Toronto FC forward Jozy Altidore, Seattle Sounders defender Chad Marshall and others leap to head the ball during the 2016 MLS Cup in Toronto.Frank Gunn/The Globe and Mail
The Seattle Sounders have the distinction (infamy is the word if we're talking Toronto FC fans of winning last year's Major League Soccer championship without taking a single shot on goal.
And no, on the eve of a rematch with the Reds for the MLS Cup, they are still not going to apologize for it.
"I don't care," Sounders defender Chad Marshall said when the subject was broached for probably the 874th time since the 2016 Cup was won on penalty kicks. "However we get another ring, just get another ring."
As a matter of fact, Marshall said, he kind of likes the no-shots stat. "I don't mind it," he said. "I'm a centreback. We got the job done. We were coming in here, we were the away team, we have got to play it a little defensive.
"Every team is more comfortable at home. You look at the records throughout the league, everyone has a better home record than away record. You're going to have to be solid defensively on the road."
No MLS team was more comfortable at home this season than TFC. The Reds lost only one game at BMO Field in 2017, sporting a 13-1-3 record. The Sounders were 3-8-6 on the road this season, although they won both of their road games in the playoffs on the way to winning the Western Conference.
However, the Sounders are a much better team offensively this time around. They started six different players in the Western Conference final, against the Houston Dynamo, than they did in last year's Cup final against the Reds and ripped Dynamo 5-0 on aggregate in the two-game series.
The additions of midfielder Victor Rodríguez and forward Will Bruin, along with the return to health of striker Clint Dempsey, who missed last year's playoffs because of an irregular heartbeat, make Seattle much more explosive than last year. The Reds are also better this time, with greater depth and their own Spanish Victor, the midfielder Vazquez, giving them a more potent offence, too.
That is why no one should place much weight on TFC's 1-0 regular-season win in Seattle last May, the only meeting between the teams this season.
"I think we were a completely different squad and so were they," Seattle goalkeeper Stefan Frei said of the game. "The two Victors on both sides were massive additions for each team.
"I think in the early part of our season we were still trying to find our identity a bit and work with it. We got better with that as the season progressed. As far as them, I'm sure they're a completely different side as well. In confidence alone, winning the Canadian [club championship] and the Supporters' Shield, that should go a long way."
Frei says that the addition of Vazquez to the Reds' midfield has increased the scoring power of strikers Sebastian Giovinco and Jozy Altidore, as happened with the insertion of Rodríguez into the Sounders' midfield. Dempsey and Bruin are much more effective now and the attack has more weapons.
"When you have multiple attacking threats, then it's difficult for opponents to eliminate all of them," Frei said. "We know someone like [Dempsey] is going to get a lot of attention. Someone like Victor [Rodríguez] is going to really enjoy that because he's lethal himself. Whichever player on our attacking field is going to get the attention, the other ones are going to make sure and take advantage of it."
This led a few of the Sounders to predict a much more wide-open game on Saturday at BMO Field.
"I think we know how good we are. We want to try to come out and take it to them," midfielder Cristian Roldan said. "Obviously, things change throughout the game and you've got to adapt but our mentality coming into the game is we're going to try and come out and play and score some goals."
Not that the veteran defender Marshall is buying into that. He doesn't think the weather, which might get snowy, will be a big factor. But the simple fact it is TFC's home game means Seattle has to come out in a defensive frame of mind.
"Here it's their field," Marshall said. "We're going to be solid defensively and make sure we're that way and not get spread out. [TFC] is capable of scoring a lot of goals. We've got to be smart defensively like we were last year. I do feel like we're a better offensive team than last year so hopefully we can get a couple on the other end."
The question of pressure was a regular topic in the buildup to the MLS Cup. Toronto head coach Greg Vanney said last week he isn't sure the Sounders are ready for the intensity of a Cup final because they had an easier road to the game considering the top five teams in MLS play in the Eastern Conference. This drew a return dart from Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer on Thursday, when he was asked if Vanney's comments provided any motivation.
"You could say the pressure is on them," Schmetzer said. "There's no pressure on us. They're at home. If he's saying that to get his guys traction, somehow, some way, that's his business. Greg is a good guy and a good coach. If you guys think, or anybody thinks that we need locker-room blackboard material, then you guys are sadly mistaken because my team is ready to go. I don't need to put that up on the board."