During Wednesday's post-game press-conference, a reporter asked Seattle Sounders coach Sigi Schmid about the taste that game left in his mouth. While far from dismissive of the question, Schmid corrected the reporter a little.

"I don’t know if it’s in our mouths," he said. "It’s definitely a very empty, hollow feeling in our stomachs at this stage."

I think a lot of us who have followed this team as closely as we have can relate. Sick. Empty. Gutted. No matter what adjective you want use, it all means the same thing. An absolutely glorious season has ended much earlier than most of us had expected and it feels like something is definitely missing.

The mood in the locker room was very much the same. Players were getting dressed with glazed looks in their eyes. I won't say they were emotional as they were all perfectly composed, but guys clearly weren't sure how they should feel.

It's safe to say none of them had probably ever gone through a game with such conflicting emotions. They had turned in an absolutely dominant performance, scored two goals and shut out the opponent. If a couple of breaks had gone their way, the Sounders could have easily scored a few more. But it wasn't enough.

Fredy Montero had two glorious chances in the first half, the kind of goals we've grown accustomed to him scoring. Osvaldo Alonso had a couple good looks as well. Tony Beltran made the kind of save on a Jeff Parke shot that is among the best you'll ever see an outfield player make.

"We pressed and pressed and sometimes you just need that one bounce to go your way," Sounders forward Mike Fucito said. "It's unfortunate, but I thought everyone's effort was spectacular. I thought our quality was very good. That's where you kind of kick yourself because the third goal last game changed things a lot. I'm proud of how we responded. I thought tonight was a great overall effort and something we can build on."  

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When a perfect game was needed, the Seattle Sounders merely put forth a great game. Saturday's first leg carried over only one element, the physicality. For the most part it was matched, but in the end Real Salt Lake advanced from the two leg aggregate series. Two goals were not enough, two goals were enough for a win and honor. Reactions to the game are a snapshot of how people approach their love of sport.

Many will be excited, hopeful and focused on all of the successes of the season. Others will be disappointed. They will look to the three straight MLS Cup Playoff failures and still feel after a strong game that Sigi's side didn't do enough. Both are in ways correct. Seattle's target of capturing an MLS Cup in Kasey Keller's final season fell short. Still the squad built by Adrian Hanauer showed more than all but a hand-full of MLS teams throughout history while overcoming several rounds of adversity.

Jason Kreis' side could not match the Seattle awfulness of Saturday, instead choosing to play physical, negative soccer. Sounders players fell into their trap of worrying about referees more than opponents. Two unfortunately also fell out of the match forcing early substitutions as Alvaro Fernandez and Brad Evans left the pitch. Replacing them were Roger Levesque and Lamar Neagle. Both put forward strong performances. The rest of the Rave Green matched or exceeded them.

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Times are not bright. It is cloudy, cold and rain is expected. The Seattle Sounders are down three goals and one of their MVP candidates is out for the game. Real Salt Lake doesn't get blown out with a healthy roster. It is a very Seattle day.

It isn't a very Sounders day though. Three straight US Open Cups, 63 regular season points, three straight MLS Cup Playoffs appearances, success in the CONCACAF Champions League. 6-2 over Columbus. 4-1 over Comunicaciones. That's all that Seattle needs to do.

Sigi Schmid, his eleven starters and three subs just need to play the best game they have in their brief MLS' lives. There will need to be tactical shifts, but just minor ones. There will be lineup changes, but that isn't the key. The incredibly deep offense, the two active MVP candidates, and the Keeper of the Year candidate all just need to be at their best.

On short rest this team is quite good. Three of the four blowout wins are in similar circumstances. Salt Lake's three blowout losses are all after short rest. There's reason for hope. But there is no reason for fans to be confident. Prepare for epic, whether that epic is Star Wars or the Charge of the Light Brigade will be decided by the players on the field. The easiest way that happens is a hatrick with an extra goal and a shutout. #HaircutsAndTacos

The game is on ESPN2, ESPN3.com (national) and 97.3FM with Arlo White on the call at 7:00 PM

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Our various writers here had a little discussion about what lineup changes we'd want to see. The thought was to make a lineup card for you that would show a Sounder at Heart preferred lineup and a Real Salt Lake likely lineup due to the injuries to Jamison Olave and Nat Borchers. With Jason Kreis not sharing the status of those two besides the decision being held until tonight their side of the card would be incomplete. The lack of consensus within the staff made picking which direction to go difficult on the Seattle Sounders side of the card.

