The Seattle Sounders will be one of two MLS sides competing in the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, with Brian Schmetzer's team looking to make a statement performance in the competition.
Schmetzer, the lone MLS manager to ever win the CONCACAF Champions Cup, is also a two-time MLS Cup champion and a two-time runner-up in the MLS Championship game as head coach of the Western Conference side. Representing MLS on the touchline in the competition, one of the league's most talented managers will look to navigate the "Group of Death" when Seattle take on some of the world's best in this summer's competition.
"If we can pull out a result against any one of those three teams. That makes a statement that MLS is not so far behind some of the other teams in the world," Schmetzer told GOAL at MLS's Media Day.
Bolstered by MLS' best defense in 2024, the Sounders will look to be poised on and off the ball in the tournament - a strategy under which Schmetzer-led teams have always flourished.
With their stout defense comes a blockbuster attack that - when healthy - rivals all of MLS. The group features U.S. internationals Jesus Ferreira and Jordan Morris, while Argentine winger Pedro De La Vega is their X-factor.
Behind them, though, is perhaps the most talented player in Seattle's colors: 19-year-old Obed Vargas. The midfielder is one of the hottest commodities in the league, and is bound to compete at the highest level in Europe. He's someone Schmetzer has highlighted as a key player heading into the competition - and even someone they could move in the transfer market thereafter if he impresses, too.
A true underdog of the tournament, Seattle will look to shock the soccer world this summer.
The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup will be played in 12 stadiums in 11 U.S. cities, from the opener on June 14 until the final on July 13. In the U.S., fans can stream or watch matches on DAZN or TNT. Leading up to kickoff, GOAL will provide scouting reports on each of the 32 participating teams in the expanded field.
Next up is Seattle, with a look at key players to watch, and expectations for one of MLS' two representatives - along with Inter Miami - at the tournament.
