The Sounders were ousted from the MLS cup as they failed to score one more goal in order to stay alive. The Seattle Sounders went down winning as they beat Salt Lake 2-0, but that was not enough to keep them alive in the playoffs.
Seattle had high hopes going into this postseason as the Sounders looked to be playing an elite level of soccer in the MLS. The loss in October to Salt Lake was too much to overcome.
The Sounders loss to Salt Lake 0-3 on Oct. 29 in an unfortunate game where a lot of corky events took place to deliver Seattle a blowout loss.
Seattle was then pinned up against a wall going into the game on Wednesday. They needed to win by three goals to redeem their 0-3 loss to Salt Lake. This would prove to be too big a mountain for the Seattle Sounders to climb.
Going into the game on Wednesday night the sounders knew what they needed to do to move on in the playoffs, execute and win by three.
The Sounders found themselves dominating ball possession throughout the entire game as they franticly tried for their third goal. However, they were never able to sink the ball in the back of the net in the first half. This put them in a position where only a miracle could save their season. Unfortunately there were no miracles in the air for the Sounders that night.
The Sounders weren’t able to get anything going until deep into the second half, leading them to only get 2 of the 3 goals they so badly needed to stay alive. To make it even harder on our Sounders, it was the final game for our beloved Kasey Keller.
It was a positive year for our Sounders although they did not win the MLS Cup, they were able to win the Open Cup for the third straight year. It was a big year as well for Sounders fans as they broke all the attendance records for the MLS which they had previously held.
We also came together more as a team and an organization, and got national attention as a force in the league.
The front office will need to bring in more talent and resign key pieces to the franchise in order to keep progressing toward the goal of bringing home the MLS Cup.
We will have a huge hole to fill with the departure of Keller, but this should not prevent us from being the best team in the league in the very near future.
It will be awhile before the players and fans are over the early departure from the MLS Cup playoffs, but we all need to keep our heads high and reminisce on what the Sounders have been able to accomplish in only three years that they have been in the league.
Things will only get better from here. We will continue to break the attendance records that we have previously set, win more games each season, and gain more support from our wonderful city and across the nation as we continue to impress everyone with what the Sounders have been able to accomplish in such a short period of time.
Right now, however, it hurt. We all want to win, but sometimes you have to look back and be thankful for the accomplishments that a team has done. right now that’s what we should be doing.
Good job Sounders and here’s to a great season in 2012!
