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The strange “curse of Shalrie Joseph” is broken

Shalrie Joseph, Marc Crosas

Santos Laguna’s Marc Crosas, right, battles with Seattle Sounders’ Shalrie Joseph, left, for the ball in the first half of a CONCACAF semifinal soccer match, Tuesday, April 2, 2013, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

AP

Shalrie Joseph was such a great player for so very long in Major League Soccer. Truly, the proud Grenadian was the heart and soul of those New England Revolution teams that came so close to MLS Cup glory through the last decade. And he was the gold standard of MLS holding midfielders for much of that decade.

So it was so unbelievable – bordering on the surreal, really – that Joseph was such an epic winless skid.

Prior to Saturday’s win in Colorado, Joseph had gone since July of 2012, tracing back 23 matches and two changes of address, since his most recent MLS victory.

The Sounders 1-0 win outside Denver on Saturday snapped a personal 0-16-7 winless streak. He never participated in a win at Chivas USA after last season’s big trade out of New England. And the Sounders were winless this year until Saturday, the league’s last winless team, in fact.

(MORE: Sounders no longer winless after Obafemi Martins’ first goal)