SEATTLE – Somebody had to do it.
Sounders midfielder Cristian Roldan stood over the spot, cupping the ball with an electric Lumen Field vibrating around him. Teammate Georgi Minougou won the club a penalty kick late in their Leagues Cup match against Inter Miami, a needed goal to possibly seal a win. Paul Rothrock then moved close to Roldan.
But the Roldan handed it off to his younger brother Alex. The right back calmly slotted a right-footed shot into goal in the 84th minute. It was the cushion the Sounders needed for an eventual 3-0 championship win.
As the minutes ticketed off the clock, it was easy to forget soccer’s greatest player regardless of gender was even on the field. Lionel Messi has played in 33 team championship matches stretching from FC Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and Miami in his storied career and scored 33 goals with 13 assists in them.
Messi and Miami (4-1-1) were shutout Sunday in the loss. Seattle (5-0-1) won its first Leagues Cup title, becoming the first MLS team to win every major North American title possible for a U.S.-based club. Seattle also earned a bye into the Round of 16 of the 2026 CONCACAF Champions Cup tournament.
The LA Galaxy defeated Orlando City 2-1 in the third-place to clinch the third CCC berth. The Galaxy are last in MLS standings, making the Leagues Cup tournament a season-saver for the defending MLS Cup champions.
An entertaining match became unhinged at the final whistle when Miami forward Luis Suárez, 38, rushed Sounders midfielder Obed Vargas, 20, and put him in a headlock. A five-minute brawl broke out in the middle of the field with the crowd turning cheers into boos at the sight.
Once calm, the trophy ceremony stage was moved onto the field. The Leagues Cup trophy is the fifth the Sounders have won on their own turf.
Seattle had precise passes and pressed with urgency to create multiple chances in the first half. The opening goal came from a smart look from Jesús Ferreira in the midfield to Alex Roldan on the right wing. The latter powered a cross into the box for forward Osaze De Rosario to head behind keeper Óscar Ustari in the 26th minute.
De Rosario, who was signed in May from the club’s MLS Next Pro side Tacoma Defiance, has started the past two Leagues Cup matches due to forward Jordan Morris being out with a shoulder injury and backup Danny Musovski being suspended for being shown a red card in the quarterfinal win. De Rosario has four goals in the tournament.
After a needed halftime for both teams, Suárez had two pristine passes that should’ve been converted into goals. But Messi sent a left-footed shot deep in the box high of goal in the 50th minute.
In the 60th minute, midfielder Tadeo Allende wasted a deft cutback pass from Suárez by sending the shot wide of goal. The Argentine laid on the Lumen turf covering his face in disbelief.
Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer made his first substitutions shortly after the play. He brought on youthful, fresh legs in midfielder Kalani Kossa-Rienzi for Pedro de la Vega and midfielder Danny Leyva for De Rosario.
Minoungou entered the match in the 78th minute for Ferreira.
Rothrock had the game’s third goal in the 89th minute.
Messi’s reintroduction to Seattle was met with boisterous boos nearly every time he touched the ball. Vargas personified the unwelcoming setting by hounding the soccer legend and plucking the ball away whenever possible.
By the 38th minute, Sounders winger de la Vega, an Argentine who still idolizes Messi, was in a spat with his countryman and had to be controlled by referee Juan Calderon Perez. The issue seemed to be de la Vega kicking the ball on a restart that Miami midfielder Rodrigo De Paul was preparing to take.
A record 69,314 were in attendance. It topped the clubs previous mark of 69,274 set for its 2019 MLS Cup win. It also surpassed the Leagues Cup single-match mark attendance record of 50,675 set in July 2024 between MLS’s San Jose Earthquakes and Mexico’s Chivas de Guadalajara at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.
The stands were sprinkled with Miami’s pink but it was clear from the “Boom-boom clap” that it was a Sounders crowd. The club added to the atmosphere by announcing Sunday afternoon it would swap any Messi jersey with one of forward Paul Rothrock’s, capping the offer at 100 jerseys.
The marketing push is in line with the club’s ethos of developing and progressing talent through their system and prioritizing forming a team with depth and not constantly paying high-price transfer fees for veteran international stars.
Leagues Cup is a tournament between MLS and Liga MX. It started in 2019 and had multiple rules and format changes. It’s always been akin to an MLS invitational because the matches are only played in the U.S., requiring the Mexican teams to travel and stay in U.S. cities for long periods.
This year’s in-season tournament featured all 18 Liga MX teams and 18 from MLS. The leagues ensured playing against each other with three Phase One matches where each league had separate standings. The top four from each advanced to the single-elimination knockout rounds and Seattle earned the right to host the final due to finishing atop the MLS table.
Sunday’s final concludes Seattle’s jampacked summer of soccer. Schmetzer gave the players a four-day break, which coincides with a FIFA men international break. Seattle resumes MLS play Sept. 13 against the Galaxy at Lumen. They’ll travel to play Miami in a regular season match on Sept. 16 at Chase Stadium in Florida.