One of the challenges of approaching each game like a “final” — as the Seattle Sounders have been saying they’re doing for the last several weeks — is that losing one of those games feels an awful lot like the season is over. That black/white approach served them well enough in seeming statement wins against the Houston Dynamo and Austin FC, but backfired pretty spectacularly in Saturday’s 2-1 loss to the Vancouver Whitecaps.
The narrative of the game played out like so many others in this frustrating regular season. The Sounders started OK, had a defensive lapse that led to one goal, started pressing a bit and allowed another.