Overview
Seattle Sounders will play Brazil's Botafogo at home ground Lumen Field in their opening match at the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup.
The Sounders enter this match after 2 consecutive losses to Minnesota and Vancouver Whitecaps in Major League Soccer (MLS). In general, this was not a smooth MLS campaign for them. The Sounders are sixth in the Western Conference after 18 games with the same number of goals scored and conceded (25).
Albert Rusnak could be the key to any potential success for the Sounders in this game. The Slovakian has contributed to 20 goals in his last 26 appearances in all competitions (8 goals, 12 assists).
The MLS team has made one appearance in the old format of the FIFA Club World Cup. In the 2022 version, the Sounders were eliminated by Egypt's Al Ahly in the quarter-finals (0-1).
The match against Botafogo will be a difficult challenge for them. The Brazilian team is the reigning Copa Libertadores champions after a 3-1 victory over Atletico mineiro in the final in November last year.
Botafogo also made one appearance at the FIFA Club World Cup. That is in the 2024 version called the FIFA Intercontinental Cup. They lost 0-3 to Spanish side Pachuca.
Igor Jesus is their most dangerous attacking player, having 35 shots at the Campeonato Brasileiro 2025, 18 times more than any of his teammates. Igor Jesus also has twice as many shots on target as any of Botafogo players, while leading in xG (2.47) and touching the ball in the opponent's penalty area (55).
This is the first time the two teams have met, with the last time a Brazilian team met an American team being DC United's 2-1 victory over Vasco da Gama in 1998.
Score prediction
Botafogo is the team that supercomputer Opta rated higher in this match. The Brazilian team is rated with a 43.9% chance of winning, compared to Seattle Sounders' 30.0%.
However, neither of these clubs are highly rated for qualifying for the group stage, with Botafogo (15.4%) and Seattle Sounders (18.9%).
Predicted result: Botafogo 2-1 Seattle Sounders
Expected lineup:
Botafogo: John, Vitinho, Cunha, Barboza, Telles, Gregore, Freitas, Artur, Savarino, Rodriguez, Jesus.
Seattle Sounders: Frei, A. roldan, Ragen, Bell, Tolo, Vargas, C. roldan, De la Vega, Rusnak, Kent, Ferreira.
The match between Botafogo and Seattle Sounders takes place at 9:00 a.m. on June 16 (Vietnam time).
