Kalani Kossa-Rienzi signs first-team contract
Coming off an impressive performance against LAFC on Saturday – and to the surprise of virtually no one – Kalani Kossa-Rienzi officially signed a Seattle Sounders first-team contract on Monday. He’ll be guaranteed through the rest of this season with options for 2026-27.
Originally picked last year, he’s the first SuperDraft pick the Sounders have signed to a MLS contract since Alex Roldan in 2018. Kossa-Rienzi was among the final players cut from preseason last year and signed with Tacoma Defiance. He again spent all of this preseason with the first team and had just signed a second short-term loan before starting and scoring on Saturday.
“We’ve liked him since last year,” Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer said following Saturday’s game. “The pathway we have him on from Defiance to first team is great. He’s earned the right — Craig and I are going to have long hard conversation on my way home — because the kid deserves to be signed to a contract. It’s not just because of the goal, that was icing on the cake. The kid has potential, he has talent, he’s going to be an exceptional MLS player.”
Kossa-Rienzi wasted little time putting his stamp on the game against LAFC. In the 15th minute, he collected a ball from Jesús Ferreira, fought off his defender, cut the ball back and then smashed a left-footed shot inside the far post for a 1-0 lead.
Although that was obviously the highlight of his performance, Kossa-Rienzi never looked remotely out of place. He finished with 33 of 34 passing, won 5 of 6 tackles, was credited with eight defensive actions and won 7 of 9 duels.
The only thing Kossa-Rienzi didn’t do was break out the “Oba-flip” celebration that has become a bit of his trademark.
“Yeah, I thought about it,” the 22-year-old former gymnast said. “It was pretty early in the game. It’s more of a closer celebration.”
If Kossa-Rienzi was a little wary of getting ahead of himself, it makes sense. His path to the first team has not exactly been straight.
After spending all of preseason with the Sounders last year, he reasonably thought he’d get a first-team offer then. Although he was called up for several short-term loans, made his MLS debut and even scored a game-winning goal for the Sounders in the Open Cup, the MLS contract never came. Despite drawing praise from coaches throughout preseason, he again broke camp this year without an offer, despite several of his former Defiance teammates earning first-team contracts in the meantime.
“It’s one of those things where you can’t focus on what hasn’t happened,” he said. “You just have to keep stacking days and good things are going to happen to the people that work the hardest.”
One player who has helped keep Kossa-Rienzi focused is Paul Rothrock, who saw a bit of a kindred spirit in the former University of Washington player.
“There have been some moments throughout the year where I just told him ‘you’re close, you’re close, just keep pushing,’” Rothrock recalled. “That’s been nice for me to be on the other side of that, to give some guys perspective. Sometimes, it takes a lot longer than you hope to make that final break. Credit to Kalani, every time he trains, he trains hard.”