By james art 
SEATTLE — The Seattle Sounders won’t consider Saturday’s 2-0 win over the LA Galaxy one of their best wins of the year, but it was certainly the most important. With the result, thanks to two late goals from the bench by Marco Papa, Seattle became the first team to win the US Open Cup and the MLS Supporters’ Shield since the Chicago Fire did it in 2003.
The win completed Seattle’s fifth trophy – the other four were all Open Cups – in six Major League Soccer seasons. On the way to winning their first Supporters’ Shield, Seattle also had to address a trend that has held the team back in previous seasons.
Of all the teams in MLS, the Galaxy had the least reason to fear playing in the cauldron of CenturyLink Field. LA have won four times here since Seattle joined the league, including a 3-0 win in July to start a run at the top of the league table. The Galaxy had lost just twice since that game on July 28, eventually tying Seattle on points and amassing the league’s best goal difference by a wide margin.
In the final month of the regular season, the home and away games to close the schedule loomed large after a 34-game season. The Sounders had the reverse advantage 2-2 last week after falling 2-0.
Pope was also a major catalyst in this game, with Seattle’s goals coming just moments after his 66th-minute substitution. Head coach SigiSchmidt kept him off the field to start again Saturday, and Papa wanted his coach to make his late-game presence felt one more time.
“That’s the kind of player I am [that] I always like to play,” Papa told reporters after the game. “I have to respect the coach’s decisions and at the end of the day when I come off the bench I want to do my best to show my character and show that I want to play.
After a conservative first 75 minutes in which Seattle failed to put a shot on Jaime Penedo’s goal, Papa was blocked within a minute of coming off the bench. His second shot found the back of the net and he completed all four of the Sounders’ shots in the game.
“Scoring goals is always very important, very nice, especially on your pitch and in such an important game, but the most important thing was to win and for the team to be happy,” Papa said in his native Spanish. “Greater things are coming.”
The Sounders were clearly rejoicing in the victory and hoisting the trophy as the typical Seattle drizzle pelted the artificial turf. Several said it might be a bigger reward than winning the playoffs because of the consistency it requires, but also made sure to mention that their focus hasn’t died. “[The playoffs] it’s five games where you have to stay focused to walk away as a champion,” said Papa.
He steered the conversation to the upcoming playoff games as often as possible in his postgame comments.
“Of course, LA is a great opponent, and LA is a team that has done well in the MLS Cup,” Schmidt said. “I’m sure our paths will cross again before we deal with this.”
Seattle has lacked that focus at times over the past three years, with big losses against the Western Conference’s other top teams in LA and Real Salt Lake marring otherwise impressive regular seasons and knocking the Sounders out of the playoffs.
He said his team finally has the consistency that should give them confidence and other teams to stop heading into the playoffs.
“It doesn’t matter if you get your points early or late,” he said. “All that matters is the total number of points you have at the end of the day.”
No team has ever won all three major trophies, but the Sounders are one MLS Cup away from becoming the first team with the treble.
“Our mantra this season has been we’re going to try to be greedy,” he said. “We have one more thing to be the ultimate greedy people.”