Why Sounders goalkeeper Stefan Frei might be MLS' most underrated player

Jayda Evans, The Seattle Times on Feb 18, 2025

Published in Soccer

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RENTON, Wash. — Perhaps this is the season it all falls apart. Stefan Frei becomes more porous than a rain garden, allowing every shot imaginable past his goal line.

At least then, it would be understandable how, despite his consistent dominance in goal for the Seattle Sounders, Frei is consistently left out of the conversation for MLS Goalkeeper of the Year. Right now, the omission is absurd.

“[Frei’s in] the echelon of the most underrated players in league history,” a league source wrote in an email.

Frei will kick off his 17th MLS season on Feb. 22 against the reigning Goalkeeper of the Year in Charlotte FC’s Kristijan Kahlina. In his third MLS season, the Croatian had one more shutout, 4.1 percentage points better save accuracy, played in five more MLS matches and had 50 more overall saves than Frei.

Pundits across the league said the race for the award “wasn’t even close” in selecting Kahlina — a weighted vote from media, players and club staff. Frei wasn’t even named a top three finalist and, as a further insult, MLS’ social media team omitted him on a graphic listing the league’s clean sheet leaders.

Frei, 38, has never won the award or been named to the league’s end-of-season Best XI. The Swiss netminder has won one CONCACAF Champions Cup (where he was named Best Goalkeeper and Best Player), two MLS Cups, three Canadian Cups (with Toronto FC), one Supporter’s Shield and one U.S. Open Cup.

Statistically, Frei is second all-time in MLS regular-season clean sheets (116), third in goalkeeper games played (407), and fourth in saves (1,266). In the postseason, Frei is second overall with 14 clean sheets.

And if Frei wins a third league title, he will join Pat Onstad as the only keepers with at least three MLS Cup championships in its 30-year history. Onstad won two with the Houston Dynamo (2006, 2007) and one with the San Jose Earthquakes (2003), where he also was a two-time MLS Goalkeeper of the Year (2003, 2005).

What more does Frei have to do? It’s a question the Sounders’ keeper isn’t concerned about anymore.

“How people view me, I really don’t care,” he said during the playoff run to the Western Conference final last year. “I gave up a long time ago on things other people can control.”

Frei was magical in the Western Conference semifinal upset against Los Angeles FC. He had nine saves as LAFC peppered him with 27 shots in the 2-1 win.

“I don’t want to get too emotional with him here, but we’ve been teammates for a long time and Stef has saved us countless, countless times,” Sounders forward Jordan Morris said after match. “He’s the best goalie in the league, in my opinion.”

But all that’s remembered is the Sounders dropped another chance at a trophy in a 1-0 loss to the LA Galaxy at Dignity Health Care Park in Carson, Calif. Frei conceded the game-winning goal in the 85th minute.

The match was another example in what became a theme of the defense needing to be perfect to give the offense time to generate goals that ultimately don’t happen.

Frei jetted to the Maldives with his wife to decompress and pulled a gym member hack — signing up for the December special of one month for $75, to start preparing his body for what the Sounders hope is another long season.

“I was in there every morning at 7 a.m.,” he said. “I wanted to get stronger lower-body-wise and I managed to do that while getting leaner at the same time. I’m super happy and proud of the work I’ve done. Now it’s about utilizing that.”

The bulk of the team was retained, but Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer and his staff focused on shaking up the attacking schemes to address a two-year issue of being unable to score. Seattle led in conceding an MLS-fewest 35 goals and led in clean sheets with 13 (Frei accounted for 11) last year. But the team was average in scoring 51.

Schmetzer’s tweaks include ways for Frei to get more involved from the back line. The keeper said that could result in things like longballs to Morris to get behind defenses for goals.

“For a guy like Stef, it’s great,” Schmetzer said. “He can still learn some things. It’s always exciting for those guys to have something new to work on.”

Whether honing a new skill to keep the Sounders successful gets Frei noticed league-wide as a premier goalkeeper is doubtful. His focus is on ending the two-year drought without winning a title.

“Oh boy do we have a good amount of competitions we get to participate in,” Frei said of the CCC, Leagues Cup and FIFA men’s Club World Cup in addition to the MLS slate. “That, coupled with the fact that we have a strong team, we have to take advantage of this year and win some hardware.”

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