Jordan Morris scored in the 56th minute and the Seattle Sounders advanced to their first MLS Cup, beating the Colorado Rapids 1-0 on Sunday in the second leg of the Western Conference final.
Nelson Haedo Valdez set up the goal to help Seattle take the series 3-1 in aggregate scoring. The Sounders will play Toronto or Montreal on Dec. 10 for the league title. Toronto hosts Montreal in the second leg of the Eastern final Wednesday night. The Impact won the first leg 3-2 in Montreal.
After the match, Morris explained a lot of people thought the team was “dead in the water” at the beginning of the season.
"We proved a lot of people wrong, I think. So it's great. There was always that belief in the locker room and we wanted to do it for us, and do it for our fans. And we did it," Morris said.
The Sounders won the first leg of the series in Seattle 2-1 on Tuesday night and needed only a tie to advance. They got more than that with a big goal from Morris. It was the Rapids' first home loss of the season.
Colorado carried the play for most of the game but Seattle jumped on a great chance Valdez had the ball above the box and passed to Morris as he got behind a defender. Morris knocked the ball over goalkeeper Zac MacMath as he slid to try to disrupt the shot.
Morris got the shot off as he was sliding, and MacMath spiked his right leg as both players converged.
