Seattle Sounders defeat LAFC, headed to MLS playoffs

Well, MLS playoff hopefuls, the Sounders needed a win and help from the table, and they got it, securing a trip to the postseason on the final day of the regular season. Fox 13 sports anchor Lauren Helmbrecht with more from Lumen Field. It came all the way down to decision day, but the Seattle Sounders are playoff bound. Seattle was on the outside looking in and coming into their final match of the regular season, sitting 10th in the Western Conference. But after a gritty and suffering 2-1 victory over LAFC, Seattle moves into the eighth spot in the West. And yes, there was a little bit of scoreboard watching during the match, but realistically, Brian Schmetzer's squad could really only afford to focus on themselves in order to secure this victory and end a five-game winless streak Look, we've had ups and downs and there's, you know, there's some credence to the story that we've been a little inconsistent in some of our performances this year. We can't hide from that. But the fact of the matter is, is tonight they did perform. And I thought they performed well. Seattle got on the board in the first minute of the match, thanks to Albert Rusnak's awareness of an overly relaxed LAFC defense. Then Seba Gomez doubled Seattle's score in the 31st to give the Sounders a 2-0 lead at the break. But LAFC poured on the pressure in the second half and scored their only goal in the 81st minute. Seattle holds on, though, and did just enough to return to the postseason. There's the kind of belief that we're a better team than some of the results have shown. And I, you know, this is a team that has a lot of experience in playoff soccer, and I'm pretty confident that, you know, whoever we end up lining up against is not going to be thrilled about having to play us. If they commit to themselves like they did for this game, it's a good enough team to make a deep run in the playoffs. It's a good team. We just have to get the pieces right, get everybody playing to their top level. And yes, I absolutely believe that we can make some noise in the playoffs for sure. So next up for the Seattle Sounders is a home playoff game. It is the 8-9 wildcard matchup on Thursday, November 19th, when they host Real Salt Lake. Reporting at Lumen Field for Fox 13 Sports, I'm Lauren Helmbrecht.