More than anything else, the Seattle Sounders have become a team that defines itself by winning. It’s an admittedly dangerous prospect as it requires them to do something very difficult, very consistently, in order to meet their own standards.
While “winning” can itself be a nebulous concept, the Sounders have effectively chosen “competing for trophies” as their standard. It stands to reason, then, that playing in finals is how they quantify success.
During Adrian Hanauer’s tenure in charge of the Sounders — which dates to 2001, when he took over as the managing partner of the USL side — they have averaged more than one finals appearance every two years. Coming into Wednesday’s Leagues Cup semifinal, the Sounders hadn’t made a final in about 39 months, the longest gap of the Hanauer era.
After their 2-0 win over the LA Galaxy, that drought is now over. Sunday’s final against Leo Messi’s Inter Miami will be the Sounders’ 15th final in the last 25 years and their 12th since joining MLS in 2009. They will be attempting to win their ninth trophy since 2009, more than everyone but Toronto FC (whose total of 10 includes eight Canadian Championships).
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“We’re an organization that is always fighting for titles,” Sounders right back Alex Roldan said after the Galaxy game. “We’ve been in many finals before. This is just another objective we’ve set to be the best in the league, best in the continent. We’re going out there to prove a point and hopefully finish that game with another trophy.”
The Sounders are now just one of two MLS teams — along with LAFC — to play in three international finals and the one of two who have made the Leagues Cup final twice. If they win, they’d become just the second team — along with D.C. United, who won both of theirs in 1998 — to claim at least two international titles.
While the Leagues Cup doesn’t carry the prestige of Concacaf Champions Cup — or even MLS Cup — this run to the final remains impressive. The Sounders famously opened it with a 7-0 win over Cruz Azul, considered by Opta to be the best team outside of Europe at the time. (Cruz Azul, by the way, is currently 4-0-2 in Liga MX play.) The Sounders then took care of business against Liga MX sides Santos Laguna, Club Tijuana and Club Puebla. They outscored those four teams 11-2 to send them into the semifinals against the Galaxy.
The Galaxy have been mostly pretty bad this year, but had actually been quite good in Leagues Cup. In their first four games, they outscored their opponents 13-4 and did not lose a game in regulation.
But the Sounders had the Galaxy on their back foot almost immediately and opened the scoring in the 7th minute when Pedro de la Vega slammed in a rebound. It was de la Vega’s third goal of the tournament and his ninth goal across all competitions this year.
The Sounders seemed content to let the Galaxy dominate possession from that point forward but consistently were able to generate the more dangerous scoring chances. The best of those came in the 51st minute when Jesús Ferreira sent a ball forward to de la Vega near midfield. He then touched the ball into space where Osaze De Rosario picked it up after making a 50-yard run. De Rosario had a 1v1 chance with the goalkeeper and although his shot was saved, it illustrated how dangerous the Sounders could be in transition.
De Rosario then made up for that miss about six minutes later when he scored they type of goal that will be on highlight reels for years to come. Off a throw-in deep in the Galaxy end, De Rosario chested the ball away from goal and with a defender on his back, sombrero’d the ball back toward goal, split two defenders, took the ball off his hip and then poked it inside the near post.
The goal was a good example of how the Sounders have put themselves in this position. De Rosario was only starting — and will surely start again in the final — because Danny Musovski had gotten himself suspended after picking up a red card in the semifinals. Musovski had only been starting because Jordan Morris has been hurt for much of the year. Most MLS teams struggle to score with backup strikers, let alone third-stringers. But the Sounders have truly embraced head coach Schmetzer’s “next man up” ethos, continuing to perform at a high level despite injuries up and down the roster.
Asked by sideline reporter Michele Giannone what Schmetzer asks him to do, De Rosario responded, “Stay in my office, stay in the box and work hard for the team. I understand I’m working for the club and playing for the club, and that’s understood all around.”
Cheesy as it may sound, the Sounders have shown a level of collective strength that is rare. They will go into Sunday’s final missing at least three players who would have likely started and five others who would have likely contributed. Somehow, they don’t feel like underdogs.
That’s at least partly because they’ve got plenty of experience in these types of situations. This is a group who knows how to win, who has already faced some of the best teams in the world this year and who believes they have unfinished business.
“It’s been a great summer, I’m hoping to make it an even better summer,” Schmetzer said. “With the way the team is playing, with what they believe, maybe a deep playoff run as well.”
