After more than three years, the Seattle Sounders finally got over the LAFC hurdle on Saturday, and they could not have picked a better time.
The Sounders flipped the script in the 109th minute of their Western Conference Semifinal at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles behind a Jordan Morris match-winner to complete a 2-1 win after extra time and advance to their first conference championship since 2020.
Penciling in an LAFC win over Seattle had become dogmatic with the Black & Gold knocking the Sounders out of last year’s MLS Cup Playoffs and this year’s U.S. Open Cup and Leagues Cup. Seattle was winless in its last 10 matches against LAFC. For all the success the Sounders have had in the seven years since LAFC entered MLS, they had only beaten their Southern California rivals five times in 22 tries.
“It was frustrating for us because they had gotten the best of us,” said Morris. “We didn’t love how much of a narrative that was coming into this game…We wanted to end that cycle. It feels great to come to their home and get a win. It was such a great effort from the group, and we’re glad to put that narrative to bed and move forward.”
Saturday’s win felt oddly familiar to what the Sounders did in 2019 when they took down an LAFC side that had just won a Supporters’ Shield and set an MLS points record. In both matches, LAFC were heavily favored and scored first, but the Sounders clawed their way back each time.
Five Sounders remain from that 2019 squad — Morris, Cristian Roldan, Stefan Frei, Raúl Ruidíaz and Nouhou — and they were able to call upon that previous win to help guide them in 2024.
“We took confidence from that game,” said Morris. “It was a similar scenario where maybe we were a little bit of an underdog coming here. They finished first in the West. We had a chip on our shoulders from the previous 10 games that they went unbeaten against us. That was a recipe for success for us in 2019 to beat them here and then go on to win MLS Cup. Hopefully we can repeat that.”
It wasn’t just how the Sounders won this weekend that was impressive, but also with whom. The 2019 Sounders were littered with talent including an in-form Ruidíaz and Nicolás Lodeiro, each of whom scored in the win. But this year’s edition was grittier, led by several players who had rarely seen the field this season.
“My initial gut reaction is this is a little better than 2019,” said Sounders Head Coach Brian Schmetzer. “In 2019, we had a really good team. Nico was in his prime, Raúl was in his prime. On Saturday\], we started [Reed \[Baker-Whiting\], Jonathan Bell, guys who hadn’t played, guys who came on the field and did their jobs.”
Baker-Whiting and Bell played fewer than 1,200 combined minutes this year. Georgi Minoungou came off the bench with fewer than 400 minutes. Nathan came on as well. He played just 89 minutes this season and hadn’t made an appearance since early September.
“It’s the overall spirit and mentality of the group,” said Schmetzer. “It’s their team and they have to stick together. As a collective, they can do great things. All of those little messages add up to guys not quitting and guys finding ways to impact games.”
The Sounders are now just two wins away from their third league championship and will head back to southern California next weekend to take on the LA Galaxy in the Western Conference Championship (7 p.m. PT; Watch on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV, 93.3 KJR FM, El Rey 1360AM). But just because they exercised their LAFC demons doesn’t mean the job is done.
“That whole group deserves a lot of credit,” said Schmetzer. “Those players in there had to dig deep. They had to fight. They had to persevere. They had to overcome. We went down a goal, came back and scored two…We created something that got us back in the game, and then for Jordan to clean it up and put the game away was impressive.
“It’s not just LAFC,” he continued. “Don’t just use 2019 and this year as an example. The Sounders, the mantra, the mentality of the group is we never quit, we never give up.”
