TORONTO — As the Seattle Sounders languished near the Western Conference cellar this past summer, the club's veteran core shared an unspoken motive.
As the only players remaining from the club's inaugural MLS campaign in 2009, Osvaldo Alonso, Brad Evans and Zach Scott had marked every fall with a trip to the postseason. It was a tradition they had grown accustomed to, and one they had no intention of nixing.
"I don't know if we ever flat-out said it to each other, but I think we all realized that we didn't want to be a part of a team that didn't make the playoffs for the first time ever," Scott told Goal USA.