If New England is the team to beat in the East then the Sounders are the powerhouse team in the West to beat. Can anyone stop the Sounders? It doesn’t appear so right now. No one can be too surprised that Seattle is in the form that they’re in so far in 2021. The reigning Western Conference champs have yet to lose a match in 2021 and this textbook display against the historically successful LA Galaxy was a testament to what this squad is going to be providing this year for MLS. LA has had a revival this year as Javier Hernandez has found new life for LA scoring in each of their last matches. Hopes were high that this would continue against the Sounders. They had other ideas.

The match would begin on a gorgeous night in the Pacific Northwest with Seattle debuting their new purple kits that paid homage to Seattle legend Jimmy Hendrix. These head turner kits would not be the only thing turning heads however. It would only take 19 minutes for Seattle to make their presence known when Brad Smith would cross a beautifully weighted ball into Raul Ruidiaz who finessed the ball off the volley with a striking blow to the lower right corner of the Galaxy’s net. With the fans going wild the atmosphere was clearly in Seattle’s favor. It was all Seattle from here. It was only a few minutes later when Seattle would go on the break that Brad Smith would get his chance to put one away for Seattle. Smith would redirect a cross on goal that was saved by LA but this save would only pop the ball up on a platter for Brad Smith to tap home seconds later sending Seattle into raptures and onto a 2-0 lead. LA would try and bounce back later into the half with a floated ball over the defense that put them on the break. However, Stefan Frei shut down the breakaway by getting his body in the way of the oncoming shot keeping the score level.

The second half would hold a similar fate for Seattle as early on in the half a lobbed ball over the defense would fall to an open Chicharito who would shockingly place it wide blowing an otherwise open chance on net. Time would tick on throughout the remainder of the match with little action from both sides as the back and forth continued. However, in the 80th minute a cross from Medranda would land on the head of a glancing Kelyn Rowe whose header would double doink off the crossbar, post and back out denying Seattle of a well deserved third goal. Medranda would get his actual assist only minutes later when he received a beautiful through ball which he would slot to the top of the pk marker for a running Ruidiaz who slotted it home cementing the win for the sounders and grabbing his brace for evening. This would bring the match to a close as a fantastic night for Seattle came to a close.

The Seattle Sounders continue to blow away the competition and they will hope to do just that again as they take on a tough Portland Timbers side next week. LA returns home to take on their rivals LAFC.

[Photos shot by ICONIC photographer Alejandro Sanchez]