MLS Cup 2019

MLS Cup 2019 was the 24th edition of the MLS Cup, the championship match of Major League Soccer (MLS), and took place on November 10, 2019, at CenturyLink Field in Seattle, Washington, United States. The soccer match was contested by Seattle Sounders FC and Toronto FC to determine the champion of the 2019 season. It was a rematch of the 2016 and 2017 editions of the MLS Cup, which were won by Seattle and Toronto, respectively. This was the third final for both teams and the first MLS Cup to be hosted by the Sounders, as both of the previous Seattle–Toronto finals were held at BMO Field in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

The Sounders won 3–1 to claim their second MLS Cup title in front of 69,274 spectators at CenturyLink Field, which set a new stadium attendance record. They scored three goals in the second half, beginning with a deflected shot by Kelvin Leerdam and followed by strikes from substitute Víctor Rodríguez (later named the match MVP) and Raúl Ruidíaz. Jozy Altidore scored a late consolation goal for Toronto in stoppage time.

The match marked the conclusion of the 2019 MLS Cup Playoffs, which was contested by fourteen teams under a new single-elimination format that replaced the former two-legged ties. As a result, this was the earliest calendar date for the MLS Cup showdown since 2002. The defending MLS Cup champions, Atlanta United FC, were eliminated in the Eastern Conference Finals by Toronto FC. As MLS Cup champions, Seattle qualified for the 2020 CONCACAF Champions League and the later-cancelled 2020 Campeones Cup.

The MLS Cup is the post-season championship of Major League Soccer (MLS), a professional club soccer league in the United States and Canada. The 2019 season was the 24th in MLS history and was contested by 24 teams organized into the Eastern and Western conferences. Each club played 34 matches during the regular season from March to October, facing each team in their conference twice and those in the other conference once. The playoffs, which ran from October to early November, were contested over four rounds by the top seven clubs in each conference. Each round had a single-elimination match hosted by the higher-seeded team, a change from the two-legged ties used in previous seasons; the top team in each conference was also given a bye to the Conference Semifinals. The shortened playoff schedule—made possible by removing second legs—moved the date of the final to November 10, its earliest staging since 2002.

The finalists, Seattle Sounders FC and Toronto FC, played each other in the MLS Cup final for the third time in four years, following their participation in the 2016 and 2017 finals. Both matches were hosted in Toronto, with the 2016 cup won by Seattle in a penalty shootout and the 2017 cup won by Toronto in regulation time. The two teams had met 14 times in regular season play, with the Sounders the winner in nine of those matches. Seattle and Toronto played each other once in the 2019 regular season; the Sounders won 3–2 at home in the April match.

Seattle Sounders FC played in their third MLS Cup final in four seasons, having won in their first appearance in 2016 under manager Brian Schmetzer. The team had qualified for the playoffs in all of their eleven MLS seasons and finished as runner-up in MLS Cup 2017. In 2018, the team finished second in the Western Conference through a late-season winning streak but were knocked out by the Portland Timbers in the Conference Semifinals during a penalty shootout. During the 2019 offseason, the Sounders lost defensive midfielder and captain Osvaldo Alonso, who was released into free agency and signed by Minnesota United FC.

The Sounders made few offseason moves; they signed several homegrown players for use by their affiliate team and went winless in preseason matches. The team lost just one of its first thirteen matches of the season. In early May, the Sounders signed center-back Xavier Arreaga as a Designated Player and left-back Joevin Jones upon his return to the team from the 2. Bundesliga. Later that month, center-back Chad Marshall retired.

The team lost several players to injuries and international call-ups in June and had a three-match losing streak before recovering to win four matches in late June and early July. In early August, defender Román Torres received a ten-match suspension for violating the league's performance-enhancing substances policy. Also that month, the team went winless for four matches before a win against the Portland Timbers. Seattle won four of their last seven matches and clinched a playoff berth; they finished second in the Western Conference behind Los Angeles FC (LAFC), who won the Supporters' Shield and set league records for points and goal differential.