Prideful Sounders get bounced from the Club World Cup | OneFootball

When the groups were announced, the Sounders found themselves in "the group of death." The fear in matching up with 3 of the top teams in the world was that the Sounders would be embarrassed, and would look foolish as they continuously kept removing the ball from the back of the net for 270 minutes.

That didn't happen, so right away the Sounders did well. The bar was that low because they were outclassed in talent and creativity on the pitch. Any success would require an element of luck. They weren't that lucky, but each of the games were reasonably close.

They lost by an aggregate of 5 goals, when most of the world predicted they would lose each game by that much. The Sounders scored against Botafogo, which as PSG showed, is no easy task.

Prideful Sounders get bounced from the Club World Cup

Nouhou Tolo redeemed his first-game mistake, which led to the game-winner, by having a top-notch game against PSG. He can be hot-headed, which led to the foul, but he also made some game-saving volleys against PSG, including knocking away a shot that was bound for the goal.

Christian Roldan had a strong tournament which may have wore him down as he was caught ball watching for PSG's second goal.

Albert Rusnak was blanketed by defenders and lacked the quality support of attacking teammates which bogged down the Sounders attack.

Paul Rothrock, Danny Musovski and Jesus Ferreira played hard, but they have not shown the quality to compete at that level. Often overmatched in the MLS, they could not take advantage of their opportunities.

Players that did have the talent to take on their recent foes were unable for the most part to connect with each other to develop scoring opportunities and often times fed teammates that did not have the clinical skills needed to score. These players include Albert Rusnak, Ryan Kent, and Minoungou. One has to wonder how different the Sounders would have looked with a match fit Jordan Morris (who did play the final minutes of the tournament as he is returning from multiple hamstring injuries) or Paul Arriola.

Now that the Sounders are out of the tournament, they can change their focus back to the MLS. Just playing against teams of the caliber of "the group of death" will give them an advantage moving through the second half of the MLS season.