Although it wasn’t always pretty, the Seattle Sounders did just enough to qualify for the MLS playoffs for the 17th time in 18 seasons with a 2–1 win over LAFC on Saturday. They’ll now host Real Salt Lake on Thursday, Nov. 19 in the play-in game with the winner advancing to face the No. 1 seed Vancouver Whitecaps in a best-of-3 series.
How the day played out
The Sounders entered Decision Day knowing that they didn’t control their own destiny, but firmly believing that a win would give them a chance to continue this roller-coaster season. Their faith was bolstered almost as soon as the slate of Western Conference games kicked off simultaneously at 4 PM PDT.
The Sounders helped themselves when Albert Rusnák scored just 51 seconds into the match that immediately pushed the Sounders into playoff position. For a few fleeting moments, the Sounders found themselves sitting in seventh place as they had passed all three of the teams ahead of them. But the Portland Timbers quickly overtook the Sounders when they scored in the 3rd minute of their match against Austin FC, pushing them into seventh.
Elsewhere, Real Salt Lake took a lead over the LA Galaxy in the 10th minute that gave the Sounders some wiggle room in eighth. RSL then added a second goal in the 13th minute while the Sounders added a second of their own, giving them a cushion as the games went into halftime.
But almost right out of halftime, the Colorado Rapids took a 1–0 lead over FC Dallas to knock the Sounders down to 9th. That also temporarily pushed RSL down to 10th. But FC Dallas struck back in the 75th minute to tie the score and allow the Sounders to move back to eighth and RSL to take over ninth.
Things started to get a bit more tense moments later. Almost at the same time as Eddie Segura scored for LAFC to make it 2–1, Minnesota United emerged as a sleeper spoiler when they surged back from 1–0 down to a 2–1 lead over the San Jose Earthquakes.
That put Minnesota just two points behind the Sounders and, almost as importantly, just one behind them on goal-difference. If the Sounders gave up another goal, they’d be even on points, even on wins and even on goal-difference with Minnesota. That would bring the fourth tiebreaker into play; goals scored where Minnesota had a sizable advantage. Suddenly, the Sounders’ season was very much back on the line. For good measure, Minnesota added a third goal in 90+4′.
In the end, the Sounders’ defense held. Although LAFC forced Andrew Thomas into eight saves and out shot the Sounders 13–0 in the second half, only two of those shots came after the goal and neither of them forced a save.
The final Western Conference standings saw just four points separating 6th from 12th.
What comes next
Like the Sounders, RSL were basically left for dead over the summer. Like the Sounders, they recovered from a 13-game winless run to do just enough to get into the playoffs.
At their nadir — coincidentally after their 2–0 loss to the Sounders on Sept. 23 — RSL had dropped to 14th in the Western Conference standings. But starting with a 3–0 win over the New England Revolution on Sept. 26, they went 5–2–1 down the stretch to climb into ninth.
This will be the third time the Sounders have faced RSL this year – they split their previous results – and the fifth time they’ve played each other in the playoffs, with each team advancing twice. The most recent meeting came in 2021 when RSL eliminated the Sounders in a shootout after the match ended 0–0 in regulation. RSL did not attempt a single shot in that match.
During Brian Schmetzer's tenure as head coach, the Sounders are 10–2–2 at home against RSL.
