With this last week came the second leg of a rather drawn-out set of conference finals, the participants of which booked their places in nearly an entire month ago with their wins in the semi-finals. Toronto and Columbus Crew drew last week in Columbus and so the Crew had the opportunity to exploit the away goal advantage in their trip to Toronto. The Sounders last week beat the Dynamo 2-0 in Houston, and so had the ability to return to Seattle with two away goals already in pocket. These were supposed to be hotly contested matches, but it seemed like only the Toronto-Columbus Crew game was the only game that would present a real competitive display.
Toronto FC 1-0 Columbus Crew SC
(Aggregate 1-0)
Toronto grabbed an important win over the Crew to progress to the MLS Cup Final.
The first half saw Justin Meram miss out on a fantastic opportunity to score in the 21st minute thanks to an overly heavy touch just in front of Toronto keeper Alex Bono. Crew keeper Zack Steffen saved a Victor Vazquez penalty in the 26th minute to keep the scoring level.
In the 60th minute the returned Jozy Altidore netted what would ultimately be the winning goal after a fabulous move that was started by Sebastian Giovinco, and saw Victor Vazquez set Altidore up for the goal.
With this win over Columbus, Toronto have punched their ticket for the final against Seattle Sounders on December 9th. This will be their second straight season in the final, having made to the final last season but ultimately losing out in a penalty shootout to none other than Seattle Sounders.
Seattle Sounders 3-0 Houston Dynamo
(Aggregate 5-0)
The Sounders managed a dominating performance against a helpless Dynamo in order to make it to the MLS Cup Final.
Victor Rodriguez expertly netted the first goal of the night for the Sounders in the 22nd minute after making a solid run and being fantastically setup by Will Bruin.
In the 57th minute, USMNT star Clint Dempsey doubled the Sounders’ lead with a sliding finish of Joevin Jones’ pass across goal. In the 66th minute, Dynamo midfielder Tomas Martinez was shown a red card after VAR determined that he retaliated roughly following a dicey challenge with Sounders midfielder Jordy Delem. Will Bruin scored the third and final goal for the Sounders in the 73rd minute with a brilliant run from midfield followed by an excellent chipped shot over Dynamo keeper Joe Willis.
The Sounders will also be attending their second straight MLS Cup final, after having won the MLS Cup last season over Toronto. They will be hoping to do better than the last time they faced Toronto, where they lost 0-1 at home at the beginning of May.
