TUKWILA — Signs the Sounders are feeling the pressure to make the playoffs were on display at training last week, as players were witnessed in a heated scrum. But midfielder Kelyn Rowe shared the positive of the conflict the next day.
“There’s going to be those controversies, there’s going to be those battles,” Rowe said of all sports on all levels. “For us as [Sounders] players, it was a good example. When we did go in the locker room away from people, it was taken care of. Both players were out today, and nothing was out of sorts.
“It’s a lot of pressure. We know it and feel it. A lot of guys in the locker room are veteran enough to have felt this before. There’s going to be battles like this. If we can get through the battles on the field and then make sure it’s clear in the locker room that we’re good, this team will go far.”
Despite still being unified, the Sounders (12-16-3) appear to be amid the slowest face-plant in sports. What longtime followers of the league are categorizing as “the most MLS thing ever.”
In May the Sounders became the first MLS club to win the biggest title in the region — the CONCACAF Champions League trophy. As the calendar flips to fall, the Sounders might not advance to the league playoffs. That failure would snap a run of 13 consecutive appearances, an MLS record.
The Sounders have already set a franchise record for most losses in a season, finished last in the Cascadia Cup standings for the first time since 2016 and won’t qualify for the 2023 CCL tournament unless they win MLS Cup.
This season’s dichotomy would surpass blunders such the Columbus Crew winning the league championship in 2020 but not making the playoffs the next year. Or when in 2019, Los Angeles FC set league records for points in a season and goal differential when it won the Supporters’ Shield but lost its playoff opener at home.
So should the Sounders be revered if they can’t make the MLS playoffs, which has been the standard since 2009?
“We won the Champions League,” Sounders keeper Stefan Frei said. “We’ll judge our season when it’s said and done, but if that doesn’t count for something; it’s a massive achievement. We want more, but that a massive achievement.”
Seattle, which is four points below the Western Conference playoff line, must win its final three matches of the season to have a chance at a berth. First up is FC Cincinnati (11-8-12) on Tuesday night at Lumen Field.
FCC is above the playoff line in the Eastern Conference and riding a 10-game unbeaten streak in MLS matches. In their last outing Wednesday, Cincinnati pulled off a 3-1 comeback win against Liga MX power Chivas Guadalajara in a Leagues Cup Showcase.
The Sounders, who haven’t played FCC since a 4-1 result at Lumen in 2019, may have midfielder Cristian Roldan back from injury but will be without internationals Jordan Morris (U.S.), Xavier Arreaga (Ecuador), Raul Ruidiaz (Peru), Nouhou (Cameroon), and Alex Roldan (El Salvador) and co-captain Nico Lodeiro due to a one-game suspension for yellow card accumulation.
The key absences are a continued thread of why the Sounders have struggled since the CCL run. Seattle lost defensive midfielder Joao Paulo to a season-ending knee injury in the opening half of the title match, and promising replacement Obed Vargas was lost in June due to a back injury.
Ruidiaz, the Roldans and Nouhou have also missed matches due to injury. The reserves have been inconsistent and unable to help grind out wins the first-choice starters also find a challenge.
“A lot of people will say the Europeans do it all the time,” Rowe said of navigating multiple tournaments and league games. “The teams that do that, the Liverpools, the Man Citys, even the Real Madrids, they play players throughout the whole season because they can have a bench and a starting lineup that is competitive no matter what. MLS, we’re not there yet. We’re so close, but we’re not there.”
Close, but not there is probably good perspective for this Sounders season. Every roster decision Garth Lagerwey, the club’s president of soccer and general manager, has made the past three seasons has been in effort to win the CCL title.
The final move was trading left back Brad Smith to scrap together enough money to sign free agent Albert Rusnak while extending contracts for Joao Paulo, Ruidiaz and Arreaga.
Lagerwey thought the roster could hold together for a league run, too. The players are unified as the pressure mounts, but the goal might be just beyond their grasp.
“It’s not giving an excuse as to why we’re in this situation that we’re in now, but you have to bring that to light as well,” Rowe said. “We put everything into it. We won, and it’s the first time we won for MLS, and then we had to go out and play another game. It’s the most challenging, roller-coaster season for me because of that. But this has not been a negative season.”