Quality of a man and player

Marco Pappa was acquired with a lot of questions about his ability to still play at this level. I believed in him, but at the beginning of the season, I instantly lost faith when he almost single handedly gave away the ball and the game with bad passing.

From that moment on, the coach has been using him off the bench and as a starter. But lately, and more importantly, he has used him in the final games off the bench. Pappa came on and scored the game winning goals - and in fact had the only shots of the game for the Sounders.

Here was his post game interview - and the thing I'm going to point out is his emphasis on "team."

Cheers -

SOUNDERS FC MIDFIELDER MARCO PAPPA

On celebrating today's victory:

We were expecting the champagne here, especially after 34 games in a row this season, we win the shield this was a big game for us for sure. Like I said before it's always good to win but the more important thing is the confidence of the team. Now it's coming to bigger games for playoffs so I can enjoy now, but also look forward to what is next."

On his first goal:

"I was expecting Oba to give me the ball so I'm happy he saw me. I was wide open and I scored. At the end of the day I was trying to score a goal and it's always good to score, but I'm more happy to see the group happy and this is a good game for the confidence of the players."

On team chemistry:

"After we have played together for many games, we know more of each other for sure...In general with the team we understand each other and today it worked. At the end of the game we got the result and that's the most important thing now we continue with this kind of mentality.

On playing as a substitute:

"I'm the kind of player that always likes to play, that's for sure. And I have to respect the coach's decision at the end of the day I come from the bench I want to do my best to show my heart and show I want to play. I'm happy not just for me, but I'm more happy for the team because we won the shield."