Major League Soccer on Monday released the 2019 schedules of every team. You’ve seen the five Seattle Sounders home matches you won’t want to miss, now here are five critical away matches to keep an eye on (NOTE: matches listed in chronological order).
Seattle Sounders at Vancouver Whitecaps
Saturday, March 30
7 p.m. PT | TSN
The Cascadia action gets underway immediately as the Sounders head north of the border to take on the Whitecaps. Seattle won both of its meetings with Vancouver last year, bookending its MLS-record nine-match winning streak. Raúl RuidÃaz recorded a brace at BC Place in the away match last September and will look to start the year just as productive as he ended last season.
Seattle Sounders at LAFC
Sunday, April 21
4 p.m PT | FS1
The Sounders won’t have to wait too long for redemption against last year’s newcomers, who got the best of Seattle twice, each by a 1-0 scoreline. LAFC opened Banc of California Stadium against the Sounders and won in stoppage time on a free kick from Laurent Ciman. The matchup features plenty of star power and will be a primetime national broadcast for a reason.
Seattle Sounders at Columbus Crew SC
Saturday, July 6
4:30 p.m. PT
So we meet again, Caleb Porter. There won’t be any love lost for the former Portland Timbers head coach, who took the reins in Columbus last week following Gregg Berhalter’s departure for the United States men’s national team. Porter, who returns to Ohio where he previously coached the University of Akron, spent five seasons in Portland and won the 2015 MLS Cup. Porter went 4-7-4 in 15 regular-season matches against the Sounders.
Seattle Sounders at LA Galaxy
Saturday, Aug. 17
7 p.m. PT | ESPN2
Welcome back to MLS, Guillermo Barros Schelotto. The former MLS MVP and MLS Cup winner joins the Galaxy from Argentine giants Boca Juniors, who reached the Copa Libertadores final under Schelotto last month. Schelotto knows two Sounders very well: Chad Marshall, who was Schelotto’s teammate for four years at the Columbus Crew, and Nicolás Lodeiro, who briefly played for Schelotto at Boca before Lodeiro joined the Sounders in July 2016. This match is the first of two against the Galaxy in a three-game span and has the makings of a massive fixture near the end of the season.
Seattle Sounders at Portland Timbers
Friday, Aug. 23
7 p.m. PT | ESPN
These matches need little introduction. Seattle will be out for revenge after falling in last season’s Western Conference Championship on penalty kicks to the eventual Western Conference Champion Timbers. The Sounders will head to Providence Park at the end of a difficult three-match road swing, with visits to Real Salt Lake and the aforementioned Galaxy beforehand. Also, with the continued addition of expansion teams, this marks the first year since 2011 that Seattle and Portland will meet only twice in the regular season.
