João Paulo just went full Beast Mode

SEATTLE — Lumen Field has seen a #BeastMode run a time or two, but rarely on the soccer field. João Paulo changed that on Sunday.

With the Seattle Sounders already leading 2-0 over the Colorado Rapids, João Paulo picked up the ball about 20 yards behind the midfield stripe and burst into space. Jack Price attempted to stop the run with a foul, but referee Chris Penso played advantage. João Paulo’s next touch was a side-footed nutmeg of defender Danny Wilson. From there, it’s all desire, as he powers through two more defenders and jams the ball past goalkeeper Clint Irwin.

There have been more skillful goals scored — some of them against this very Rapids team — but I think you’d be hard-pressed to find a more impressive goal than this one. Take any one element from the 70-yard run to the skill to the power and you’d have an absolute banger.

Put them all together? Well, you get this sort of reaction:

The players weren’t the only ones impressed. Prior to João Paulo’s goal, which came in first-half stoppage time, Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer had been planning to lay into defenders Nouhou and Yeimar Goméz Andrade for some lax defending that led to some Rapids scoring chances. But after watching João Paulo slice through the Rapids defense, he couldn’t really muster the energy.

“JP’s goal was the reason they got off the hook,” Schmetzer said after the game. “I watched it eight times just now in my office.”

UPDATE: Turns out we weren’t the only ones who saw the similarity to #BeastMode.