Seattle Sounders win their first MLS Cup after an amazing mid-season turnaround

On July 9, the Seattle Sounders sat last in Major League Soccer’s Western Conference. Just over five months later Osvaldo Alonso — the club’s joint longest serving player and captain — held aloft the first MLS Cup in their history to complete a dramatic mid-season turnaround.

“I probably would not have believed them,’’ owner Adrian Hanauer admitted when asked what he would have said if someone told him this would happen in July. “This was a rough year, but it just shows that in this league, anything can happen.”

For the Sounders fans in attendance at Toronto’s BMO Field, (some of whom were likely at Seattle’s first MLS game in 2009) the wait for a victory was a nerve shredding evening in freezing temperatures. Toronto dominated a goalless 120 minutes, before a sudden-death Roman Torres penalty gave Seattle their victory.

A testing affair for Seattle’s defence, it was fitting that Torres was allowed to be the match-winner. The Panamanian was imperious at the back, silencing Jozy Altidore & Sebastian Giovinco. The Italian struggled all evening, and while many expected Saturday to be his crowning moment, neither he nor Nicolas Lodeiro stamped their authority on what was a fast paced and scrappy match.

Elsewhere, Seattle goalkeeper Stefan Frei avoided mild hypothermia by producing a handful of vital saves, including an Altidore header that he clawed out of the goal. “That’s the best save I’ve ever seen in person,” defender Chad Marshall said. “It was unbelievable. No way should he have gotten there.”

Typifying what was a frustrating night for Altidore and everyone connected to TFC, it seemed the forward was not the only one enveloped in the pressure of the occasion. “There are a lot of lessons we can take from this run.,” Greg Vanney said. “We will grow from this.”

Denied by a brilliant goalkeeping performance, the Swiss custodian had a modest outlook after the game. “I don’t look at it that way,’’ he said, when asked if he was a hero. “I did what I’m here to do. I made saves. That’s it. We all worked our butts off today, under difficult conditions which made it maybe not the prettiest game, but we fought hard. We wanted to give it our best, and we did. It took everybody.

Frei, formerly of Toronto, joined the Sounders exactly three years ago on Saturday, at which point Brian Schmetzer was still an assistant coach. The 54-year-old has endured a storybook season of his own in which he began 2016 as an assistant before replacing head coach Sigi Schmid mid-season, (initially on an interim basis). Catapulting his home-town team into the playoffs, his success saw his interim tag removed in early November.

The resolve and self-belief Schmetzer fostered in the months between July and December were key on Saturday night. Toronto tested Seattle with everything they had. When Giovinco left the field, the lively Tosaint Ricketts replaced him. Yet, over half of TFC’s attempts on goal were blocked by committed Seattle defenders. The team had changed, they had become more efficient.

In recent years the Sounders have been defined by an attacking prowess that ultimately deserted them in the playoffs. Yet, under Schmetzer the focus has been on defending first, and being clinical in the final third. Against Sporting KC earlier in the playoffs they scored with their only shot on target.

Then in the final, they won without managing to record a single effort on target (the first time a team has done that in an MLS Cup final). Believing they could win the lottery that is a penalty shoot-out, Seattle rode through 30 minutes of extra-time, playing less than attractive football. By then, bodies were cramping, with both Jordan Morris and Sebastian Giovinco subbed off due to tiring limbs. “I now have pain everywhere,” said Nelson Valdez, another victim of the cramping epidemic.

Provided a brief rest at the end of 120 minutes, the ensuing penalty shoot-out brought with it an altogether different kind of pressure. Seattle had the advantage after Frei’s fantastic performance, and that appeared to breed a confidence in Seattle’s penalty takers. “I did not have nerves,” Joevin Jones said afterwards. “I knew what I had to do as a big man. Just step up and kick.”

4-4 after five spot kicks each, the pressure intensified. Defender Justin Morrow’s penalty crashed against the underside of the bar and that sinking feeling slowly crept across Toronto fans. Torres, with a short run-up and power heavy approach smashed home his penalty to crown the Sounders 2016 MLS Cup champions.

Perhaps not the convincing victory Seattle fans craved earlier in the week, it was unlikely any of those that celebrated on Saturday night cared. The club attracts on average 42,000 fans for home games, and while their ambitions are big they had yet to taste an MLS Cup success.

Now they will begin their ninth season in the league as MLS Cup champions, likely captained by Alonso, and led by one of their own in Schmetzer.