2020 Seattle Sounders FC season
The 2020 Seattle Sounders FC season was the club's twelfth season in Major League Soccer, the United States' top-tier of professional soccer. The team was under the management of Brian Schmetzer in his fourth full MLS season as head coach of the Sounders. Seattle were the reigning MLS Cup champions, having defeated Toronto FC 3–1 in the 2019 final at their home stadium, CenturyLink Field. Background. The Sounders won the MLS Cup at CenturyLink Field by defeating Toronto FC 3–1. The team is set to play in the 2020 CONCACAF Champions League and  2020 Campeones Cup, along with regular MLS and U.S. Open Cup matches. Recap. Prior to the start of the season, Sounders backup goalkeeper Bryan Meredith was selected by Inter Miami CF in the 2019 MLS Expansion Draft. Due to the expansion of the league and the resulting unbalanced schedule, the Sounders were scheduled to not play FC Cincinnati, Orlando City SC, and the Philadelphia Union, although this schedule was later disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic and most teams only played regional opponents for much of the season, resulting in many teams not playing each other at all, or not until  meeting in the 2020 MLS Cup Playoffs. The second home match of the season, on March 7 against the Columbus Crew SC, had an attendance of 33,080—the lowest for an MLS regular season game in Sounders history. The match was played amid a local outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic that had caused several deaths in the week prior. On October 27, the Sounders clinched their 12th consecutive appearance in the MLS Cup playoffs, and on December 7, they won their 4th Western Conference Champion trophy. Competitions. 2020 MLS is Back Tournament. Group Stage (Group B). Note: Group Stage matches  are part of MLS regular season standings Statistics. Appearances and goals. "Numbers after plus-sign(+) denote appearances as a substitute." "[TAC]" – Defiance player