Sounders Halftime Observations From Seattle’s Home Matchup Against Real Salt Lake, October 11th, 2025
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA - Thanks to Paul Rothrock’s goal very early into this match, our Seattle Sounders FC are leading Real Salt Lake in the Rave Green’s final home match of the 2025 MLS regular season. The Sounders have shown some strong attacking presence early into this match, but the opportunities created by Seattle shrunk as the first half started to near the midway break. The Sounders certainly look like they’re in strong position to finish their home slate in the regular season with three points, but there’s obviously still a full second half to play and it’ll be interesting to see what changes Brian Schmetzer will make to his already depleted first team.
Paul Rothrock starts red hot
From the first few minutes to start this match, the local man Paul Rothrock was creating dangerous opportunities for the Sounders and was able to capitalize for the matches opening score within the first five minutes. Rothrock’s relentless effort, something that he’s been commended for on numerous occasions the last few years as he’s bust onto the scene, has created plenty of issues for Real Salt Lake and it results in a goal pretty early into this game. Seattle’s wingers seem to have all the time on the world against this RSL side tonight, so it wouldn’t be a shock to see Paul get a brace or for Pedro de la Vega to find the back of the net as he’s had a couple decent chances running towards goal himself. The other reason we’re so amped about Rothrock? He seemed to initiate the teams goal celebration which paid tribute to the Seattle Mariners win dance. Give that man a blank check!
Danny Musovski looks like a good change for the Sounders
Jordan Morris has put himself into some solid spaces through the first 45 minutes of this match, and even had a chance to double the Sounders lead in the 15th minute after a review awarded Seattle with a penalty, but he hasn’t quite been able to capitalize yet. Since Morris has returned to health, he’s taken over the spot up top for the Sounders and while he’s gotten into good areas and has been just a few inches off from a goal at times. While it’s good to see him getting into these areas and producing some solid runs, we’d still like to see Musovski get into the match considering the sort of season that he’s put together here in 2025. Given the sort of play he’s shown so far and creating some quality looks, we certainly could see Schmetzer sticking with Morris for a good amount of the second half, though.
Seattle restricting all RSL looks
It’s mostly been all Sounders in this match so far, even though Seattle hasn’t glaringly dominated possession, and the home side has restricted any sort of looks that Real Salt Lake has even thought about. RSL’s expected goals comes out to a measly 0.15 through these first 45 minutes, with just four total shots in that first half and none of them coming on target. Stefan Frei hasn’t had to face much in goal for the Sounders, resulting in what could be a relatively stress free clean sheet. Perhaps we’ve just jinxed things or put bad energy into the universe by saying those two words just a half into this one, but it doesn’t at all appear that Salt Lake is going to be able to challenge the Sounders in this one given how things have looked and the sort of attack that Seattle has displayed.
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Cover photo and photos in this article by Aaron Benson. Check out our previous articles with photos by Aaron Benson here and his portfolio here.
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