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| It's the way they make it look easy, honestly. |
The Seattle Sounders have missed the playoffs just twice since joining MLS in 2009 – and, here, “missing the playoffs” includes falling out at any point before the last eight teams wild card slot to qualify. Their haul of trophies makes them the second-best team of the past decade on the Joy Points Scale* – only Los Angeles FC tops them over that period (though not all time…wait for it…) – and, sure, that hits closer to him as a Timbers fan, but it doesn’t make it any less true. The question is how they pulled that off. It started with smart first-season signings – think everyone from Jhon Kennedy Hurtado from Colombia, Sebastian Le Toux from the USL, and most important for me, midfield wrecker Osvaldo Alonso, from one of the many in-tournament defections from a visiting Cuban team. After throwing in a smart reclamation or two from the Expansion Draft – all-time utility-player great Brad Evans stood out – adding their first DP (Swedish midfielder Freddie Ljungberg) and putting it all under a road-tested, road-approved MLS head coach like Sigi Schmid, the Sounders had themselves a team. They made the playoffs both from the jump, then season after season. They percolated into the semifinals by their third (2012) – still not an easy thing, even in the multi-DP era – and returned again in 2014. Those first two little “blurps” into the big time followed from signing league-leading attacking pieces – e.g., DP winger/midfielder Mauro Rosales and then-USMNT-regular Eddie Johnson in 2012, then USMNT fixture Clint Dempsey and the bustling Nigerian, Obafemi Martins in 2014 – and letting them cook without a care in the world in front of one of the Sounders’ many (insanely) reliable defenses. And then came the trophies: the Supporters’ Shield in 2014, then an MLS Cup in 2016 and another, better one in 2019 (MLS Cup 2016 almost put me off soccer). The Sounders had already won three U.S. Open Cups before 2016 and they’d compete in two more MLS Cups before 2020. Whether one starts that run in 2014 or 2016, it made Seattle the fourth Shadynasty in MLS history – i.e., late 1990s DC United first, then the San Jose/Houston teams of the early-to-mid 2000s, followed by the LA Galaxy from the first half of 2010s, then Seattle – and, again, they never really came down. Mapping out the succession of talent does a good job of explaining how all this worked: for instance, only one season separates the departure of DP midfielder Mauro Morales and the arrival of (improved) DP midfielder Nicloas Lodeiro (in 2016); they only burned one season of riding Dempsey’s aging knees and a mish-mash of attacking half-solutions before calling in Raul Ruidiaz (2018) to boost the next generation of attacking players (e.g., Jordan Morris) and the next round of journeyman (e.g., Will Bruin); Kim Kee-Hee took over the defense after MLS legend/monster Chad Marshall retired (2018?) and Roman Torres couldn’t step onto the field often enough, and Yeimar cane in after him. It even applies at the coaching level - Brian Schmetzer replaced Schmid after 2016 and he’s been there every since, with very little cause to leave – and that’s what separates the Sounders from the most MLS teams: they simply have yet to fall behind, on or off the field. That’s how a team wins eight trophies in 16 seasons in MLS, including the league’s first‑ever CONCACAF Champions’ League trophy in 2022. I’ve been waiting for the collapse, believe me, but I haven’t seen it either.
Total Joy Points: 50
How They Earned Them (& * How This Is Calculated, for Reference)
Supporters’ Shield: 2014
MLS Cup: 2016, 2019
MLS Cup Runner-Up: 2017, 2020
MLS Semifinals: 2012, 2014, 2024
MLS Playoffs: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2018, 2023
CCL Winner: 2022
CCL Semifinals/Runner-Up: 2013
CCL Quarterfinal: 2012, 2016, 2018
U.S. Open Cup: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014
U.S. Open Cup Runner-Up: 2012
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| Yeah. Didn't see that coming... |
In a word, infuriating. Seattle has been on the wrong side of average for goals allowed just once during their time in MLS…and, even then, they only went a little over and won the (fucking) Shield anyway. Every other season has seen them either under or well-under the average for goals allowed and, oh, the peace of mind that must give a fan-base. (And what horror they must feel knowing that the Portland Timbers are their kryptonite (fine, it's close; still taking it)). For all the famous attackers they’ve fielded, nearly all of them listed above, the Sounders have historically slouched closer to average on the attacking side of the game. While they absolutely had their seasons (and, fwiw, the Dempsey/Martins years were better), Seattle’s attack has been average or worse in terms of goals scored since 2015. Defense, with that talented bastard Frei behind it, has been their calling card.
How 2024 Measured Up
As if calling back to their late 2010 seasons, the Sounders started slow in 2024, almost Portland Timbers slow. A quirk of fate provided me a direct line into how that wore on the front office and the chatter I picked up on that line told me that the org was freakin’. Jordan Morris took the brunt of the incoming (whispers about “dad-brain”), but Seattle had “situations” all over the attack – e.g., they couldn’t find a reliable partner to help/list Morris, Albert Rusnak wasn’t connecting or even finding the right spots to do it, and their off-season acquisition/golden boy, Pedro de la Vega, couldn’t get off the injury table and Joao Paulo sat right besides him too often for anyone’s comfort. The whole damn script flipped over the second half of the season, and it all happened without the Sounders adding a single player of note. Morris turned in his career-best season (barely), Rusnak was in the mix for assist leader for 2024 (he tied with Lionel Messi, if over 1,000+ more minutes) and, more perhaps more importantly, a combination of young, homegrown players – e.g., Josh Atencio and Obed Vargas - stepped up to cover for Paulo and a random up-and-comer (of unknown birthplace) named Paul Rothrock scored just enough to keep the attacking numbers respectable. In keeping with Seattle’s venerable history, enough was the only thing that combination of players had to do, courtesy of yet-a-fucking-nother league’s best defense buying them time.
Questions for Their 2025 Season
So long as they keep everyone in the defensive set-up around – and, 1) they have so far and 2) fwiw, young back-up ‘keeper Andrew Thomas did just fine every time I watched him play – the main task for Seattle is either getting de la Vega healthy (and hoping he lives up to the hype) and/or finding one lethal attacking piece. Somewhat related, Rusnak is out of contract (as is Ruidiaz, as is Paulo), so they may have some space opening up in a couple key positions. This off-season may yet provide a live test for how today’s Sounders front office carries forward the team’s long tradition of seamless transitions. [Whoops, UPDATE: I forgot to mention that thing about picking up Jesus Ferreira from FC Dallas this week. I've seen people crap on that move, but I'm seeing a more upside than downside. Wouldn't surprise me at all to see him thrive.]
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