In defense of the Supporters’ Shield

SEATTLE, Wash. — The tension had been building. Eighty-five minutes worth of it. Or, to be more precise, the pressure had been steadily growing for nearly six seasons.

The Seattle Sounders had won four U.S. Open Cups, gone to a fifth final, won in Mexico, become the first MLS team to eliminate a Mexican opponent in the CONCACAF Champions League and posted the second-best regular season record since joining MLS in 2009. They had redefined expectations, proven that MLS teams could draw huge crowds. In short, they’d been a smashing success in virtually every way.

With one significant exception. The Sounders had never lifted either the Supporters’ Shield or the MLS Cup, the two major trophies MLS awards each season. They’d only managed to finish second in the Supporters’ Shield race, with other teams always doing just a bit better during the regular season. Even more painfully, they had never advanced to a MLS Cup final, let alone won one. Last year, they fell short in spectacular fashion on both fronts.

This season had promised something different. The Supporters’ Shield is awarded to the team that finishes top of the league at the end of the season, and the Sounders had been leading the race for much of the last five months, scoring almost at will along the way. But the Galaxy had slowly chipped away at that lead, and by the time the final game of the season arrived, the two sides went into the encounter even on points. The Sounders, technically, only needed a point -- by virtue of owning the tiebreaker -- but the Galaxy had looked the better side and the one more likely to find a goal late.

The two sides met at CenturyLink Field, never an easy place to travel in the best of times, but made even more difficult during this game by the palpable tension surrounding the game. Frustration, and often anger, had been building in the fan base. They wanted results. They wanted a release. They wanted it now. The MLS Cup might be the ultimate goal, but the Shield was available Saturday.

Obafemi Martins had been having a rough afternoon. The LA Galaxy defense had put the clamps on the MVP-contender, allowing him precious little space and keeping him without a shot.

Martins’ frustration started to show. He was pushing, shoving, doing anything he could to create a little space. None of it had worked. When Marcelo Sarvas fouled him in the 85th minute, it looked like more of the same. Sarvas had the ball covered with both legs and Martins was kicking at it, trying to lodge it loose.

When the whistle finally blew, Martins didn’t waste any time. He picked up his head and quickly kicked the ball ahead to Clint Dempsey. Galaxy defender Leonardo immediately closed down Dempsey, who touched it back to Martins. Suddenly, there was something Martins had seen precious little of all day: space.

Martins quickly dribbled into it as a trio of Galaxy defenders tried to close him down. But just as Dan Gargan cut off the lane to goal, Martins saw Marco Pappa streaking in from the left wing. Martins pushed the ball forward, between two defenders, and hit Pappa perfectly in stride.

Pappa, who had entered the game about 10 minutes earlier, hit the skipping ball first time. Jaime Penedo had no time to react.

Release.

All that pressure finally erupted. The sound was like a cannon. The CenturyLink press box literally shook.

It took six seasons, but the Sounders had finally proven themselves best in a MLS competition. Through 34 regular-season games, the Sounders had accumulated 64 points. They had won 20 games. Their final, Shield-clinching victory came against an LA Galaxy team that could stand tall among MLS greats.

“Honestly I think the Supporters’ Shield is more important than the MLS Cup,” Sounders fullback DeAndre Yedlin said in the postgame locker room. “Obviously from a viewer standpoint, the MLS Cup is the most important but this is the best team over a long season vs. the best team over [five] weeks. Obviously there’s some advantages that you have from being the best team, but ultimately it’s the best team over [five] weeks.”

Martins, who has played most of his career in Europe, where there is no direct equivalent to the MLS playoffs, effectively echoed that sentiment: “I am going to take what we just did today as a champion of the league.”

Prior to the game, the nervous energy was evident amongst the fans. Walking through CenturyLink, you could sense this was a big game. A very big game. Maybe the biggest game in Sounders history.

“For me it’s just being the league champion for the regular season,” said Shawn Wheeler, a member of the Emerald City Supporters, a group of the Sounders most raucous fans. “In every other league in the world, there’s just the regular season and no playoffs afterward. That’s how the champion is named.”

There was a time when MLS didn’t have any formal recognition for their regular-season winners. But a group of fans wanted that changed. So, in 1999, they created the Supporters’ Shield, raising funds to pay for it with their own money. Ever since, it has been handed over to the winning team by by a designated fan. More recently, the league has effectively sanctioned the trophy, awarding the winner a spot in CONCACAF Champions League as well as allowing the exchange to happen on the field.

“I think for the die-hards, for the fans that are really into it, I think we really appreciate it more because of that [history],” said Matt Oak, another ECS member. “As a league award, maybe it’s a little diminished because of [it’s awarded by supporters]. The league wants to sanction their trophy, but what the fans that come in here and do this four or five days a week, living MLS, living the Sounders, what we care about is the Supporters’ Shield. That it’s a ‘supporters’ shield’ makes that better.”

Yedlin, too, said his appreciation for the trophy was at least partially because it is for fans, by fans.

“I think it’s awesome, especially with our supporters,” Yedlin said. “When people think of Seattle, the first they think about is the supporters. We were able to give this to our fans and ECS and everybody who has been supporting us. I know it’s been a long six years, but the fans deserve this, the team deserves this, the organization deserves this and I’m just happy to be a part of it.”

Shortly after the final whistle, Sounders captain Brad Evans was handed the Shield by a supporter. Evans raised the Shield to the fans, who gave out a hearty cheer. There were no confetti cannons, no light show, no fireworks.

The Sounders lingered on the field for several minutes. Most of the players took turns holding the shield, showing it to fans and snapping pictures. It was a mostly understated affair.

After celebrating on the field, the Sounders returned to their locker room. There was no champagne waiting, there were no beer showers. The music played in the background, but not much louder than after any win. Mostly, there was a quiet sense of accomplishment.

That’s because, deep down, everyone knows. No matter how the Sounders -- or their fans -- may feel, they are not MLS champions. At least not yet. The one-true-champion is determined through a playoff system. And while the Sounders are the top seed and have home-field advantage all the way through the MLS Cup final, they are just one of eight teams still playing, all of whom have a relatively equal chance of earning the right to be crowned kings of the league.

But to call the Supporters’ Shield meaningless is absurd. It might not be the Cup, but it’s still a significant trophy -- and that was made clear by the reaction of both the fans and the team, before, during, and after the match.

The Sounders know they have work to do. Now that the U.S. Open Cup and Supporters’ Shield are secure, they can now turn their focus to becoming the first MLS team to win the treble. They’d become the first truly undisputed champion in MLS history. Just imagine what that will sound like.