MONTREAL — They at least got the “slow start’’ thing out of the way, which enabled the Sounders to stumble out of the 2019 season’s unofficial “first half” in relatively good shape.
But in climbing within a game of the halfway mark of the schedule Wednesday night at 7-4-5 — with a two-week FIFA break now upcoming — the overall record isn’t quite what most had in mind after the Sounders began the year 5-0-1 to erase their previous slow-starting legacy. Let’s face it: The measuring stick for this team has never been about making the playoffs, but how deep in the postseason they go and whether they’ll ever host the MLS Cup final.