RENTON — In the days leading up to what promised to be a pivotal two-city, six-day road trip to the East Coast, the Seattle Sounders had a players-only meeting. They were coming off an embarrassing 2-0 loss at home to the Vancouver Whitecaps in which they finished with just nine men and seemed to be playing with a distinct lack of discipline.
From the outside, it looked like the locker room might be showing signs of fracture. But the meeting, at least according to those who were willing to talk about it, showed something different. While the players weren’t happy with their 1-4-3 start that was the worst in the Sounders’ MLS history, they still believed in one another and felt that a turnaround was possible.
“We thought it was important for us to check in, talk amongst ourselves and be able to speak and hear everybody,” Sounders captain Stefan Frei said at the time. “It’s good to have a meeting like that to assure yourself that you got me, that it comes from a good place and I believe in you.”
The road trip itself turned out to be a mixed bag of results. The Sounders lost the first game to D.C. United, 2-1, despite scoring the first goal, but were happy with their effort after playing most of the match down a man. They followed that with a 3-2 win over the Philadelphia Union, a team that at the time was still near the top of the Eastern Conference standings.
While far from ideal, the performances were tangible proof that the players hadn’t given up on one another. Upon returning, many spoke about how it was a good bonding experience to be on the road together for so long. It also started a stretch of games that could well define the season.
After the Sounders played Austin FC on Saturday, they’ve now played 18 matches across all competitions over a stretch of 11 weeks. By the time they break for Leagues Cup following their match against LAFC on July 20, they’ll have played 21 matches over 12 weeks.
Once going so badly that there were open questions about head coach Brian Schmetzer’s job security, the Sounders’ play since that meeting has put them in a position where multiple trophies are now in play.
The Sounders have moved up from 13th in the 14-team Western Conference to seventh, and from six points out of the final playoff spot to just four points out of the No. 4 spot with a game in hand. The only Western Conference team with more than the Sounders’ 28 points in that stretch is LAFC (31). Since the D.C. United loss, the Sounders have gone 10-2-5 (a pace of 2.05 points per game) across all competitions, while advancing to the U.S. Open Cup semifinals for the first time since 2014.
