Marked for Tommy Thompson
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 Feb 2027
A fracture rules Jordan Morris out for 16 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Seattle Sounders will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Nouhou knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Seattle Sounders, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Tommy Thompson has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Seattle Sounders will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Seattle Sounders would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Nouhou has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad11 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Jordan Morris out for 46 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Seattle Sounders will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad11 Jan 2027
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Market11 Jan 2027
Add another name to the list: Chiapas have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Andrew Thomas. The answer from Seattle Sounders has not changed — yet.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Cody Baker in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Seattle Sounders this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Tommy Thompson is on it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Jordan Morris out for 79 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Seattle Sounders will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Stuart Hawkins is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Juan Torres and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Tommy Thompson has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Seattle Sounders will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Loan watch14 Dec 2026
15 appearances away from home and 6 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager makes Paul Rothrock a promise
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The dugout
The manager plants his flag on Nouhou
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Loan watch
Decision time nears on Cody Baker
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad16 Nov 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Seattle Sounders will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Jordan Morris and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jackson Ragen, and the manager let it.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Jesus Ferreira knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Seattle Sounders, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Oct 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Seattle Sounders will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.37, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad19 Oct 2026
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Match17 Oct 2026
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Danny Musovski
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Tommy Thompson is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Aug 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Seattle Sounders, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match29 Aug 2026
A 2‑1 win over San Jose Earthquakes, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.06 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad31 Aug 2026
5 Seattle Sounders players away with their countries
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 5 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
Ryan Sailor gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Connor Ferreira on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Seattle Sounders training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ryan Schewe is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
Jordan Morris dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The one goal every signing is asked about until it comes. It has come, and a press-conference question has been retired.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Aug 2026
0‑1 against Chicago Fire, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Market24 Aug 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Seattle Sounders, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Seattle Sounders — 7.84
1 for Cristian Roldan, marked 7.84, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Juan Torres did the work nobody counts — 7.00
15 combined actions and 7.00. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Match22 Aug 2026
1‑3 to Real Salt Lake, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Nouhou was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Seattle Sounders training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hassani Dotson is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Yeimar Gómez Andrade's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
Tommy Thompson gets it from the manager
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Player ratings
Álex Roldán runs at them all day