Article by Jean Luca Mascaro
As the 2016 MLS season is now in the books, let’s take a look at the season that just transpired which saw the Seattle Sounders win their first ever MLS Cup. The regular season began on March 6th and ended on October 23rd 2016, with the playoffs beginning on October 26th 2016 and ending on December 10th 2016. It was a season that saw FC Dallas win the Supporters Shield trophy (handed to the team whofinished first in the regular season standings). On an individual note, New York Red Bulls’ Bradley Wright-Phillips finished as the top scorer in the MLS with 24 goals but David Villa of New York City FC finished a close second with 23 goals. Sacha Kljestan ended the season as the top assist man providing 20 assists during this past MLS season. Without further delay, let us take a closer look at this past season as well as looking at the individual awards that have been handed out by the MLS.
The Eastern Conference saw the New York Red Bulls finish as the top seed, accumulating 57 points during the season. It was a memorable season for the Red Bulls on an individual note as Bradley Wright-Phillips ended up being the Golden Boot winner, Sacha Kljestan finished up being the league’s top assist man and keeper Luis Robles ended the season with the most clean-sheets. New York City FC finished second in the Eastern Conference standings thanks to David Villa’s heroics (23 goals). Speaking of Villa, he ended being the 2016 MVP of the league as he always seemed to be involved in a NYCFC goal. It surely was a memorable regularseason for the New York teams but their post season performances left a bit to be desired.
The other four Eastern Conference teams who qualified for the playoffs were : DC United, Toronto FC, Montreal Impact and the Philadelphia Union.
As previously stated, the Western Conference saw FC Dallas top the Conference standings as they accumulated 60 points. They also finished first in the entire league thus winning the Supporter’s Shield. The Colorado Rapids finished second in the Western Conference, in part due to a great team effort. They had an impressive season as they took second place in the overall league standings.
The other four Western playoff teams were: Gio Dos Santos’ LA Galaxy, the Seattle Sounders, Sporting KC and Real Salt Lake.
Playoff Review :
As the playoffs began on October 26th 2016, the first round saw the Montreal Impact beat DC United (4-2) and Toronto FC beat the Union by a 3-1 score. In the other Conference, Seattle eliminated Sporting KC 1-0, where as LA Galaxy beat Real Salt Lake 3-1.
In the second round of the MLS cup playoffs, the Montreal Impact surprised the New York Red Bulls (3-1 on aggregate) and Toronto did the same against the other top seed NYCFC by a 7-0 aggregate score. This meant that for the first time ever, a Canadian team was going to participate in the MLS Cup final. In the Western Conference, Seattle eliminated top placed FC Dallas (4-2 aggregate) and Colorado beat LA Galaxy after a penalty-kick shootout.
The Conference finals were packed with euphoria as the Montreal-Toronto 401 derby game was a memorable one. Toronto eventually eliminated Drogba and Piatti’s Montreal Impact by a 7-5 aggregate scoreline as the return leg in Toronto went to overtime and it was Cheyrou’s goal that ended up sealing the tie. In the other game, the Seattle Sounders beat Colorado by a 3-1 total. This meant that Toronto was going to host Seattle in the MLS cup final. History was made as Toronto became the first ever Canadian team to participate in the MLS cup final and both clubs had never won the Cup in their history.
The final which was played on December 10th 2016 in Toronto was a very close one as the game ended up going to overtime and then to a penalty kick shootout (0-0 after 120 minutes of play). In the end, Seattle won 5-4 after PK’s, as Morrow’s mistake proved to be the costly one for TFC.
Seattle proved their worth as they beat the best team in the MLS (FC Dallas) and went on to win the cup on the road in Toronto by showing a lot of character and winning mentality.
Individual performances:
Lets also take a look at the awards that were handed out by the MLS :
MVP award: David Villa (NYCFC)
Golden Boot winner: Bradley Wright-Phillips (Red Bulls)
Defender of the year: Matt Hedges (FC Dallas)
GK of the year: Andre Blake (Union)
Rookie of the season: Jordan Morris (Seattle)
Coach of the season: Oscar Pareja (FC Dallas)
Newcomer of the year: Nicolas Lodeiro (Seattle)
Comaback player: Chris Pontius (Union)
Here was the elected all-star team of the 2016 regular season:
Blake-Sjoberg-Hedges-VanDamme-Diaz-DosSantos-Klejstan-Piatti-
Giovinco-Wright-Phillips-Villa
Until next time,
