By Charles Hamaker 

Seattle, WA – The struggle that’s been the beginning of the 2024 campaign for the Seattle Sounders FC seemed to drag its pessimism into this contest in a few forms, despite the sort of upbeat demeanor that had been shown by the players throughout the week of training. Thankfully, the long awaited first win of the season for the Rave Green came in the form of a 5-0 onslaught of visiting CF Montreal, as Seattle wasn’t kind to their Canadian visitors from the jump. Sounders all-time goal scoring leader Raúl Ruidíaz added to his running total, scoring two goals within a span of seven minutes in the first half to give Seattle a lead that they’d never relinquish. With Ruidíaz chasing that third goal for the hat trick all night long, the Sounders never let their foot off the gas as three second-half goals help nail the coffin shut to give Seattle their first victory on the season to let the club and their fans breath a massive sigh of relief after a painful first five matches of the year. Add a clean sheet to that goal outburst, and you’ve got a result that the club will be looking to build upon as we move forward through the long winding MLS season. 

Seattle Sounders FC forward Raul Ruidiaz celebrates his goal that opened the scoring, a volley from the corner of the CF Montreal box. (Photos by Rio Giancarlo)

Raul’s rocket and penalty give Sounders a lead at half 

From the get-go, the Seattle Sounders controlled this match with their offensive pace of play and never really had to deal with much in the form of an opposing push from CF Montreal. Unlike in more than a few of their matches to begin this season, the Sounders were able to make that offensive momentum actually mean something in the 20th minute. A free kick in towards the box by Seattle midfielder Albert Rusnak was initially going far post for teammate and defender Jackson Ragen, but instead of having an attempt towards goal the ball ended up in the corner outside corner of the box nearest the far post where Ragen had been. Flying in came Raúl Ruidíaz, lurking around the top of the box, beating two Montreal players to that ball and volleying a shot with his left foot that curled beautifully over a few more Montreal players and out of the reach of goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois to get the Sounders on the board and give Seattle some much needed momentum early into this match.  

Just three minutes after that goal, the Sounders were pressing offensively once again as they sought a second score to add to their advantage, and they’d be able to do so albeit a bit delayed. A Jordan Morris header near the top of the Montreal box was supposed to perfectly lead teammate Albert Rusnak, who had a head of steam, charging into the box with the opportunity and plenty of space around him for a strong volley. Rusnak was instead tripped by Montreal defender Joel Waterman, and initially no penalty was given by head referee Filip Dujic. Play ran for a bit, but a video review ensued after the first whistle after that match and upon that review, a penalty was granted to the Sounders. As he has for some time, Raúl Ruidíaz stepped up to the spot for the penalty and buried it, not using a Panenka this time but rather blasting a shot to his left. The ball evaded Montreal keeper Jonathan Sirois, diving correctly to his right but failing to react just in time, and Seattle’s lead saw itself push to two goals, both scored by Ruidíaz. 

Seattle Sounders FC forward Raul Ruidiaz celebrates his second goal of the night to complete his brace and celebrates with the fans at Lumen Field following the clubs 5-0 win over CF Montreal on Saturday, April 6th, 2024. (Photos by Rio Giancarlo)

Salting away Seattle’s first win of 2024 

With a two-goal lead already theirs and no real showing of a dangerous chance by Montreal outside of the header from Joaquin Sosa in the 38th minute of the match that was saved excellently by Stefan Frei in net for Seattle, the Sounders could’ve felt as though they had the opportunity to just waste away the 45 minutes in the second half and cruise to their first win of the season. Considering how their season has gone so far, thankfully that wasn’t how Seattle played the rest of this match, as they pressed hard to continue forward and add on to their lead including the effort of Raúl Ruidíaz as he sought the final goal for a potential hat trick. That wouldn’t come, unfortunately, but the Sounders did tack on three more goals throughout the course of the second half to fully cement their first victory of the season and make it so that the total goals they scored tonight equaled that of those they’ve scored all season coming into this match combined.  

Seattle got to adding to their lead quickly out of the halftime break, as forward Jordan Morris used a backheel that bounced off a Montreal defender and goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois to become the third Sounders goal of the match, coming off a nice cross into the box by Cristian Roldan. Some more brilliant passing saw Seattle add their fourth goal of the night, after Montreal’s Nathan Saliba had seen a second yellow card that resulted in a red to leave his team down to ten men, as Raul Ruidiaz found a streaking Albert Rusnak coming into the box. Rusnak, who could’ve opted for the selfish route and taken a shot, saw that defender Alex Roldan had completed his run into the box and fed him for the easy tap in on a wide-open net as Sirois in net never saw Roldan charging in as he was fully focused on Rusnak. The final cherry on top of this satisfying victory for the Rave Green came in the final minute of stoppage time, as University of Washington product Dylan Teves was got behind the Montreal backline and forward Danny Musovski spotted that, as Teves scored on an off-balance shot to beat Sirois and put the fifth goal on the board for Seattle. Happy days, spreading the wealth around, and the first Sounders win of the season, completed with five goals and a clean sheet. 

