Everyone on this Sounders club has major aura, as they showed when they won an instant (albeit very messy) classic Heritage Cup match on Wednesday. The question is: can they take this all the way to the Shield?
The Reign still haven't scored a goal since late March, and after the loss to Washington, the team was torn in two directions between defensive optimism and attacking malaise.
The Sounders haven't had the best go of it in the last two games, drawing against two teams they should have beaten and losing quite a bit of ground in the Shield race. What does Saturday's game say about the team?
Losing 3-0 and dropping three points at home is never the desired outcome, but the flatfooted start and the injury to one of the big team leaders are bigger worries going forward.
It was a game many previous iterations of the Sounders would have let fall to a draw or even a disastrous loss. And yet the Sounders held out the win, even without Cristian Roldan.
