By the time July sputtered to a close in Seattle, it looked to all the world like the Sounders would need some kind of miracle to put together a run that’d lead them into the postseason.
Turns out they didn’t need a miracle. They needed Nicolas Lodeiro.
Lodeiro, named the MLS Newcomer of the Year on Monday, didn’t just represent a sea change in the Sounders’ identity. He almost immediately became the kind of high profile signing the league so desperately desires as the face of its newest iteration. Spry (Lodeiro signed at just 27), well-traveled (Lodeiro played in globally renowned clubs like Boca Juniors and Ajax) and unbelievably skilled (just take a slack-jawed trip down his YouTube highlights), Lodeiro represents good scouting and better decision-making.