Seattle Sounders Win the MLS Cup, Beat Toronto FC, 3-1

After three years of waiting, and one loss in the finals, the Seattle Sounders have reached the MLS Cup again. They’ve defeated Toronto FC in the trophy game with 3-1.

In that final, which Seattle lost in 2017, the opponents were the Canadians, who themselves experienced the taste of defeat one year earlier. We can say without any hesitation that these clubs developed a massive rivalry after all these years of meeting in the MLS Cup Finals.

THIS IS FOR YOU, SEATTLE! pic.twitter.com/LEqrsPbzZt

— Seattle Sounders FC (@SoundersFC) November 10, 2019

The scorers for the new champions were Victor Rodriguez, Raul Ruidiaz, and Kelvin Leerdam. On the other side, Jozy Altidore struck one for the visitors.

“I’m gonna get a little emotional because this is an important moment for Seattle fans,” Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer said.

So much tension and the pressure was on Sounders’ head coach, who found a way to lift his team in the decisive part of the season. Though, they didn’t start the game against Toronto very good. The Canadians were more than dominant in the first half, and they constantly pressured the hosts who didn’t adjust to the circumstances on the field.

Everything was going well for the visitors except for executing. The punishment for that could have arrived in the closing seconds of the half when Ruidiaz suddenly reached a one-on-one situation with Quentin Westberg, who stopped his shot.

But all that was forgotten in the second 45 minutes, during which Toronto suffered a tough knockout. Leerdam opened the show in the 58th minute. The Dutch international sent a shot that eventually deflected off Justin Morrow and hit the back of the net.

Victor Rodriguez’s shot from the edge of the box in the 76th minute, ended behind Westberg. It was the nicest play of the game. He won the MLS Cup MVP Award as the best individual on the court.

“It’s amazing,” Rodriguez explained how he felt after scoring a goal.”That feeling is amazing, I will always remember this moment. I think this people deserved that and more. I am really happy for all of our fans, for my teammates.

In the last minute of the regulations, Ruidiaz got what he deserved, by beating Toronto’s goalkeeper. The Peruvian player finished a quick counter-attack, putting an end on this match. The only thing which happened until the last whistle was Jozy Altidore’s score, in his first appearance in these playoffs, due the injury he picked up in the final game of the regular part of the season.

The Sounders now have two MLS Cup’s; both won against the same opponent. Schmetzer’s  crew reached the playoffs for the 11th straight season, and that is the longest active streak in the league.

“The players overcome a lot of adversity all these years, these fans deserve it, those players deserve it,” said Seattle’s coach.

The crowd of 69,274 was the second-highest in the history of the finals, with last year’s attendance in Atlanta as the only one bigger. It is interesting that the tickets got sold twenty minutes after their release.

“We need to get the crowd into it,” Schmetzer said during the halftime, because he was aware that the energy from the stands might change the course of the game. “We need to create more chances, more possession and get them more into it.”

The MLS league is now over, and we are ahead of few months of rest between the seasons. This period promises to be one of the most interesting in the past decade, as many stars revealed their intention to move to USA. We will be here to update you with all the important pieces of information.