The MLS got this one right.
They have ditched the home-and-away, cumulative-score playoff format which never resonated with an American audience desirous of each match producing a winner or loser.
And the bone-weary Sounders got it right too, in the end, though it took 120 frenetic minutes and then some to come away with a 4-3 victory over FC Dallas in overtime Saturday at CenturyLink Field.
In the new, single-elimination world of the MLS postseason, that pushes the Sounders forward to the conference semifinals Wednesday, back at CenturyLink.
And it pushed both teams Saturday to an urgency, bordering on desperation, that was palpable.