The 2019 Seattle Sounders FC season was the club's eleventh season in Major League Soccer, the United States' top-tier of professional soccer. The 2019 season was Brian Schmetzer's third full MLS season as head coach of the Sounders. Seattle-based Zulily became the official jersey sponsor of the Sounders in the 2019 season.
Sounders FC won their second MLS Cup title at the end of the season, playing in front of a franchise-record 69,274 fans at CenturyLink Field.
Background
Recap
In January 2019, the Sounders announced that their USL-affiliated team, Seattle Sounders FC 2, that had moved to Tacoma, Washington would be re-branded as the Tacoma Defiance. In addition, the club announced that Zulily would replace Xbox as the jersey sponsor after signing a multi-year deal.
Long-time midfielder Osvaldo Alonso, who had served as captain and been with the club since its inaugural MLS season, was released into free agency and signed with Minnesota United FC in January 2019. Defender Chad Marshall, who had joined in 2014, announced his retirement from professional soccer on May 22, leaving mid-way through the season.
On August 2, defender Román Torres was suspended for ten matches after testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance by the league.
The Sounders clinched a spot in the 2020 CONCACAF Champions League by virtue of having the 4th best record in the regular season and making it to the Western Conference Finals in the Playoffs; the three other teams in the Conference Finals had also clinched berths in the Champions League or were ineligible (in the case of Toronto FC).
Roster
Competitions
Preseason
Mobile Mini Sun Cup
Other
Friendlies
Major League Soccer
League tables
Western Conference
Overall
Results
MLS Cup Playoffs
U.S. Open Cup
Statistics
Appearances and goals
Numbers after plus-sign(+) denote appearances as a substitute.
[TAC] – Defiance player
Top scorers {| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%; text-align: center;" |- !width=30|Rank !width=30|Position !width=30|Number !width=175|Name !width=75| !width=75| !width=75| !width=75|Total |- |rowspan="1"|1 |FW |10 |align=left| Raúl Ruidíaz |11 |4 |0 |15 |- |rowspan="1"|2 |FW |13 |align=left| Jordan Morris |10 |3 |0 |13 |- |rowspan="1"|3 |MF |10 |align=left| Nicolás Lodeiro |7 |2 |0 |9 |- |rowspan="2"|4 |MF |7 |align=left| Cristian Roldan |6 |0 |0 |6 |- |DF |18 |align=left| Kelvin Leerdam |5 |1 |0 |6 |- |rowspan="1"|6 |MF |19 |align=left| Harry Shipp |5 |0 |0 |5 |- |rowspan="1"|7 |MF |8 |align=left| Víctor Rodríguez |2 |1 |1 |4 |- |rowspan="1"|8 |FW |17 |align=left| Will Bruin |2 |0 |0 |2 |- |rowspan="3"|11 |MF |4 |align=left| Gustav Svensson |0 |1 |0 |1 |- |DF |29 |align=left| Román Torres |1 |0 |0 |1 |- |MF |70 |align=left| Handwalla Bwana |1 |0 |0 |1
Top assists {| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%; text-align: center;" |- !width=30|Rank !width=30|Position !width=30|Number !width=175|Name !width=75| !width=75| !width=75| !width=75|Total |- |rowspan="1"|1 |MF |10 |align=left| Nicolás Lodeiro |12 |4 |0 |16 |- |rowspan="2"|3 |DF |11 |align=left| Brad Smith |6 |1 |0 |7 |- |FW |13 |align=left| Jordan Morris |6 |1 |0 |7 |- |rowspan="1"|4 |FW |9 |align=left| Raúl Ruidíaz |3 |3 |0 |6 |- |rowspan="1"|5 |MF |7 |align=left| Cristian Roldan |4 |1 |0 |5 |- |rowspan="2"|6 |MF |4 |align=left| Gustav Svensson |1 |3 |0 |4 |- |DF |33 |align=left| Joevin Jones |2 |2 |0 |4 |- |rowspan="2"|8 |MF |8 |align=left| Víctor Rodríguez |3 |0 |0 |3 |- |MF |19 |align=left| Harry Shipp |3 |0 |0 |3 |- |rowspan="1"|10 |MF |18 |align=left| Kelvin Leerdam |2 |0 |0 |2 |- |rowspan="5"|11 |MF |16 |align=left| Alex Roldan |1 |0 |0 |1 |- |FW |17 |align=left| Will Bruin |1 |0 |0 |1 |- |DF |20 |align=left| Kim Kee-hee |1 |0 |0 |1 |- |MF |21 |align=left| Jordy Delem |1 |0 |0 |1 |- |MF |70 |align=left| Handwalla Bwana |1 |0 |0 |1
