Seattle Sounders: 2020 Preview – Back-to-back titles?

With less than a month to go until the start of the 2020 MLS campaign, we are taking a look at how each team has evolved since last year and their chances this term. This time, we look at the Seattle Sounders.

For the second time in the last four seasons, the Seattle Sounders went all the way to victory, lifting the MLS Cup after beating Toronto FC in a repeat of the 2016 and 2017 MLS Cup finals. The Rave Green continued their imperious record in the league, having now gone 11 straight seasons finishing inside the top four in the Western Conference following their inception into MLS as an expansion side in 2009.

To make this run even better, the Sounders have then reached the Conference semifinals every year since their inception, including three MLS Cup finals, winning two of those. Last year, Seattle finished second in the West. They beat FC Dallas, Real Salt Lake and LAFC to reach the MLS Cup final, before dispatching with TFC in MLS Cup, winning 3-1 on home soil.

Here is how 2020 is shaping up for the Seattle Sounders as they look to defend their MLS crown.

Best Performers

As the winners of it all in 2019, it is unsurprising that five members of their best XI were able to score an average WhoScored rating of at least 7/10 throughout the regular season. The club’s best player last season was Nicolas Lodeiro. He averaged a 7.46/10 rating and had a hand in 26 goals in 32 appearances, scoring twice in the playoffs.

Fellow midfielders Cristian Roldan and Gustav Svensson also made the 7/10 mark, with the pair adding seven goals and eight assists between them.

The forward duo of Jordan Morris and Raul Ruidiaz were the other two members of the squad to achieve that rating, with the pair both scoring double-digit goals during the regular season. Between the two, they added seven goals in the postseason as well as Seattle ran to the title.