TUKWILA, Wash. – Over the course of almost eight MLS seasons, Seattle Sounders FC have won four US Open Cups, one Supporters’ Shield and have made the playoffs eight times.
It is a solid resume for the 2009 expansion entry, but with one increasingly notable exception: the club has never advanced to an MLS Cup.
The Sounders hope to fill in that blank Sunday when they resolve their Western Conference Championship series against the Colorado Rapids (4 pm ET, ESPN, ESPN Deportes | TSN2, RDS2 in Canada).
“The team understands that this is a final,” Seattle coach Brian Schmetzer said. “What happens in the next game – if we have a next game – those things will come later. But we’re treating this as a final.”
This is the closest the Sounders have ever been. It’s their third trip to the Western Conference Championship, but the first time they head into the final leg with the lead.
In 2012, Seattle opened the two-legged series with a 3-0 loss to the LA Galaxy – more than they could overcome with a 2-1 win in their home leg.
In 2014, the Sounders once again opened in L.A. They stayed closer in the opener: a 1-0 loss. But their failure to score an away goal proved fatal when they followed with a 2-1 win at home and didn’t advance.
This season, the Sounders opened the series with another familiar 2-1 home win. And while conceding that away goal once again looms ominously, the club knows that any win, draw or even high-scoring one-goal loss finally punches their ticket to MLS Cup.
“We’ve been in this position a couple of times,” said midfielder Osvaldo Alonso, who has been with the club since its expansion season. “But this time we’ve got a great opportunity. It’s going to be tough, but we have to go there thinking that we’re going to get it. We’re not thinking tie. We want to win the game.”
General manager Garth Lagerwey has been with the club only two seasons. But that’s more than enough for him to understand that the MLS Cup roadblock is a growing sore spot among fans – especially after the rival Portland Timbers won it all last year.
Lagerwey also knows firsthand the many benefits that come with an MLS Cup, having celebrated one in 2009 when he was in the Real Salt Lake front office.
“At that point, RSL was four years old as an organization, and the season ticket base at that time was probably 10 percent of what it is here in Seattle,” he said. “There was room to grow. … If you talk about here in Seattle building our audience, we’ve said one of our strategic objectives is to sell out the stadium in the next 10 years. And to do that you have to attract some casual fans. And I do think that when you go on runs, you play competitive games, and you play big games like this, if you’re able to make a final, more people are tuning in and more people are paying attention.”
Now his Sounders are in the midst of a long playoff run – one that seemed a distant dream over the summer when the club was wallowing in ninth place. And with that dream fulfilled, Lagerwey lets his mind wander about what might yet play out.
“(Our goal) is winning MLS Cup,” he said. “I don’t think getting there will be a consolation. I don’t think losing in the conference final for the third time would be a consolation. I think that that’s our goal. Certainly, there are three other really good teams that have the same goal, and we’ll see what happens.”
