Postgame: Seattle 2, Houston 0

Well, if you told me the end result ahead of time (Seattle 2, Houston 0), I would not have been surprised. But if you told me that Tally Hall didn’t make a single save in the match, Houston dominated possession, and Seattle didn’t score from the run of play, I would have been skeptical.
These are among the reasons why I love MLS. It’s unpredictable all the time, so predicting it can make you look like a genius one second and a fool the next. Aside from the result, which fans of both teams probably expected, here are some takeaways:

1. Patrick Ianni might be back.

Understanding the Seattle-Houston rivalry

Courtesy Nigel Brooks

With Seattle and Houston playing on NBC Sports tonight, there’s been a lot of talk of a Western Conference rivalry being rekindled, if only for a game. There definitely was a rivalry, and we’ll find out tonight if there still is. To appreciate it, you have to understand a few things about why it exists in the first place. Most of these origins center on the 2009 season, in which the teams met five times, four of which felt epic for very different reasons. Since then, they’ve played only four times, so more than half of their head-to-head history came that year, which is why the rivalry may dissipate somewhat with only one game per season.

1. Controversy