LAFC returns to BMO Stadium on Sunday to host the Seattle Sounders on Pride Night, with a fireworks show scheduled after the match and both teams trying to close out their final game before a six-week break for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. LAFC enters in seventh place in the Western Conference, while Seattle sits fourth, making this one of the last chances to bank points before the schedule shuts down.
The matchup carries the weight of a rivalry that has already produced 25 meetings across all competitions. LAFC has won 14 of them, Seattle seven, and the Black and Gold have outscored the Sounders 42-29. Since LAFC joined Major League Soccer in 2018, the two clubs have won more games than anyone else in the Western Conference, and Sunday adds another chapter to a series that has repeatedly turned on knockout-stage pressure. LAFC beat Seattle in the 2023 Western Conference Semifinals, the 2024 Leagues Cup Quarterfinals and the 2024 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Semifinals, while Seattle answered with a Western Conference Semifinal win at BMO Stadium in 2024 that ended LAFC’s 10-game unbeaten run in the series.
That history is part of what makes this one feel less like a midseason stop and more like a marker. The last time Seattle visited BMO Stadium, on May 14, 2025, LAFC rolled to a 4-0 win. Seattle’s only other road victory in the rivalry came in 2019, when it won 3-1 in the Western Conference Final. The Sounders now arrive after a 2-0 loss to the Galaxy last weekend that ended a nine-match MLS unbeaten run, and they have won just one of four matches in May. Even so, Seattle has lost only one of six road games in 2026 and has allowed the fewest goals in MLS, with 10 alongside Vancouver and Nashville.
LAFC’s own form comes with a different kind of pressure. The club has played 13 matches across all competitions since April 4, at a pace of one match every 3.38 days, and had little room to recover after a 3-2 road loss in Nashville last Sunday. Sunday should tell more about how that load is wearing on a team that has played every weekend and every midweek since April 4. It will also showcase individual threats at both ends: Son Heung-Min leads MLS with nine assists for LAFC, while Hugo Lloris leads the league with eight clean sheets. For Seattle, Andrew Thomas has taken over as Brian Schmetzer’s No. 1 goalkeeper and has five clean sheets in 12 MLS appearances in 2026, while Paul Rothrock leads the team in league goals with four. Cristian Roldan has three goals and two assists, Albert Rusnák has three goals and four assists, Jesus Ferreira has two goals and five assists, and Osaze DeRosario has two goals and one assist.
The break adds another layer. Sunday is the last match for both clubs before MLS and leagues around the world pause for the World Cup, and LAFC will not return until July 17 for a derby in Carson against the Galaxy. For a rivalry built on tight margins, the timing makes the meeting at BMO Stadium feel final in a way a June match rarely does. The next six weeks will offer rest and reset, but first comes one more test between two teams that have spent years making each other pay for every mistake.
