If anyone should be shocked about the scorelines, it should be the players themselves. Don't give them a harsh treatment, they did after all made it 4 straight MLS CUP finals in 5 years and that's something alot of teams can compare. What seemed to be a certain winner showed us how even the greatest can fall short. That's what makes this league so fascinating . If anyone should be shocked about the scorelines, it should be the players themselves. Don't give them a harsh treatment, they did after all made it 4 straight MLS CUP finals in 5 years and that's something alot of teams can compare. What seemed to be a certain winner showed us how even the greatest can fall short. That's what makes this league so fascinating .Seattle came in this game as strong favorites and Columbus showed the ex-MLS Cup champions who are the new big dogs in town. Lucas Zelarayan showed how much of a big impact a signing can be to a team after almost losing their team, just as Nicolas Lodeiro did in 2016. Enough of the Crew(sorry no offense but this is about the sounders) let's talk about what we could possibly see in the future as the season is over.
Joao Paulo had a good season for the Sounders, scoring 2 goals and setting up 3 assists. He's locked up the midfield and showed great partnership between both Cristian Roldan and Gustav Svensson. Although he's only on loan from Botofogo, he's still has played a valuable asset to the team. I'd like to see him come back on a permanent deal, maybe we can see if we can put him under a Senior Contract rather than DP but if not that's fine as well. Gustav is indeed entering his final year at the club and honestly I can see him leave this post season. This leaves the door wide open for Danny Leyva, homegrown midfield player, to start getting minutes.
Midfielder Miguel Ibarra could be on his way out, making 10 appearance while failing to score or assist in a single game. He could still be in the Sounder's plan but I believe his time as a Sounder has come to an end. Alex Roldan, who had a bad game this final(he's still learning and losing is part of the learning experience), will be in the starting line up for the future as for right back but that leaves a big question for Kelvin Leerdam. The fullback always makes a difference on the field but now realizing he didn't start because of an injury now makes sense. There were thoughts in my head about his future being here and the finals show us maybe one more year with him around to help guide the young fullback isn't such a bad idea. Although if he does leave that leaves an international slot open and frees up some payroll room as well.
Now the interesting part. The Seattle Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer is now out of contract and so the negotiations began. Should the MLS CUP final reflect on whether his coaching staff deserve the contracts that we're asked for? Let me tell you this. They have all the fans and supporters backing to keep them here for a longer time. Will Brian Schmetzer be given a new contract? We shall see soon. But in the meantime let's just see where the light can take us. The Seattle Sounders didn't win tonight, but even Champions fall short.
No matter what happens this post season, we have to remember this year's Sounder's is quite different then the other years. We had a stacked roster, a roster that has shaken the Western conference, a roster full of veterans and young rising stars. It's going to be sad to see some players leave but that's the mystery of it all. This year people finally recognized how big of a club the Seattle Sounders are, setting the standard of making it into the playoffs for their 11th season in a row, they became Western Conference Champions and made it to 4 of the last 5 finals. Of course this article could be different if we would've won the MLS Cup, but it just wasn't meant to be. Best believe the Sounders will make another big run to win the Cup, and don't lose faith in them either.