Brian Schmetzer has galvanized the Sounders at the most crucial time.
Follow Scott W. Nicholls on Twitter: @scottnicholls
Sporting finals are so often “unremarkable.”
The finals of any sporting competition are marred by the culmination of a season or tournament by which time the teams involved are battered, bruised, tired — you name it —, and the games are not always entertaining.
But boy, are they ever tense.
Lets face it — finals aren’t about entertainment. Finals are about grit, the determination, the tension; they’re about achievement and failure; but most importantly? They’re about which team can display that cut-throat, clear-cut, winning mentality.
Sometimes the team that displays this mentality aren’t the consensus favorite, heck, they’re not even necessarily the team that looks the best on the night — but they are the team that lifts that championship trophy at the end of the night.
On Saturday — in sub-zero temperatures — it was the Seattle Sounders who displayed some stone cold nerves and winning mentality, by winning the Major League Soccer Cup on penalty kicks 5-4.
The Sounders did it even though they managed just 3 shots on goal all night, none of which hit the target or even remotely worried Toronto goalkeeper Clint Irwin.
It was the first MLS Cup game to end scoreless after 120 minutes of play, and the Sounders became the first team in MLS Cup history — winner or loser — to record zero shots on target.
“Smash and Grab,” some fans wrote, some others? that the Sounders “stole” the win. In reality? the Sounders had a game plan for combating a flamboyant and creative Toronto team in harsh conditions they were not used to, and it worked.
No matter how well laid Seattle’s plans were, though, they still needed some special performances on the night to win the prize that had eluded them since they entered the league as an expansion team in 2009 — most notably from Stefan Frei and Osvaldo Alonso.
“Ozzie” [Alonso] is one of just three players on the Seattle roster that won MLS Cup that were on the team at the time of the team’s expansion in 2009 along with Zach Scott and Brad Evans. He was not well regarded as a player back then, but now? “Ozzy” is one of — if not the — premier defensive midfielder in the league. On Saturday night he burst out of the blocks like a man possessed in order to curtail the magic of Sebastian Giovinco, and control the midfield.
Oh, and he did it on one leg.
The Cuban defector suffered a serious knee injury versus Colorado during the Western Conference Final and coach Brian Schmetzer was full of praise for his warrior’s resilience gushing that “his [Alonso’s] determination on a half a leg — he has a pulled tendon in his knee — is just a testament to how much Ozzy wants to win. I can’t be any more proud or happy that he is in our club.”
Alonso reportedly received injections both before the match at half-time. Ozzy wasn’t about to give up on potentially the biggest moment in his career wearing rave-green. You can’t replace that kind of mental strength, nor can you plan for it — Toronto found that out after Giovinco was replaced, not having affected the game in the way most have come to expect.
Because of the stakes — and probably the wind-chill —, the game was one of inches. Something spectacular was going to be needed to win the game, or, to keep one of the teams alive in the game.
Cue Sounders ‘keeper Stefan Frei.
For Frei there was surely unfinished business at BMO field, having started his career there, and his performance earned him the MLS Cup MVP award. Frei made seven saves over the 120 minutes of action, but it was denying Jozy Altidore twice that was the difference between Toronto celebrating in-front of their own fans, and Seattle surviving into penalty kicks.
“Sometimes as a goalkeeper you feel like you’re not going to get to the ball but you never know until you try,” Frei told Major League soccer post-game. Frei’s save to deny Jozy Altidore in the 108th minute, though? That was something special.
Sebastian Giovinco’s replacement Tosaint Ricketts got to the by-line and hung a speculative cross over the middle of the box. Jozy Altidore rose above the Sounders defenders and somehow directed his header the opposite way of his momentum, surely Frei was beaten?
Instead of purely giving up on the play after being totally wrong-footed in temperatures that hit below zero Fahrenheit the Seattle stopper willed his body to the left and clawed Altidore’s header, full stretch, from behind his body, out of the top corner.
It was at that moment you had a sense that it was the Sounders’ time.
Neutrals crave that “special” moment that wins a final: an added-time goal; a Roberto Di Matteo esque wonder strike to give a team the lead; perhaps a dazzling run or a no-look pass to set up a brilliant team winner. The misconception is that the neutrals were denied that in this game — but they weren’t.
Frei’s goalkeeping masterclass coupled with his Michael Jordan-silhouette-all-time-great worthy save was the “special” moment. It solidified an already strong mentality which helped the Sounders win on penalty kicks.
Brian Schmetzer has taken when Sigi Schmid built and galvanized a team at the most crucial time of the season — perhaps even in the teams short history. He has instilled a never say die, never give in attitude that the Sounders seemed to have lost early in the season.
It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t what anybody expected, but in the world of American sports we reward the team that doesn’t succumb to the pressure in the big moment. That’s what Schmetzer, Alsonso, and Frei helped the Sounders do Saturday night in Toronto.
As for Toronto? They’re building a dynasty. Michael Bradley, Jozy Altdiore, and Sebastian Giovinvo are all players in the prime of their careers — the Reds will only emerge from this bitter disappointment much stronger.
Michael Bradley had been criticized over his midfield play at times this season, but showed he’s big-time player by turning in certainly the best performance of his Toronto FC career. This isn’t over for him, nor the Reds.
There is no right or wrong way to win a championship. “Smash and grab?,” why not? — you get nothing for style.
Ask Chelsea fans if they care if other fans or pundits think the Blues are “the worst team to ever win the UEFA Champions League,” or if anybody Portuguese cares that they wouldn’t have qualified for the knockout stages at any other European Championships when they were en-route to their win in the summer of 2016.
Under Schmid the Sounders were always the bridesmaid, never the bride. Not anymore.
More on Sounders FC MLS Cup win
Ivanschitz, Friberg, Mears and Valdez among options not exercised by Sounders FC
Cascadia Corner: Why Sounders MLS Cup win is for their fans even more than usual
Champions: Sounders FC win MLS Cup
