SEATTLE – Seattle Sounders FC aren’t done yet.
Facing the prospect of missing the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs for just the second time in club history, Seattle delivered a season-saving result on Saturday, defeating LAFC, 2-1, at Lumen Field to secure a postseason place on Decision Day.
Combined with favorable results elsewhere in the Western Conference, the victory clinched the No. 8 seed for Seattle, who will host No. 9 Real Salt Lake in the Wild Card round on Nov. 19 (10 pm ET | Apple TV).
For head coach Brian Schmetzer, the performance was a testament to a group that had challenged itself to respond following a difficult stretch.
“That’s a locker room right now that has a lot of belief,” Schmetzer said postgame. “They stuck together. A lot of the words they came up with on that Tuesday meeting, they accomplished everything that they said.”
Rising to the occasion
Seattle’s postseason hopes were hanging by a thread entering Saturday’s regular-season finale.
A 5-1 defeat at Cascadia rivals Vancouver Whitecaps FC the previous weekend had left the Sounders outside the playoff picture, needing both a victory over LAFC and help elsewhere to avoid an early offseason.
In the aftermath of that defeat, Seattle’s players held an accountability meeting in which they established their own standards for how they needed to respond.
On Decision Day, Schmetzer felt they delivered on those commitments, netting two first-half goals from Albert Rusnák and Sebastian Gomez before defending the late lead to seal the result.
“The players had talked about if we score the first goal, when we score the first goal, to go for the second and the third,” Schmetzer said. “Again, those are their words. Coaches always say that, but again, I’m holding them to the standard that they set for themselves.”
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A new season awaits
Saturday’s victory doesn’t erase the difficulties Seattle endured throughout the regular season.
The Sounders finished with a 12W-12L-10D record and 46 points, a far cry from the standard of consistent Western Conference contention that has defined the club for much of their MLS existence.
“We’ve had ups and downs, and there’s some credence to the story that we’ve been a little inconsistent in some of our performances this year,” Schmetzer said. “We can’t hide from that. But the fact of the matter is, tonight they did perform, and I thought they performed well.”
Now, the Sounders have an opportunity to build on that performance in a winner-take-all Wild Card matchup against RSL at Lumen Field, with the winner advancing to face Vancouver in a Round One Best-of-3 Series.
And while Seattle’s path to MLS Cup presented by Audi is more difficult than the club would have envisioned at the beginning of the season, Schmetzer sees no reason his team can’t make some noise.
“If they commit to themselves like they did for this game, it’s a good enough team to make a deep run in the playoffs,” Schmetzer said. “It’s a good team.
"We just have to get the pieces right, get everybody playing to their top level, and yes, I absolutely believe that we can make some noise in the playoffs, for sure.”