Disciplinary record {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" |- | rowspan="2" !width=15| | rowspan="2" !width=15| | rowspan="2" !width=120|Player | colspan="3"|MLS | colspan="3"|MLS Playoffs | colspan="3"|U.S. Open Cup | colspan="3"|Total |- !width=34; background:#fe9;| !width=34; background:#fe9;| !width=34; background:#ff8888;| !width=34; background:#fe9;| !width=34; background:#fe9;| !width=34; background:#ff8888;| !width=34; background:#fe9;| !width=34; background:#fe9;| !width=34; background:#ff8888;| !width=34; background:#fe9;| !width=34; background:#fe9;| !width=34; background:#ff8888;|
|| 3 || |DF ||align=left| Jonathan Campbell || |1|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |1|| |0|| |0
|| 4 || |MF ||align=left| Gustav Svensson || |1|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |1|| |0|| |0
|| 5 || |DF ||align=left| Nouhou Tolo || |5|| |0|| |0|| |1|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |6|| |0|| |0
|| 7 || |MF ||align=left| Cristian Roldan || |4|| |0|| |1 || |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |4|| |0|| |1
|| 8 || |MF ||align=left| Víctor Rodríguez || |1|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |1|| |0|| |0
|| 9 || |FW ||align=left| Raúl Ruidíaz || |0|| |0|| |0|| |1|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |1|| |0|| |0
|| 10 || |MF ||align=left| Nicolás Lodeiro || |7|| |0|| |0|| |1|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|||8|| |0|| |0
|| 12 || |DF ||align=left| Saad Abdul-Salaam || |2|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |2|| |0|| |0
|| 13 || |FW ||align=left| Jordan Morris || |2|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |2|| |0|| |0
|| 15 || |MF ||align=left| Emanuel Cecchini || |1|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |1|| |0|| |0
|| 16 || |MF ||align=left| Alex Roldan || |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |1|| |0|| |0|| |1|| |0|| |0
|| 17 || |FW ||align=left| Will Bruin || |1|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |1|| |0|| |0|| |2|| |0|| |0
|| 18 || |DF ||align=left| Kelvin Leerdam || |7|| |0|| |1|| |1|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |8|| |0|| |1
|| 19 || |MF ||align=left| Harry Shipp || |1|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|||1|| |0|| |0
|| 20 || |DF ||align=left| Kim Kee-hee || |6|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |6|| |0|| |0
|| 21 || |MF ||align=left| Jordy Delem || |4|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|||4|| |0|| |0
|| 24 || |GK ||align=left| Stefan Frei || |1|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|||1|| |0|| |0
|| 25 || |DF ||align=left| Xavier Arreaga || |1|| |2|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |1|| |2|| |0
|| 29 || |DF ||align=left| Román Torres || |2|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |2|| |0|| |0
|| 22 || |DF ||align=left| Joevin Jones || |2|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |2|| |0|| |0
|| 70 || |MF ||align=left| Handwalla Bwana || |1|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|||1|| |0|| |0
|| 75 || |MF ||align=left| Danny Leyva || |1|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|| |0|||1|| |0|| |0
!colspan=3|Total !!51!!2!!2!!4!!0!!0!!2!!0!!0!!58!!2!!2
Honors and awards
