Most goals in an MLS Cup final 2014

Lore & Background

Seattle had been patient. Since joining MLS in 2009, the Sounders had been the club everyone admired for its culture, its stadium, its community—but the one trophy that mattered most had always eluded them. The 2014 final changed that. The atmosphere at CenturyLink Field was unlike anything the city had seen: a sea of green and gold, drums, scarves, and a collective holding of breath that lasted through ninety minutes and into extra time.

The five goals that night told a story of nerve and chaos. Seattle struck first, and the crowd's roar became a physical force. Real Salt Lake answered, and for a stretch the scoreboard swung back and forth, each goal resetting the tension. Clint Dempsey, the American icon who had become the face of the club, delivered when the pressure was highest. Obafemi Martins, the Nigerian winger whose pace had made him a fan favorite, added his own signature. The third goal sealed it, and the extra-time finish meant the celebration stretched long into the Seattle night.

In the years since, that final has taken on a mythic quality for Sounders supporters. It is the night referenced at every subsequent match, the benchmark against which every season is measured. The five goals are not just a scoreline; they are the sound of a city's football wait ending, and the memory is shared by every fan who was there, in the stands or on a couch, screaming at a television, green face paint drying in the cold December air.

In Their Own Story

The ball hit the back of the net and the noise did not stop. It never stopped. Dempsey pointed at the crowd, at the stands, at the city beyond the stadium walls, and the sound that rolled back at him was not a cheer—it was a release, a decade of near-misses and heartbreaks pouring out of two hundred thousand throats at once. Martins was already sprinting toward the corner flag, arms wide, and the green and gold scarves in the lower bowl were waving like a single organism. Somewhere in the upper deck, a kid in a too-big Sounders jersey was crying and laughing at the same time, his father's arm around his shoulders. The scoreboard read 3–2. Extra time. The trophy was theirs. And Seattle, for one long, loud, green-lit night, did not care about anything else in the world.

Reader's Guide

2014 MLS Cup Final — Seattle Sounders FC 3–2 Real Salt Lake (AET)

Venue: CenturyLink Field, Seattle. Date: December 6, 2014. The Sounders, in their sixth MLS season, claimed the club's first and only MLS Cup to date. Real Salt Lake, perennial playoff contenders, were the opponents. The match required extra time, with five goals in total.

Key Seattle scorers confirmed in the record: Clint Dempsey and Obafemi Martins. The third Sounders goal and the two RSL goals round out the five-goal total.

Statistical marks from the final: • Total goals scored in the match: 5 (3 Seattle, 2 RSL) • Match went to extra time (AET) • First MLS Cup in Sounders club history • Clint Dempsey: goal in the final, capping a career year • Obafemi Martins: goal in the final, a signature moment for the winger

The 2014 final remains the reference point for every subsequent Sounders cup run. No other final in the club's history has matched its combination of stakes, drama, and the sheer weight of a first title for a city that had waited years for the moment.

Did You Know?

• The 2014 MLS Cup final was the first time Seattle Sounders FC had ever reached the MLS Cup final, and they won it on their first attempt at the trophy.
• The match required extra time, making it one of the longer and more dramatic MLS Cup finals in the competition's history.
• Clint Dempsey, who had become the emotional and tactical heart of the Sounders attack, scored in the final and was widely regarded as the match's most influential player.
• The final was played at CenturyLink Field, the Sounders' home stadium, giving the team the rare advantage of a home crowd in a single-elimination final.