Brian Schmetzer Finds Pride in Seattle Sounders Despite Defeat to Botafogo

Despite a 2-1 loss to Botafogo in their Club World Cup debut, Seattle Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer expressed pride in his team’s performance. Though the scoreboard favored the Brazilian champions, Schmetzer praised the effort and resilience shown by his squad at Lumen Field.

“The road doesn't get any easier now. But if we can play like that, we can compete,” he said. “We want to showcase our players, our team, our city. We represented ourselves well tonight.”

Seattle created several chances throughout the match and had Botafogo pinned back for stretches, which Schmetzer emphasized: “We had many chances. We just couldn’t find the second goal, though we were close on many occasions.”

He described the match as an entertaining and hard-fought contest: “This was one of those games that people come to see. It was very exciting—over three expected goals, two teams going at each other. It was a great match and a real show for football fans.”

The American coach refused to single out mistakes: “You can’t blame the players for the effort, the ideas, the intent. This game is about winning and losing. Igor Jesus showed his value with one chance and one goal. We also created enough opportunities.”

Botafogo coach Renato Paiva acknowledged his team’s defensive struggles in the second half. “We didn’t play with enough intensity. We defended with too few players and paid the price,” he admitted. Looking ahead to their next match against PSG, he noted: “They’re a strong team with many attacking tools, but we’ll also look to exploit their weaknesses.”