For Seattle and Toronto, a Big Stage to Settle a Score

Bradley may have more on the line Sunday than anyone else. If Toronto wins, that would automatically trigger a club option in Bradley’s contract for 2020 worth $6.5 million, according to a report from The Athletic. While Bradley, 32, already has had a lucrative career, with stops in Germany, Italy and England, and remains a fixture on the United States national team, that’s no small amount riding on the result of one match.

Bradley’s tenure with the team has coincided with its rise from the basement of M.L.S. to the league’s elite. After joining M.L.S. in 2007, Toronto failed to make the playoffs in its first eight seasons. Bradley signed on in 2014, part of a wave of investment that included the signing of forward Jozy Altidore, another American international, and Sebastian Giovinco, the since-departed Italian striker.

Along with defender Justin Morrow and midfielder Jonathan Osorio, Bradley and Altidore are the key holdovers from the 2016 and 2017 Toronto teams that reached the final. Altidore may miss this one, though; he has yet to play in the postseason because of a quadriceps injury, and his status for the final was labeled, perhaps optimistically, “questionable” by his team.

A Long-Awaited Final at CenturyLink Field

The Sounders have long prided themselves in having one of the most robust fan bases in M.L.S., ranking either first or second in average attendance (behind only Atlanta the last three seasons) since joining the league in 2009. But this is the first year the Sounders will be the home team in M.L.S. Cup. (The 2009 final was held in Seattle — three years before the league switched to playing the final at the home of the higher seed — but that year’s finalists were Real Salt Lake and the Galaxy).

A capacity crowd of more than 69,000 people is expected at CenturyLink Field on Sunday, an attendance that would rank second for an M.L.S. Cup behind only last year’s final in Atlanta. But in a stadium where the crowd’s roar has been known to set off earthquake monitors, that home-field advantage could be critical.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/10/sports/soccer/mls-cup-seattle-toronto.html?emc=rss&partner=rss