Seattle Wins MLS Cup in Thriller by Jake Martino

Toronto- The moment we had all been waiting for all season was finally here. The MLS Cup. It was between two teams that have had shocking seasons. We will start in Toronto, first off midseason they had to get through a tough time where Giovinco wasn’t producing and they three tough teams to begin the MLS Playoffs in Philly, NYCFC and Montreal. Then to Seattle where they have dealt with continuous injury throughout the season, especially to USMNT superstar Clint Dempsey. He went down in July during the game with an irregular heartbeat which is an automatic shutdown for the season. Seattle’s start to the season didn’t help their cause either.

Before the game in Upstate MLSTalk with Jared I predicted that the game would end in a tie, go to extra time, then go to a shootout with Seattle being the winner. Well, that exactly happened.

It was a well rounded game for both teams, both of which were looking to capture their first MLS Cup in team histories. From a fan standpoint it was a very physical game. The amount of fouls could have doubled. Also as a neutral fan of both teams you could tell the calls were very biased toward Seattle. In extra time you would not believe the save that Stefan Frei had on a header vs. Altidore. His arm reached so far back the ball nearly crossed the line.

The game should have belonged to Toronto with only 36,045 fans on their side, but it all game down to sudden death penalties. Tied 4-4 going to sudden death, Toronto defender Justin Morrow but he missed off the crossbar and it couldn’t have ended any better with Roman Torres scoring the Cup clincher.

What shocked me the most was Toronto’s decision to take out Italian superstar Giovinco in the 103rd minute. Like this is for all the marbles, why would you take him out! Just think that one miss could have been one made shot by Giovinco. Also there was still 20 minutes left in extra time when they took him out, why not let him stay in and try to get some oppertunites for a goal. Maybe that will be something that Toronto FC organization will consider in the offseason…

What can we expect next season? Can we expect a team to come out of the risers and show us how to play the game we love? Or could we see a first place team clinch the final? That we will have to wait a couple months to see again.

Stay tuned for final power rankings and post season updates. But for continued coverage of MLS, stay with Upstate Sports Zone… @upstate_sports

#Seattle #Wins #MLS #Thriller