MLS Team of the Week WeekPlayerOpponentPositionRef1 Jordan MorrisFC Cincinnati FW Nicolás Lodeiro MF Víctor Rodríguez Bench2 Kelvin Leerdam Colorado Rapids DF 3 Nicolás LodeiroChicago Fire SC MF Jordan Morris Bench5 Stefan Frei Vancouver Whitecaps FC GK 7 Will Bruin Toronto FC FW 9 Brad Smith San Jose Earthquakes & Los Angeles FC DF 10 Cristian Roldan Minnesota United FC Bench 11 Cristian Roldan Houston Dynamo MF 12 Brad SmithOrlando City SC & Philadelphia Union Bench Stefan Frei Bench13 Kelvin Leerdam Sporting Kansas City Bench 17 Kelvin Leerdam Vancouver Whitecaps FC DF 18 Nicolás Lodeiro Columbus Crew SC MF 19 Cristian Roldan Atlanta United FC MF 21 Nouhou Tolo Houston Dynamo DF 25 Jordan Morris Portland Timbers Bench 26 Cristian Roldan LA Galaxy MF 27 Stefan Frei Colorado Rapids Bench 28 Jordan MorrisNew York Red Bulls FW Nicolás Lodeiro Bench30 Jordan Morris San Jose Earthquakes Bench 31 Román Torres Minnesota United FC DF
Bold indicates Audi Player Index Spotlight
Italics indicates MLS Player of the Week
MLS Goal of the Week WeekPlayerOpponentRef6 Nicolás Lodeiro Real Salt Lake 19 Raúl Ruidíaz Atlanta United FC 21 Jordan Morris Houston Dynamo
MLS awards
PlayerAward Jordan Morris MLS Comeback Player of the Year Víctor Rodríguez MLS Cup MVP
StaffmemberAward Garth Lagerwey MLS Sporting Executive of the Year
Transfers
For transfers in, dates listed are when Sounders FC officially signed the players to the roster. Transactions where only the rights to the players are acquired are not listed. For transfers out, dates listed are when Sounders FC officially removed the players from its roster, not when they signed with another club. If a player later signed with another club, his new club will be noted, but the date listed here remains the one when he was officially removed from Sounders FC roster.
In
No.Pos.PlayerTransferred fromFee/notesDateSource3 Chicago Fire Traded for a fourth-round pick in the 2020 MLS SuperDraft 1 Indiana University Signed HGP Deal 12 New York City FC Rights acquired in exchange for $50,000 TAM 75 Tacoma Defiance Signed HGP Deal 87 Tacoma Defiance Signed HGP Deal 33 SV Darmstadt 98 TAM signing 25 Barcelona S.C. DP contract 99 Tacoma Defiance 15 Málaga CF On loan through the end of the 2020 MLS season 23 FC Honka
Draft picks
Draft picks are not automatically signed to the team roster. Only those who are signed to a contract will be listed as transfers in. Only trades involving draft picks and executed after the start of 2019 MLS SuperDraft will be listed in the notes.
DatePlayerNumberPositionPrevious clubNotesRef January 11, 2019 Tucker Bone40MF Air Force Academy MLS SuperDraft 1st Round Pick (#20) January 11, 2019 Joel Rydstrand42MF Creighton University MLS SuperDraft 2nd Round Pick (#44) January 14, 2019 Aleks Berkolds59DF San Diego State University MLS SuperDraft 3rd Round Pick (#68)
Out
No.Pos.PlayerTransferred toFee/notesDateSource25 Loudoun United FC Option declined 15 C.D. Guadalajara Option declined 99 Option declined 6 Minnesota United FC Free agent 27 Tacoma Stars Free agent 11 Retired Out of contract 90 Columbus Crew SC Traded for $50,000 in GAM 30 Sacramento Republic FC Waived 14 Retired Retired due to injury 23 Molde FK Undisclosed Fee
Other transactions
On July 10, 2019, the Sounders signed 8-year-old goalkeeper Bheem Goyal to a first-team contract as part of a Make-a-Wish Foundation partnership. On August 27, 2019, Seattle Sounders FC received $100,000 in general allocation money from Nashville SC in exchange for the discovery rights for Hany Mukhtar.
Notes A. Players who are under contract with Tacoma Defiance.
References