A tainted season? Sounders miss MLS playoffs for first time ever just months after historic CONCACAF Champions League triumph

• Made 13 straight playoffs, winning 2 titles
• First MLS club to win modern version of CCL
• Injuries, inconsistency derailed their season

WHAT HAPPENED? The Sounders historic streak officially came to an end over the weekend with a loss to 1-0 loss to Sporting KC that officially eliminated them from postseason contention. As a result, the club will miss the playoffs for the first time in its 13-year MLS history.

WHAT THEY SAID: “To taint such a historic positive with a historic negative is tough to swallow,” said goalkeeper Stefan Frei. “We won the [CONCACAF Champions League] early on, and I think at that point we made a conscious decision … to put a lot of effort, and a lot of work, and a lot of months of blood, sweat and tears, but it wasn’t enough. And that’s very frustrating because that means it’s about five months of work and nothing to show for it, and then on top of it … it just taints that positive that we had early on. It’ll be a tough one to swallow.”

THE BIGGER PICTURE: The Sounders 2022 campaign will largely be defined by that CCL success, as they became the first MLS club to win the modern iteration of the competition. But, as Frei said, missing the playoffs will be a difficult result to accept for a club that clearly burned too much energy earlier in the season in pursuit of that CCL triumph. The season was also derailed by an injury to 2021 MLS MVP finalist Joao Paulo as well as injuries to key contributors in Nicolas Lodeiro, Raul Ruidaiz and Cristian Roldan.

IN THREE PHOTOS:

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WHAT NEXT FOR THE SOUNDERS? The Sounders will conclude the season this weekend against the San Jose Earthquakes, who currently sit last in the Western Conference.