The Seattle Sounders have had more stylish teams and certainly more dangerous teams than the 2016 edition of the squad. What the Sounders never had before this season was a more cohesive team, or a team so clearly unified in the singular belief that it can win every game it plays.
Just four months after hitting rock bottom and falling to 6-12-2 after an embarrassing 3-0 loss to Sporting Kansas City — and subsequently firing the only coach they ever had in MLS — the Sounders are on their way to the club's first MLS Cup final. They have made it there by beating the two teams with the best records in MLS during the regular season, and did so with star forward Clint Dempsey sidelined by a heart condition since August.