Sounders Halftime Observations From Seattle’s Home Cascadia Matchup Against Vancouver, September 27th, 2025
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA - In the first of two critical Cascadia matchups in a span of two weeks, our Seattle Sounders FC are scoreless at the halftime break against the Vancouver Whitecaps FC. The biggest story of the first half isn’t actually relating to play in the match and rather on injuries suffered by defenders Alex Roldan and Yeimar Gómez Andrade, with the two instances coming in a seven minute span. The Sounders had some strong possession in this first half, but really couldn’t get a notable attempt on Whitecaps goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka through the first 45. Here are a few observations from the first half between Seattle and Vancouver.
Injuries mar first half performance
Perhaps the most notable occurrences in this first half came within the first 15 minutes, as defenders Alex Roldan and Yeimar Gómez Andrade both had to leave the match with injuries. Roldan went down before the ten minute mark but got back up and attempted to play through, before going back down on the pitch less than two minutes later. Nothing will be confirmed until later in the match or until the post match press conference with head coach Brian Schmetzer, but it appeared that Alex was signaling towards the Seattle bench that it was a groin injury. Roldan was replaced by University of Washington alum Kalani Kossa-Rienzi in the 11th minute of the match.
Yeimar went down just a few minutes later, appearing to hyperextend himself in the corner going for the ball before hobbling along for a brief moment prior to finally going down on the field. It looks like a leg injury for the Colombian defender, coming in the non-contact variety, as he was subbed off for Kim Kee-Hee in the 18th minute of the match. It’s an extremely frustrating seven minute span, as two starting defenders came out to add to the list of notable injuries the club is already dealing with.
Sounders made key stops
The Whitecaps own the more dangerous looks int he first 45 minutes of this Cascadia clash, as Tate Johnson had a shot from the center of the box blocked and Ali Ahmed was able to beat Kalani Kossa-Rienzi up the field but his eventual cross bounced around and didn’t beat Stefan Frei in goal for the Sounders. There were two key instances of a dangerous ball within the box for Vancouver, but both of those opportunities ultimately were denied by Seattle with key blocks and at one point a leaping punching effort from Frei. The Whitecaps easily could’ve played pinball and gotten the ball to sneak through but the Sounders were able to hold strong and got a little bit of luck in there as well.
Offense could use a spark
Besides Paul Rothrock on the left wing for Seattle, the Sounders attacking front hasn’t shown much in terms of danger against Vancouver here to begin this match. The runs coming from those not wearing the number 14 shirt have lacked life and you’d have to imagine that Seattle will be looking to make a change, even with limited windows to make substitutions following the injuries to Alex and Yeimar. Looking at the bench for this match, look to see Danny Musovski or Pedro de La Vega come on sooner rather than later.
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