Sounder at Heart

1 week ago | sounderatheart.com | Jeremiah Oshan

SEATTLE — Knowing that if they were going to have any hope to advance that a result was absolutely necessary, the Seattle Sounders fell just short in their 2025 Club World Cup opener. Their 2-1 loss to reigning Copa Libertadores champions Botafogo was a serious blow, but that didn’t mean it was without positives. The Sounders managed to carry large parts of the game and put Botafogo under intense pressure throughout the second half.

2 weeks ago | sounderatheart.com | Jeremiah Oshan

SEATTLE — The grass is down and has settled in over the past couple of weeks. It has been trimmed to the perfect length and mowed in the classic alternating pattern. FIFA signage has filled Lumen Field and the immediate area outside. It’s very clear that the Club World Cup has now arrived, and with it the enormity of the opportunity. For years, the Sounders have talked about aching for the opportunity to play the world’s biggest clubs in a real competition. This is that chance.

2 weeks ago | sounderatheart.com | Jeremiah Oshan

Jeremiah and Niko Moreno get together for another episode of “What we learned this week” and they’re pretty much focused on the Club World Cup. In addition to giving a preview of Botafogo and a general sense of what we expect from the Sounders, they also gave an update on the state of negotiations between the players and owners over the bonuses. The good news: Albert Rusnák says the players will play. The bad news: they aren’t happy and don’t think the fight is over.

2 weeks ago | sounderatheart.com | Jeremiah Oshan

RENTON — Just about 24 hours from the start of the Club World Cup, there’s still no deal on how to share the prize pool between MLS players and ownership. A week ago, owners offered to give players an additional 20% of potential performance bonuses on top of the $1 million they’re already guaranteed, and a day later players countered with a request for 40% of the entire prize pool. There’s apparently been no movement either way since then.

2 weeks ago | sounderatheart.com | Charles Boehm

Competence can be boring. We all know the feelings we get from the dependable, the tried-and-true: the familiar rituals that give us structure, the colleagues you love at work who make things clearer and simpler for those around them, helping everyone get on with their lives. It’s a little different when our shift is over and we actually want to feel something, be it at the theater, a stadium, a concert or just sitting in front of our televisions at home.