I’m pretty sure I just witnessed the greatest MLS game ever and I hope I never think about it again. I hope that Will Smith’s character in Men in Black comes up to me with that memory eraser thing and wipes away any memory of it. At least for now. That one hurts.

Winners

Neutral Fans

As I said, that was one hell of a match. Wish I didn’t have a horse in the race—or I wish my horse had won. I would likely enjoy it a lot more. Go figure.

The Other Team

The final whistle blew after extra time and Sebastian Blanco hit the center circle like he just saw the face of whatever god he believes in. He’s just been the best player in the toughest playoff match ever, and he’d a massive goal.

Except he didn’t. They’ve still got to go to a penalty shootout. They end up winning that. Whatever. FORC.

An actual offseason

It’s the smallest of small consolations, but for the first time since 2015 the Sounders will enjoy an actual offseason. After two straight years of an offseason that was a little more than a month, the Sounders have a chance to rest and recharge. Let’s hope it translates into a better start.

Losers

Defending Crosses

Seattle played extremely well tonight. It could be argued that they were the better team over the course of the game — maybe even the series. But, both of the Timbers’ goals came from extremely poor defense on crosses, specifically from Kim Kee-hee. This is unfortunate, given that his rise this season to become one of the better centerbacks in the league. Maybe the moment got to him, or maybe he missed his pal Chad Marshall.

He’ll rebound. I’m sure.

CenturyLink Weirdness

In 2013, we had to deal with the infamous playoff game with football lines.

In 2014, MLS implemented the away-goal playoff tiebreaker rule, and LA Galaxy midfielder Juninho scored his first goal in like three years to eliminate Seattle.

Last night, we had to deal with a game that had to be moved up because of a car show. Also, half the stadium was closed because of said car show.

Hopefully this is the last time that some random weirdness haunts the Sounders at CenturyLink Field in an important match.