Seattle Sounders beat Houston Dynamo to set up MLS Cup rematch

The Seattle Sounders beat the Houston Dynamo 3-0 on Thursday night and 5-0 on aggregate in the Western Conference finals to reach MLS Cup for the second year in a row.

The defending champions were firmly on the front foot in the opening 10 minutes with Cristian Roldan terrorizing the Houston midfield by creating turnovers and breaking up the visitors' play out of the back.

Clint Dempsey has the best chance to open the scoring just before the 20-minute mark, but a perfect whipped in cross from the right flank was just out of the Sounders striker's reach.

But the opener came minutes later after some delicate buildup play saw Will Bruin spring Victor Rodriguez in the Houston area and he chipped Joe Willis to give Seattle a 1-0 lead.

Down three goals on aggregate, Houston was forced to chase the game and Tomas Martinez forced two good saves from Stefan Frei before his team went to the dressing room trailing at the break.

And just before the hour mark, Seattle's Joevin Jones curled a perfect pass into the area and a sliding Dempsey met it at the back post to double the hosts' lead.

The tie was effectively ended minutes later when the referee showed Martinez a red card after consulting VAR for pushing Jordy Delem's face into the CenturyLink Field turf, leaving Houston to finish the match with 10 men.

Seattle made the extra man count when Harry Shipp played a perfect ball behind the Houston defense and Bruin ran onto it and chipped Willis for the second time on the night to make it 3-0.

The win for Brian Schmetzer's team sets up a rematch of the 2016 MLS Cup at BMO Field with Eastern Conference champions Toronto FC (Dec. 9, 4 p.m. ET on ESPN), who lost to the Sounders on penalties in last year's final.