The Sound and the Glory: How the Seattle Sounders Showed Major League Soccer How to Win Over America

"No one is better connected to the Seattle -- and national -- soccer scene than Matt Pentz, which makes him the perfect person to tell this fascinating story. And he tells it with insight, passion, perspective and more than a fair amount of poetry." -- Larry Stone, sports columnist, Seattle Times The Seattle Sounders were a sensation from the start, drawing crowds that rivaled those of almost any other North American pro sports franchise. By the 2016 season, Seattle was averaging more than 42,000 fans at home, the second most of any soccer team in the Western Hemisphere and more than behemoths like Chelsea F.C. and A.C. Milan overseas. But, for all of its early consistent success, Seattle had yet to actually win the league. In order to reach the ambitious goals the club set for itself, the Sounders needed the jolt of a championship. To get there would require tumult previously unknown to a club built on stability, a clash of egos and a title run so unlikely it could hardly have been scripted. This is a Cinderella story for sports enthusiasts everywhere, all MLS fans and every Sounder at heart. Matt Pentz is a Seattle-based writer whose work has appeared in the New York Times, the Guardian the Athletic, and ESPN, among other publications. As an award-winning beat reporter at the Seattle Times, he covered the Sounders' historic run to their first MLS Cup championship. This is his first book.