TORONTO – Seattle Sounders FC have been one of Major League Soccer’s best regular-season teams ever since the club joined MLS in 2009, but that excellence never yielded a championship. Ironically, the Sounders finally landed their first MLS Cup tonight after their worst season.
Multiple times over the years the Rave Green have dominated until the playoffs, when a streaking team raced by them to the grand prize. Just last year, the “little brother” Portland Timbers found their mojo after a decent, but unspectacular regular season and were the last team standing.
So it’s particularly satisfying for fans this year to see the Sounders turn the tables to reach the final as an underdog, spoiling things for the Colorado Rapids and FC Dallas, who like the Sounders in years past had sparkling regular seasons only to stumble when it counted.
“If you can make it to the playoffs, it’s a whole new season,” noted striker Jordan Morris after the Sounders prevailed 0-0, 5-4 in the penalty shootout. Teams get hot at the right time in MLS, he added.
The underdog role served the Sounders in the final too, as they fended off wave after wave of attacks to survive to a penalty shootout. If fullback Roman Torres hadn’t done enough containing Jozy Altidore, he become an unlikely offensive hero, driving home the winning spot kick in the sixth round.
Let us celebrate the things that made the 2016 Sounders special:
· Playmaker in Hyperdrive: Nicolas Lodeiro: the straw that stirs the drink for the Sounders is a pint-sized dervish who races all over the field, setting up his teammates for goals with laser passes or pouncing on balls in the box himself to tally. The 27-year-old midfielder, who plays for the Uruguyan national team, began making a difference as soon as he joined the Sounders mid-season as a Designated Player.
· Subtle Coaching Shift: With the Sounders mired in ninth place nearly halfway into the season, the club fired longtime coach Sigi Schmid and installed his assistant, Brian Schmetzer, to manage the team on an interim basis. Schmetzer just tweaked the lineup and formation, but some players say he gave them more leeway while also holding them accountable. Schmid is a fine coach, a proven winner, but as has happened for many teams in many sports, a shift in coaching style resulted in a sudden change in fortunes. Schmetzer, a humble mainstay in Seattle soccer, earned the “permanent” tag by keeping the players confident and deploying them deftly in the playoffs.
· Rookie star doesn’t disappoint: Local boy Jordan Morris, signed to the team with much fanfare after leading Stanford to a title and having stints with the national team and Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga, started slow but ultimately scored 10 goals and took Rookie of the Year honors. The speedy striker’s slashing runs through the defense helped make up for the loss of Clint Dempsey to an irregular heartbeat.
· Solid Stefan between the sticks: It’s hard to succeed in soccer without a strong goalie, and the Sounders could check that box with Stefan Frei. I personally enjoyed the many hairstyles the Swiss national sported, but while his coif varied, he consistently stopped shots. His acrobatic saves were the difference in the knockout game against Sporting Kansas City. Frei’s desperate lunge to parry away Altidore’s header was the play of the game Saturday.
The stars played an important role in the final, but Seattle’s gritty supporting cast made the difference. After scoring in five straight playoff games, Altidore knocked on the door, but couldn’t break through against the Sounders the imposing Torres and the other central fullback Chad Marshall, the emperor of the air. Lightning quick TFC scorer Sebastian Giovinco threatened, but fierce defensive midfielder Osvaldo Alonso slowed him down.
