Brian Schmetzer insisted Dejan Joveljic's aim is to help Seattle Sounders reach the playoffs this season after marking his debut for the club with a brace. 

Joveljic was thrown straight into the Sounders line-up against the Chicago Fire after completing his move from Sporting Kansas City SC earlier in the week. 

He went on to make an instant impact, opening the scoring in the 12th minute before doubling up three minutes into the second half in the Seattle's 2-2 draw at Lumen Field.

With his two goals, Joveljic became the first player since Fredy Montero in March 2009 to score multiple times on his debut for Seattle, much to the delight of Schmetzer.

"What we tried to do as a coaching staff is to make him understand that this is not a one-man show," Schmetzer said. "There were expectations of him coming in. 

"We talked about those expectations openly before the game and reminded him that this team's strengths have always been their strengths as a collective, not individuals. 

"I tried to take a little bit of pressure off him and tried to distribute it equally among all the players, but what you saw was a very good performance as far as a striker is concerned.

"He is a humble guy, he said after the game that he did not come here just to score, but to win. He wants to help this team get into the playoffs, and he will help us try to do that."

Despite an improved display, the Sounders' winless run in the MLS continued, leaving them 12th in the Western Conference ahead of facing the New York Red Bulls next. 

NYRB were comfortably beaten 3-1 by the Philadelphia Union in their last league match, with Milan Iloski, Cavan Sullivan and Neil Pierre on target for the visitors.

Michael Bradley's side are without a win in their last four league matches (D1 L3), and sit eighth in the Eastern Conference after 22 games of their 2026 campaign. 

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Seattle Sounders – Dejan Joveljic

Making his Sounders debut, Joveljic scored both of Seattle's goals in their draw last weekend with Chicago.

It was just the second multi-goal game in MLS play by a Sounders player this season, after Cristian Roldan in April against St. Louis City SC.

NYRB – Eric Choupo-Moting

Choupo-Moting's goal against Philadelphia was his third off the bench this season, more than the two scored by all other Red Bull players combined this term in MLS play.

The only players with more goals as a substitute this season are FC Cincinnati's Tom Barlow and Orlando City SC's Tyrese Spicer (five each).

MATCH PREDICTION: SEATTLE SOUNDERS WIN

Seattle's first-ever MLS match was a 3-0 home win over NYRB in 2009, and the Sounders have won six of their eight all-time home games in this fixture (D1 L1).

In the eight meetings, Seattle has scored exactly nine goals in both the first and second half, while NYRB have scored exactly four in each half.

The Sounders did, however, see their winless streak run to a club-record 10 straight matches (D2 L8) with their draw against Chicago. Their 15 straight regular-season matches allowing a goal is their second-longest streak since joining MLS, behind a 16-game run that spanned from 2021 and 2022.

In their defeat to Philadelphia, NYRB held their opponents to a passing accuracy of 69.5%. It was the fourth time this season that they have allowed a passing accuracy under 70.0% in an MLS match, with no other team having more than two such matches in 2026.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Seattle Sounders – 55.7%

Draw – 22.9%

NYRB – 21.5%