During darkest times, with conditions rife for player dissent, Sounder coach Brian Schmetzer held a struggling 3-9-3 team together long enough to make a second half run. Now, after a 15-2-2 turaround that's the greatest in league history, they have a first round playoff bye and shot at going to a third straight MLS Cup...
Seated in a Guadalajara hotel lounge last March, a downcast Brian Schmetzer divulged the bare and brutal truth of what lay ahead.
His Sounders had already lost striker Jordan Morris for the season. And now, ahead of a decisive CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal road match with Mexican powerhouse Chivas, head coach Schmetzer had only hours earlier learned midfielder Nicolas Lodeiro had a sprained midfoot that would keep him out a while.