It’s record-setting Toronto vs. defending champ Seattle
TORONTO — Toronto FC needs to beat the defending champion Seattle Sounders to cap their record-breaking regular season with an MLS Cup crown.
In a rematch, Toronto will host the Sounders in Saturday’s MLS Cup. Seattle won last year’s game in a penalty shootout after neither team could score in regulation or 30 minutes of extra time.
The memory of Sounders players celebrating on his home field remains painful for Toronto striker Jozy Altidore.
“It was not great, so it’s good that we have a chance to hopefully reverse that feeling,” Altidore said.
Led by Altidore, fellow U.S. international Michael Bradley and 2015 league MVP Sebastian Giovinco, Toronto set a league record with 69 points this season. That’s one better than the 1998 Los Angeles Galaxy. Toronto won 20 of 34 games, matching the 2014 Sounders for most victories in the league’s postshootout era, and scored 74 goals, tied for the second-highest total.
Bradley said he and his Toronto teammates are “all excited that it’s Seattle again” in the decisive game.
“This was all we wanted, to give ourselves another crack,” Bradley said.
Seattle’s potent attack gets plenty of attention because of players including Clint Dempsey, Nicolas Lodeiro, Will Bruin and Jordan Morris, the league’s reigning rookie of the year out of Stanford.
But the Sounders’ biggest strength late in the season and during the playoffs has been the defense. Seattle hasn’t allowed a goal since a 2-0 loss to Philadelphia on Oct. 1. That’s a span of six full games, including four postseason games, since a shot got past starting goalkeeper Stefan Frei or backup Tyler Miller.
Seattle has steamrolled its opponents in the playoffs after finishing second in the Western Conference during the regular season.
“You want a final like this each and every year,” Sounders midfielder Cristian Roldan said. “It’s two powerhouse teams with fantastic quality.”
Seattle midfielder and captain Osvaldo Alonso failed a fitness test on his strained right quadriceps muscle and was ruled out of the final. The prognosis was better for Morris. After being sidelined for two months by a hamstring injury, Morris came off the bench late in the second leg of the West finals against Houston and could reprise his substitute’s role against Toronto . ... For Toronto, Altidore says he won’t be hampered by a tender ankle suffered in the Eastern Conference final against Columbus. State of the league: MLS commissioner Don Garber said it’s “conceivable” a yet-to-be-named expansion team could join the league before a long-approved Miami team hits the field.
Speaking at his annual state of the league address on the eve of the MLS Cup, Garber also encouraged the city of Columbus to return to negotiations about keeping the struggling Crew in the Ohio capital. Team owner Anthony Precourt has been exploring a move to Austin, Texas, for the 2019 season.
“Like every professional sports league, we never want to relocate a team,” Garber said. “And while no decision has been made to relocate the Crew, MLS is supportive of the Precourt Sports Venture’s efforts to explore their options in Austin . ... The ball is in the (Columbus’) court.”
Last month, MLS chose Sacramento, Nashville, Cincinnati and Detroit as finalists for its 25th and 26th teams, set to begin play in 2020. MLS owners plan to discuss expansion when they meet in New York on Thursday.
It’s been more than 3½ years since the league awarded a team to Miami and an investment group led by former player David Beckham, but the group has struggled to find a stadium site and attract investment from a local owner.
Garber called Miami “the most complicated situation in any market that we’ve experienced” but said the league remains committed to returning a team to South Florida.