."

The Sounders will be without suspended defenders Nouhou Tolo and Jon Bell. They received red cards in their last MLS match before the international break.

--Field Level Media