Sounders FC

"The Beautiful Game" comes to Seattle.

View from our seats.

First half action.

Fredy Montero about to score his second goal.

We took Sennet to his first soccer game tonight, though I doubt he'll remember it.

The Seattle Sounders FC opened their inaugural season against the New York Red Bulls in front of a sell-out crowd of almost 34,000. Our good friends (Karen & Greg) have season tickets, but unfortunately (for them) they couldn't go to the home opener. Their bad luck was our good luck. Karen emailed me and asked if Stacie and I wanted to go? Umm, YES!! We jumped at the chance.

It had been raining all week, but as we drove downtown around 5pm the skies were overcast but dry. The temperature cool, but not cold. Perfect game weather.

We found free parking on the street several blocks away and walked to the stadium. Their seats were great, about 15 rows up from the field in the SW corner.

We stayed for the entire game (a slight worry before-hand, with Stacie being 6-months pregnant) and had a blast.

Seattle scored two goals in the first half (Fredy Montero: 12´, Brad Evans: 25´) and another in the second (Fredy Montero, again: 75´). Final score 3 — 0.

The crowd went crazy. Actually they were crazy even before the game, with a rally and march from downtown to the stadium, including the full 53-piece "Sound Wave" band. MLS Commissioner Don Garber later said said he had only seen atmosphere like this at Toronto FC in Canada, but never in the United States until Thursday night.

This won't be the last time we go to a game. We're thinking of buying the half-season package for next year. And later this year we'd love to see the Sounders play the L.A. Galaxy at home May 10th, and an exhibition game against venerable English Premier League team Chelsea FC on July 18th.

Seattle welcomed Major League Soccer with a bang - setting a new standard for soccer and the league in America. Here is more on the story from www.MLS.net.

And much love and thanks to Karen & Greg!

KJT - Seattle (2009)