Seattle Sounders FC forward and Mercer Island native Jordan Morris celebrates his first goal of the season in the clubs 5-0 victory over CF Montreal at Lumen Field on Saturday, April 7th, 2024. (Photos by Rio Giancarlo)

It’s been 84 years (not really, 148 days since the last win that mattered) 

For all intents and purposes, the Sounders needed this sort of victory after the way that the season has played out for them to kick things off in the year 2024. Whether it was how the number of goals that Seattle scored tonight was more than they’d tallied so far this season in their previous matches combined, just getting that first win out of the way, or being able to do so at home since that’s been somewhat of an issue over the past few years. While the Nouhou injury sucks, and it doesn’t necessarily sound as though it’ll be the end of the world if we’re taking any sort of stock in the comments made by head coach Brian Schmetzer post-match, Cody Baker has been a strong fill in at the outside back position when needed this season and when we were able to see him last year. All their issues haven’t been solved with this victory over Montreal, but the Sounders have lots of reason to feel better about themselves moving forward and especially as their next match comes against an FC Dallas club that’s banged up. 

That’s not to say that Seattle shouldn’t feel good about this result, but rather to get you in the mindset that things can and should only get better for the Sounders as their season progresses forward. We’re not even ten matches into the season yet, and while the club is just now recording their first win here in the sixth match of the year, the reasons for concern weren’t going to be ones that were going to tank the rest of the season despite what your uncle on Facebook is commenting in the Sounders FC groups. While the attacking and finishing play should’ve been much better than it was in those first five matches, most minutes that we’ve seen from Seattle so far haven’t been as though they’re the worst club that’s ever-set foot on an MLS pitch. Looking at the big picture here, we saw Joao Paulo get into action as a substitute in the 79th minute, Cody Baker was very good in his relief of Nouhou following the Cameroonian left backs injury. Take those notes and consider that this Sounders club will be getting Pedro de La Vega back at some point in the next month or so and Leo Chu could be getting back into things as soon as next week. Surely Seattle will be looking to be cautious with both of those players and any other members of the injury list, simply with how much ailment the roster has dealt with this year already, but the point is that things are going to get better for the Sounders, and this should be just the start. 

Seattle Sounders FC forward and University of Washington alum Dylan Teves celebrates his second career MLS goal and the teams 5th score on the night in the 5-0 victory over CF Montreal at Lumen Field on Saturday, April 6th, 2024. (Photos by Rio Giancarlo)

Quick Sounders notes 

• 30,013 was the announced attendance at Lumen Field for this match between CF Montreal and Seattle Sounders FC 

  • That’s 43% capacity of Lumen Field  

• The Pacific Blue elevator won tonight’s race 

  • 2024 Leaderboard 

    • Pacific Blue: 1 win 

    • Heritage Aqua: 1 win 

    • Rave Green: 1 win 

      • Gold elevator has still been relegated 

• Former Seattle Mariners Hall of Famer and catcher Dan Wilson was the ceremonial “Scarves up Seattle” presenter  

• Sounders FC earns its first win of the season, jumping to 12th in the Western Conference with five points (1-3-2). The club snapped a five-match winless streak, tied for the longest run in team history to begin a season without a win. 

• Ruidíaz scored his third and fourth goals of the season with his first-half brace, first on the team in scoring this season and one shy of his total from last year. It marked Ruidíaz’s 16th multi-goal game across all competitions for Seattle (13 regular-season goals, two MLS Cup Playoffs goals, one Concacaf Champions Cup goal). His 82 career goals for Sounders FC across all competitions are a club record. 

  • With 15 multi-goal games in MLS play (including postseason), Ruidíaz is tied for fourth among active players. 

• Jordan Morris scored his first goal of the season with his second-half strike, giving him 67 across all competitions in his career with Sounders FC, third in club history. 

• Alex Roldan scored his first goal of the season and fourth career strike in MLS regular-season play. 

• With his late strike, Dylan Teves tallied his first goal of the season and second career MLS strike with his late tally.  

• Stefan Frei recorded his first shutout of the 2024 season and 106th in his career (MLS regular season), third in league history and six shy of Kevin Hartman for second.   

• Albert Rusnák recorded his first two assists of the season, recording helpers on Ruidíaz’s first strike and Alex Roldan’s goal. 

• Jackson Ragen recorded his first assist of the season on Ruidíaz first goal, the fifth in his career after recording four last season. 

• With the assist on Morris’ strike, Cristian Roldan has 52 helpers across all competitions for Sounders FC, tying Fredy Montero for second in club history. 

• Danny Musovski recorded his first assist for Sounders FC on Teves’ late goal.   

• João Paulo made his first appearance of the 2024 season, coming on as a substitute in the 78th minute. The Brazilian had missed the first five games of the season with a left hip injury. 

What’s next? 

Following tonight’s home win over CF Montreal, the Seattle Sounders FC will head back out on the road for their next contest, as the Rave Green have been through six matches now and have technically had an even amount of home and away matches if you’re able to account for the fact that they played 6 minutes of that now rescheduled rained-out match against the Philadelphia Union. The Sounders’ next contest takes them to the state of Texas, as they’ll face off against FC Dallas for the first time this season when they meet on Saturday, April 13th. That match has a kickoff time listed at 5:30PM PDT and will be broadcast nationally on Apple TV – MLS Season Pass. It’ll be the first time that these two clubs face off against each other since their round one of the 2023 Audi MLS Cup playoffs, that saw the Sounders win and advance in three matches but lose the road leg of the round in Frisco.  

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Cover photo and photos in article by Rio Giancarlo.