Did the Seattle Sounders peak too early?

When the Sounders won the CONCACAF title, that became the only season that they didn't qualify for the playoffs. This season, they became the first team to win every North American title. Between the Club World Cup and the Leagues Cup final, the Sounders were on fire. Different players were stepping up, and they were able to cover up mistakes by scoring a lot of goals.

It has been a different story since the Leagues Cup Final. The Sounders are winless and have only gotten 2 points in the last 4 games...

Did the Seattle Sounders peak too early?

However, there are some significant differences this year. To start with, when they won the CONCACAF title, they were losing players due to injuries. This year, players are coming back from injuries and are trying to get on the same page as their teammates.

Hopefully, the injuries sustained against Vancouver for Yeimar and Alex Roldan are minimal, they will have MRIs on Monday, according to Brian Schmetzer. With that said, the return of Rusnak and Morris can be the key to a long playoff run if they can get back into form. With the tie, the Sounders have qualified for the playoffs for the 9th time in the last 10 years.

As for the game, once again, the Sounders came up on the short end of some impactful calls and no calls. Vancouver started the scoring after running over Brunell, forcing a quick counter-attack. More impactful was when Laborda for Vancouver committed a foul, stopping a break from Nouhou.

He was already on a yellow card for committing a foul on Nouhou that was very close to being a denial of a goal-scoring opportunity. The second foul surely deserved the second yellow which would have meant an ejection. Instead, he scored the game-tying goal.

To the Sounders' credit, they responded very well to giving up the first goal. They scored two goals in quick succession to take the lead. They had several chances to pull ahead again, but they continue to lack the sustained pressure and urgency that was apparent during their stretch of good form.

Their 2 goals came in quick succession, with Jackson Ragen scoring his first MLS goal of the season, followed by a goal by Rusnak, who was able to shoot through a small opening on a ball rolling across the mouth of the goal.

Rusnak appeared to be getting back into form and it seemed to be a good learning experience for Brunell. Other than his silly yellow card during half-time when he squirted water at an opponent, Nouhou played well and Christian Roldan continues to make a bid for the USMNT. Stefan Frei made a spectacular save and has been back to his normal outstanding play.

Lately the Sounders have been playing like a dying car. While faulty, it takes a while of having all the parts moving to get warmed up for its peak performance. With such little time left in the season, they are running short on time to get their collective engines running. Unfortunately their last stretch of play has put them 7 points down with 3 games to play. Hopefully the games against Portland, Salt Lake, and New York City will give them enough time to rev their engines for the playoffs.