Seattle Sounders win MLS Cup on penalties after frigid slog

The Seattle Sounders won the 2016 Major League Soccer championship on Saturday, beating Toronto FC in the MLS Cup final on penalty kicks after 120 minutes failed to yield a single goal.

Toronto had dominated the game but failed to convert its chances. And the Sounders leaned heavily on the heroics of Swiss goalkeeper Stefan Frei. This was the Sounders’ first MLS Cup title in the club’s eight years in the league.

[ MLS Cup: Seattle’s long, strange trip | MLS Cup as it happened | Match stats ]

It wasn’t a handsome game, exactly. But then finals almost never are. And in spite of the 20-degree temperature, a packed BMO Field was raucous and the game got off to a physical, vigorous and enthralling start – in the same way that the tentative opening rounds of a heavyweight boxing match can be entertaining in their tension and anticipation.

Toronto pressed for a quick goal. And within minutes, Jozy Altidore rolled a finish through traffic and just wide of Frei’s goal.

Jonathan Osorio, notably playing in the place of the more defensive Will Johnson, turned in the box in the 14th minute, but he put his shot within the range of the sprawling Frei. And Altidore had another look at half an hour, when he rose on Justin Morrow’s cross but also put his header too close to Frei.

Other than those looks, however, the first half was ever so tight. Toronto played good soccer, comfortably controlling the opening period. Michael Bradley distributed and shut down Seattle’s star playmaker Nicolas Lodeiro, Altidore held up the play and made himself a nuisance and Sebastian Giovinco floated and improvised, just as it had all been designed. But there was almost no getting through the Sounders’ lines.

When they had to, the Sounders even stopped balls with their faces, as Roman Torres did on Giovinco’s volley.

If there was a certain suspense in the stalemate of the first half, with Toronto running into Seattle’s wall, the second act was a lot less watchable. There was no payoff. The Reds kept on pushing, but the Sounders only grew more comfortable behind the ball, packing deeper and spending long spells in their own half without ever leaving it. And they gave away next to nothing.

Just after halftime, Giovinco sliced through his finish and hit the side netting after TFC created a scrappy chance with some high pressure.

And in the 65th minute, a big Bradley cross was volleyed across goal by Giovinco, but Altidore couldn’t get to it as Chad Marshall cleverly blocked his path.

The game soon grew tedious. It took until the 74th minute for Seattle to even get a shot off. And when the Sounders finally did, Ozzie Alonso’s attempt from 30 yards was blocked by Bradley within a few feet. By that point, TFC had taken a dozen shots or so, underscoring the divergence in their strategies.

There would be no goals during regulation, or indeed stoppage time. But Toronto had a few more chances to win it before it was all over. Altidore hurled himself at a loose ball in front of goal in injury time, but Frei beat him to it.

In the second half of extra time, Tosaint Ricketts rolled a shot just wide. And then Frei made an impossible save on an Altidore header.

Ricketts again challenged Frei late on. But Frei would not be breached. Because on Saturday it was all Frei. Always Frei. All night Frei.

Penalties, then.

Bradley was denied by Frei for Toronto. But Alvaro Fernandez also failed for Seattle. Since everybody else scored, even the penalties had to be extended into sudden death. And the first such attempt, Morrow hit the cross bar.

Torres sent Clint Irwin the wrong way and the Sounders raced away to form a big dog pile to the consternation of the home fans.

Leander Schaerlaeckens is a soccer columnist for Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter @LeanderAlphabet.