On Saturday night, Toronto FC will face off against the Seattle Sounders at BMO Field and a new MLS Cup champion will be crowned. Their only meeting this season ended in a 1-1 draw, with both goals being scored within two minutes by Jordan Hamilton for Toronto and Jordan Morris for Seattle.
Now, the two teams will face off in the biggest battle of their lives.
There are a couple of important notes that both teams will have to take into account in order to win on Saturday night. Both teams have star players, which their opponents will need to shut down. In Seattle, Nicolas Lodeiro had an immediate impact when he started with the team mid-season and has been a critical part of their post-season campaign. Sebastian Giovinco hasn’t had the same consistent post-season impact, but he has still proven a crucial player in the development of this team and their overall success this season.
Defenses win championships. If either team is going to be successful, they will need their defenders to do their job offensively and defensively. Both teams have plenty of attacking stars that need to be covered-- but they will also need their outside defenders to keep the ball moving forward, maintaining possession and creating offensive chances.
Seattle has been in the playoffs every year since their creation in 2009. They’ve won four U.S Open titles, and they won the Supporters’ Shield in 2014. But this is their first MLS Cup. They’ve had a bit of a rocky season, releasing their long-time Head Coach Sigi Schmid in July. For his replacement, long time assistant coach Brian Schmetzer, it’s been a bit of a Cinderella story. They snagged one of the last playoff spots in a competitive Western Conference. They beat Sporting Kansas City in the Knockout Round. They beat the Supporters’ Shield winners, FC Dallas, in the Conference Semi-Finals. They knocked out the Colorado Rapids, who had the league’s second best regular season record, in the Western Conference Finals. Now they’re in their first ever MLS Cup.
For Toronto FC, their post-season campaign has been something of a dream come true. They were a solid competitor in the Eastern Conference for most of the regular season, but they had never won a playoff match before. They had only made it to the playoffs once before, last season, but lost in their first match. They’ve traveled a long way to get here, sailing past their opponents-- the Philadelphia Union in the Knockout Round, the New York Red Bulls in the Conference Semi-Finals, and the Montreal Impact for the first-ever all Canadian Eastern Conference Finals. Now, they’ll bring it all home.
After months of matches, only one question remains-- who will be crowned the 2016 MLS Cup Champions?
The question will be answered on Saturday, December 10th at 8:00pm on FOX.
