I spent my younger years growing up just outside of Seattle, Washington. Therefore, my sports allegiances lie with all of Seattle's major league sports teams. On December 10th, 2016, my Seattle Sounders, the Major League Soccer team in Seattle, won their coveted first MLS Cup, and cemented themselves into the record books as the 2016 MLS Cup Champions. In honor of the championship season, I would like to take a look at how the Sounders made their way to the top and all the thoughts a Sounders fan had during the season.

Pre-Season

The MLS preseason is the shortest preseason in American Major League Sports, lasting approximately 2.5 to 3 months. However, in this short span of time, the Sounders were able to make many ground-shaking changes. First and foremost, Obafemi Martins, the Nigerian striker that Sounders fans came to love, made a transition to the Chinese soccer league. Personally, I was devastated. The Sounders have a history of fostering phenomenal strikers and wingers and letting them go after just a few seasons. Some notable names in this category would be Eddie Johnson, Fredy Montero, Mauro Rosales, and Marco Pappa. The news of Obafemi Martins' release was the most surprising news of the offseason. During the same offseason, however, the Seattle Sounders signed Jordan Morris, the Stanford standout. He came out of college with a national championship at Stanford University and the accolade of being the first college player to be called into the USMNT squad since 1999. There was lots of hope that Morris would continue to shine in Seattle and hopes that Cristian Roldan would be good supporting cast for this role.

Early Season

The beginning of the Seattle Sounders' season started below average, going 4-1-4 over a period of 9 games, and earning 13 points over the 9 game stretch. At this point, as a Seattle Sounders fan at college without access to all the MLS Cup games, I started to have a bad vibe. After yet another early exit from the playoffs in 2015 (and losing one of the leading scorers from the previous year), the team did not look to be on track. Jordan Morris started the season slowly, and the Sounders were winless in all away games during the 9 game stretch, indicating that this season would be a rough one.

Mid-Season

Mid-Season saw a couple of very unexpected occurrences for the club. First, Clint Dempsey got sidelined due to an irregular heartbeat. To lose the versatile player that made a career playing for Fulham in the Premier League, and being one of the top scorers in USMNT history was a huge shake-up that could’ve led to a last-place finish. Secondly, the summer saw Seattle fall to 9th in the Western Conference and a firing of their longtime coach, Sigi Schmid. From May through July, the Sounders went 2-2-8 in 12 matches, a record that accumulated 8 points total. This was a rather pathetic showing from a Seattle team that had won the Supporters Shield (given to the team with the best record in the MLS) just two seasons ago. Nicolas Lodeiro was brought into Seattle during the summer to fill the hole in Seattle's striking core. With a new forward and an interim coach (Brian Schmetzer, a coach of the Sounders when they were in the USL), no one expected much from the end of the season.

Late-Season

Nicolas Lodeiro proved effective in his role in Seattle by stimulating the turnaround that saw the Sounders go from 9th in the Western Conference to 4th by season's end, securing them a home wild card game. Jordan Morris broke out during the final run of the season, finishing with a total of 12 goals on the season, and gaining the accolade of MLS Rookie of the Year. The Seattle Sounders' final season run to the playoffs, a completely incomprehensible comeback from a team showing a fight that hadn’t been present before, is widely considered to be one of the best comebacks in MLS history. Rolling into the playoffs, the Sounders became tied to the mottos, “This Moment” and “We’re Not Done Yet”, indicating that the Sounders had no plans of giving up now!

MLS Cup Playoffs

The MLS Playoffs started off with a home game vs Sporting Kansas City in the Wild Card Round. Nelson Valdez, Seattle’s struggling forward that had not scored a goal all year, scored a header with almost no time remaining; this lifted Seattle to a 1-0 victory that saw them through to the next round. However, Seattle was outplayed throughout the game and there was a lot of personal concern on whether they could outlast FC Dallas in the Home-and-Away of the Conference Semifinals. Seattle took care of Dallas heartily at home, and was able to hold the lead during the away leg, pushing them into the conference finals, where they defeated the Colorado Rapids 3-1 on aggregate to move onto the MLS Cup finals against Toronto. Most importantly, during this unexpectedly deep playoff run, Seattle decided to promote Brian Schmetzer from interim coach to head coach after a remarkable mid-season turnaround.

MLS Cup Final

Seattle entered the MLS Cup final against Toronto FC as staunch underdogs. Many sports analysts, as well as many fans, predicted a Seattle loss. The game ended up being more entertaining than expected, going to extra time which transitioned into penalty kicks after no goal was scored during regulation. However, during regulation, Toronto had a fabulous chance to win the game on a Jozy Altidore header, only to be denied by Stefan Frei on a play that has since become known as “The Save”:

This play ended up earning Frei MLS Cup MVP honors, after Roman Torres, one of the Seattle back-line members that made up the defensive fort Seattle used for a deep playoff run, scored the winning penalty kick after a Toronto FC player hit the crossbar and missed on the penalty before. The magical, Cinderella season had been complete and Seattle had been named MLS Cup Champions. I was more excited and proud of my Sounders the\an I was of my Seahawks when they won Super Bowl XlVIII against the Broncos--a feat I never thought could be accomplished. So, to celebrate the end of an amazing season, I would like to give out some season awards to some Sounders that deserve recognition.

• MVP of the Sounders: Nicolas Lodeiro. The stats show that Seattle was a much better attacking team when he was on the field and he finished when they needed him the most.
• Most Underrated Player of the Season: Stefan Frei. Season after season, Stefan Frei proves to be a top-notch goalkeeper and made all the right saves. Not to mention, he made the save that gave the Sounders the chance to win the MLS Cup instead of going down 1-0 to Toronto FC.
• Rookie of the Year: Jordan Morris. No arguments from anyone here.
• Defender of the Year: Chad Marshall (and his head). A lot of the season focused on Joevin Jones and Tyrone Mears playing as attacking right and left backs, and Roman Torres as a big man at the center back position preventing anyone from getting through. However, yet again, Chad Marshall and his veteran status continually showed an ability to read the game--an ability that is superior to man,y and showed the effect he has on Seattle’s defense against set pieces. His head could be the MLS MVP, hands-down.
• Emotional Support of the Year: Osvaldo Alonso. No one was more crucial to having everyone in the locker room believe that this was Seattle’s year. Ozzie is the one that got famous for saying “We Aren’t Done Yet”, and boy was he right.
• Disappointment of the Year: Erik Friberg. Before I continue, and don’t get me wrong, Erik Friberg is not a bad player, but he needs further development. He has a tendency to lose possession in the midfield, and he always appeared to be the slowest person on the pitch.