Article by Matt Lichtenstadter
In soccer, nothing is harder to achieve than consistency. With so movement in players, managers, tactics, agents, finding consistency is harder than winning almost any trophy. Even with the stratification in soccer’s caste system, any team can put it together all at once (see Leicester City), but doing that many times over? Only a lucky few can ever dream of reaching that rarified air.
Theoretically, consistency should be easier to achieve in MLS, a league with artificial parity. But plenty of clubs have proven that is also not a given. For a select few, in MLS and across globe, consistency can be bought, but only after a huge cash outlay and quite a bit of trial and error. Very few can earn that consistency.
The Seattle Sounders have earned that consistency. From the minute they set foot on the pitch in their first MLS game, to ending a decade they defined with their second MLS Cup victory, they have earned consistency to a level no one else in MLS has come close to. LAFC, Atlanta United and LA Galaxy might have the cash and the stars, but no one can come close to what the Sounders can boast. 11 seasons, 11 trips to the playoffs. Two MLS Cups, one Supporter’s Shield, four US Open Cups. Averaging basically two trophies every three years is a hit rate that elevates clubs to historic status. While the Sounders do have plenty of financial backing behind them, they aren’t using it the same way the nouveau riche of MLS is. That’s because they don’t need to.
For every Nico Lodeiro, there’s a Gustav Svensson. For every Raul Ruidiaz, there’s a Kim Kee-Hee. For every Jordan Morris, there’s a Cristian Roldan. The core group that went to two consecutive MLS Cups in 2016 and 2017 is almost entirely intact, and though they lost the league’s best ever defender, Chad Marshall, midseason, they barely missed a beat. Not many clubs can bring someone like Victor Rodriguez off the bench, and through his injuries and seemingly missed potential, the Sounders could afford to be patient like no other club because they have earned their consistency. They know they’ll get what they need from another source.They can create their own “stars”, or players that form the backbone of who they are, like JoevinJones, Kelvin Leerdam, even Brad Smith. Many clubs try to do that, but none succeed quite like the Sounders do at it.
They also get great consistency from the dugout. Brian Schmetzer is not one of the league’s best pure tacticians, but when called upon, he makes the adjustments necessary to get everything possible out of his team. Even when his teams are in a slump, or in the case of recent seasons, down the table mid-season, he knows just what buttons to push to get his team to their capability again and again. His assistants are former Seattle Sounders too, so they can play a major in continuing an established culture that through all the ups and downs, external and internal forces at play, stays consistent.
Their front office is consistent, with Garth Lagerway and company always making the smart, measured decisions and not being blinded by circumstance or the forces at play around the league. This allows them to hit on almost every signing they make and be patient when the early returns might not be what they hoped. No club has that patience because no club like the Sounders has earned it.
Every Sounders home game, there will be 40,000 fans at CenturyLink Field, no matter the weather, condition of the team, time of year, they will always be there. Their March to the Match will be done with the same fervor and passion every time. They might not grab the headlines like the fans in Atlanta or LAFC do, but they will always be there. If the league wants to sell its atmosphere, they know they can rely on the Sounders and their fans to clinch the sale. They draw from their lineage as a fervent soccer city dating back to the NASL and the days when soccer was nothing around the country, it was still very much something in Seattle. They’ve drawn on that, improved it and perfected it. In Seattle, soccer means something, it is part of the fabric of the community, and that cannot be bought, it must be earned. They earned it.
No club has defined MLS in the 2010’s than the Sounders. No matter how the league changed around them, how other clubs spent their money, how other clubs invested in their academies, how forces around them changed rapidly in the blink of an eye, they are always there. Nico Lodeiro might not be Carlos Vela, Zlatan or any number of other stars, but he’s always there, doing what only he can do every single week. Raul Ruidiaz might not be the biggest name, but he’s always there to score that one decisive goal. Jordan Morris, despite his gruesome injury history, is still there doing what only he can do and doing it almost every week. They have earned their consistency, and they have earned their moment to celebrate that.
As the league expands, if there is any club those new entrants should strive to be, it’s the Sounders. They might not have the crowds, or the history dating back to the 70’s, but if you establish a culture that is consistent, you can earn your consistency and win even if others spend far beyond your own means. That is what makes the Sounders unique, what makes them special, and what makes them the defining club in MLS and the model club.
Winning another MLS Cup was merely a confirmation of all that we already knew, and all that they had already proved.
