LOS ANGELES — One of my most firmly held beliefs in my life is that joy doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Joy doesn’t exist without pain. The highs don’t happen without the lows. We don’t experience the wonders of the mountaintop without also experiencing the depths of the valley. This isn’t just true in life, but in soccer as well. If you don’t experience crushing defeats, you have no idea how sweet the victories are.
There’s no doubt about what happened Sunday night at the Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles. The Seattle Sounders were roundly defeated by Los Angeles Football Club.