It had to be this way. It just had to. The schedule was too perfect. The teams were just too good. The storylines were simply too plentiful.
What to watch for as the Sounders and Galaxy play for MLS’s Supporters’ Shield
MLS has never seen anything quite like this ... and it’s about time.
Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports
The Seattle Sounders hosting the LA Galaxy in front of a 60,000-plus crowd. Two of the most talented teams in MLS history performing for a network television audience. The Sounders and Galaxy, tied atop the Supporters' Shield standings at 61 points apiece, playing the kind of regular-season finale that a league still fighting for its place in the American sports consciousness could only dream of.
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The best part? It’s completely natural. Sure, we can joke about the schedule-makers putting this two-game set together and giggling to themselves, but there’s no way that they thought it would come down like this. It’s perfect, simply perfect.
And it’s really happening. On Saturday. At noon. Get your popcorn.
You want storylines? We got storylines:
MVP showdown
Say all you want about Bradley Wright-Phillips' potential to break the single-season goals record. Talk up the way Lee Nguyen has carried the New England Revolution on his back. Point out how great Bill Hamid has been in goal at D.C. United. All of those things are true, but there's still the overwhelming sense that the MVP race will be decided in this game. Obafemi Martins won Round 1 by picking up a couple of assists and could deliver the knockout blow by leading the Sounders to the Supporters' Shield. Don't expect Robbie Keane to go quietly into the night, though.
Master vs. Master
Before MLS was even a thing, Bruce Arena and Sigi Schmid were battling it out for North American soccer supremacy. Sure, it was "only" at the college level and they only went head-to-head once prior to MLS, but UCLA and Virginia were two of the top programs in the country and were at least fighting it out on the recruiting trail. That rivalry has continued at both the club and country levels where Arena beat out Schmid for the national team job and has continued to get the better of him. Arena holds the head-to-head advantage (11-5-7), while also winning more MLS Cups (4-2) and Supporters' Shields (3-2). Schmid has more total career wins (206-176) and more U.S. Open Cups (5-1), but a result in this one would give him a nice card to play in his matchup with Arena.
Passing the torch
Landon Donovan has already received a proper send off from Galaxy fans, but this being his final regular-season match has some ceremonial value as well, even if the only reason is so he can pass the proverbial torch to Clint Dempsey. Donovan has been the poster child for MLS and the United States national team for well over a decade and Dempsey, even though he's only a year younger, has already replaced him in one area and is poised to supplant him in the other. Dempsey may never reach Donovan's statistical milestones, but this is by far the most important head-to-head match they've ever played and could very well be the one that illustrates their intersecting legacies.
A similar plot is playing out on a larger scale, as well. The Galaxy are in the midst of a dynastic era. Since 2009, they’ve played in three MLS Cup finals, won two of them and claimed two more Supporters’ Shields. They can become the first team to secure five Shields in MLS history by winning on Saturday.
For all their success both on and off the field, the Sounders have yet to claim their first bit of MLS hardware. They were runners-up to the Galaxy in the Shield race in 2011, but that’s as close as they’ve gotten despite posting the second best overall record during their six MLS seasons. That little bit of trivia probably makes Saturday’s game disproportionately important to the Sounders and their fans, who have fluctuated between boastful and suicidal ... and that was just during Sunday’s game.
The Sounders need this Shield in a way the Galaxy simply don’t. Whether or not that weight is carried by the players or used as a motivator will have to play out on the field. It can only serve to ramp up the tension that will fill the air on Saturday. No, it’s not quite a MLS Cup final, but this match may be more hotly anticipated than even the game in December will be.
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