There is a bit of a guide from past games where Seattle has done what it must do at a minimum. In four games they won by three or more goals - against Toronto FC, the Columbus Crew, DC United and Comunicaciones. Starting in all four of those games were only two players - James Riley and Fredy Montero. Two others took the pitch in those four - Alvaro Fernandez and Mike Fucito. A full 18 players made appearances in two or more of those matches. Needless to say, the lineup was only one of many issues on Saturday night and it won't be the solution in Leg Two. At least not on its own. Everyone that takes the pitch must be better.

Staff here agreed on one change. Fucito needs to start, while Sammy Ochoa returns to the bench role where he's done quite well. The addition of speed and greater physicality will help, whether Fucito scores or not. This move also adds a left foot to serve the ball on corners and free kicks, another area where the Sounders had issues. Fucito started 3 of those games and was the first sub in the other. He netted 4 goals and assisted on two others in those blowouts.

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Remember this season? You know the 63 points. The US Open Cup. Winning in Mexico. Winning in Portland. Winning in Salt Lake. Winning in Vancouver. Winning in Costa Rica. Winning in Kansas City. Crushing the Columbus Crew. That's this season. Today Sigi Schmid said that's the type of team he wants the Seattle Sounders to be again.

I think the guys are well aware of what they didn't do well on Saturday night. That's been made really clear to them. We got rid of that on Monday before practice. The rest of Monday and today the focus is on us doing what we do, us playing our game. Sixty-three points is a lot. We've been a good team throughout the season. We need to get back to that. We need to remember what made us a good team and what made us dangerous and what made us successful.

And yet Saturday happened. It was brutal. It was as down as this team, this community has been since mid-May. It evoked images of failures in Playoffs past. Playoff failures throughout Seattle sports history. A reminder of our collective down notes.

Randal Graves: Which did you like better? Jedi or The Empire Strikes Back?

Dante Hicks: Empire.

Randal Graves: Blasphemy!

Dante Hicks: Empire had the better ending. I mean, Luke gets his hand cut off, finds out Vader's his father, Han gets frozen and taken away by Boba Fett. It ends on such a down note. I mean, that's what life is, a series of down endings. All Jedi had was a bunch of Muppets.

That's from Kevin Smith's classic indie film Clerks. Dante has been beaten down. He'd lost all the hope. What he doesn't mention, is that Star Wars IV: A New Hope raised the bar. Everyone who saw that was so high. The expectations were that this new group, this rebuilt group of history was going to take down the mighty, the powerful, the usurpers. The down endings were so significant because of the size of the greatness that had been achieved. Without those successes the down times don't mean as much.

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Maybe the most shocking development from the Seattle Sounders' 3-0 loss to Real Salt Lake on Saturday was the play of Osvaldo Alonso. Throughout his three-year MLS career, he has been the most reliable Sounders player. Fredy Montero is prone to hot and cold streaks; Kasey Keller has allowed a soft goal or two; the defense has looked shaky at various times. But the one constant has always been the play of our very own Honey Badger.

Alonso, of course, earned that nickname because of his tenacious, never-say-die playing style. His tireless pursuit of the ball and the ferocity with which he attained it have become a thing of legend among the Sounders faithful.

Most of that was absent on Saturday. It's hard to pinpoint what exactly went wrong, but clearly Alonso was off his game. Granted, that's judging on a pretty massive curve, as Alonso may well have been the Sounders' best outfield player, but he was not playing up to his standard.

Clearly, if the Sounders are going to climb out of this enormous hole they've dug for themselves, it's probably going to have start with the Return of the Honey Badger.

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After the Saturday three-nil loss the game is merely at halftime. Leg two involves odds stacked against Seattle, but there are a few reasons for hope. While the Seattle Sounders will have to change things up tactically, changes are being forced on Real Salt Lake Coach Jason Kreis by injuries to the best center defensive pairing in MLS. How those changes will effect this game are the subject of today's two question update on last week's five questions discussing the two leg aggregate series.

SaH: Is Kreis the type of coach that will change his playing style to protect the lead?

RSLSoapBox: No I don't expect that he will, he knows that for RSL to play their best they need to stick to what they do well, creating possession and opportunities by quick short passes, I do think that you might actually see a more aggressive RSL given the fact that they know that the Sounders are going to have to push and push hard for goals which could really create some counter attacking challenges.  I think any tactical changes will be made to deal with injuries, a short playoff schedule, and the Field Turf at CenturyLink.
 

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Winning Wednesday night seems such a distant chance. In MLS current, yet short, playoff format only 8 times has a team scored three goals or more in an MLS Playoff game. Only twice have teams come from behind two goals down in a two leg aggregate goals series. The last time that happened was 2004. The other year was 2003. Major League Soccer doesn't have the history of other sports leagues, but in its short life what Seattle needs to do has not happened.

But that does not matter. These facts and historical nuggets have nothing to do with the 90 or 120 minutes to come.

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