If there was a single game that sums up the last 10 matches of the 2022 season, it was the MLS Cup Playoff ‘loss’ to Real Salt Lake. The Seattle Sounders looked imminently mediocre then; they look fully mediocre now.
RSL comes back to Lumen Field on Sunday (7 PM PT, FOX 13+/Univision Seattle/Prime Video/ESPN+) looking to get back to the levels of mediocre that Seattle is at right now. Two points behind the Sounders, Salt Lake needs a bigger surge than Brian Schmetzer’s side if they are going to make the playoffs.
Schmetzer’s men just need to behave like they did in the first 10 matches after the CCL, or like they did in the CCL, if they are to extend that MLS playoff streak to 14 seasons, the streak of finishing 4th or higher in the West, the streak of 7th or higher in the Shield race — lots of streaks of being pretty good.