TUKWILA, Wash. (AP) — For the second straight season, the Seattle Sounders will begin the MLS Cup playoffs with Clint Dempsey as a spectator.
Unlike last year’s championship run by the Sounders, this absence by Dempsey will last only one game.
Dempsey was suspended for Sunday’s first leg of the Western Conference semifinals against Cascadia rival Vancouver after picking up a red card in the regular-season finale against Colorado. Dempsey was sent off early in the first half of Seattle’s 3-0 victory last week that clinched the No. 2 seed in the West for the defending champs.