The Seattle Sounders are hosting Liga MX side Santos Laguna on Sunday on Matchday 2 of Phase One of the 2025 Leagues Cup. Here is everything you need to know:
WHEN AND WHERE: Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. PT at Lumen Field (TICKETS).
WHERE TO WATCH: The match will be televised on FS1, UniMás and TUDN. It will also be available to watch on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.
WHERE TO LISTEN: The match will air in Spanish on El Rey 1360AM.
LEAGUES CUP FORMAT: The 2025 Leagues Cup features all 18 Liga MX teams and the top 18 qualifying clubs from MLS. Teams are divided into Eastern and Western regions and grouped into tiers based on 2024 league performance. Each club will play three group stage matches against teams from the opposing league with no draws allowed. Matches that end with the score level go straight to penalty shootouts with both teams receiving a point and the winner of the shootout receiving an additional point. The top four clubs from each league will advance to the Knockout Rounds beginning with the quarterfinals. From there, it’s a single-elimination sprint to the Leagues Cup Final on Aug. 31.
WHAT’S AT STAKE: In addition to continental bragging rights, the top three finishers from Leagues Cup will secure automatic bids to the 2026 Concacaf Champions Cup. The champion will receive a direct spot in the Round of 16.
ABOUT SANTOS LAGUNA: Founded in 1983, the Torreón-based club plays its home matches at Estadio Corona. Los Guerreros have six Liga MX titles and were twice runners-up in the Concacaf Champions Cup.
CURRENT FORM: Santos sit in 11th in the Liga MX Apertura table with three points through three matches (1-2-0).
OPENING MATCH RESULTS:
Sounders: Defeated Cruz Azul 7-0
Santos Laguna: Lost to the Colorado Rapids 2-1
HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Sounders and Santos Laguna met in the 2012 Concacaf Champions Cup (née Concacaf Champions League) Quarterfinals in 2012. The Sounders won the first leg in Seattle 2-1 before falling 6-1 in the return leg in Mexico with future Sounders forward Herculez Gomez recording a brace in that match. The Sounders exacted continental revenge in 2021 by knocking Santos out of the Leagues Cup in the Semifinals behind a stoppage-time winner from Raúl Ruidíaz.
SOUNDERS ROLLING: Seattle enters Sunday on the heels of the largest margin of victory in club history. The Sounders downed reigning CCC champions Cruz Azul 7-0 on Thursday — it was the largest-ever margin of victory by an MLS team over a Liga MX team — to make it seven consecutive matches unbeaten in all competitions (4-0-3) while scoring 21 goals.
PUSKÁS DE LA VEGA: Sounders winger Pedro de la Vega recorded a brace off the bench against Cruz Azul including punctuating the match with a Puskás Award-worthy volley for the team’s seventh goal.
Leagues Cup 2025
The battle for North America is back and it’s bigger than ever.
This summer, 36 of the best — all 18 clubs from Liga MX and the top 18 qualifying teams from MLS — will clash for regional supremacy, with the top three finishers punching their ticket to the Concacaf Champions Cup.
BRUNELL DEBUTS: Two days after the Sounders signed Homegrown midfielder Snyder Brunell to a First Team contract from Tacoma Defiance, the 18-year-old Kirkland, Wash., native came on as a second-half substitute against Cruz Azul.
TWO ON THE BOUNCE FOR DE ROSARIO: It’s been instant impact off the bench for forward Osaze De Rosario, who, like Brunell, was signed from Tacoma earlier this year. He has two goals in his last two matches and is keeping the famous De Rosario name alive and well in MLS.
ACEVEDO SUSPENDED: Santos will notably be without starting goalkeeper Carlos Acevedo, who was sent off against Colorado in the seventh minute of stoppage time.
SANTOS LAGUNA PLAYERS TO WATCH:
- Ramiro Sordo, F: The 25-year-old winger has two goal in three matches to start the Liga MX Apertura campaign. He joined Santos in 2024 from Newell’s Old Boys in his native Argentina.
- Jordan Carrillo, M: Carrillo scored Santos’ goal against Colorado and will look to orchestrate much of the attack in the final third. The 23-year-old Mexican international was part of Santos’ youth academy and previously spent time on loan in Spain with Sporting Gijón.
- Cristian Dájome, M: The Sounders will be plenty familiar with Dájome, who spent three-plus years in Cascadia with the Vancouver Whitecaps. The 31-year-old Colombian is in his first season with Santos after joining on a free from D.C. United earlier this year.
