Sounders! Sounders! Sounders!

Yes, I'm turning into a big soccer geek.  What can I say?  I've been hanging out with my hubby for a lotta years!

We got tickets to the Open Cup Final at the CLink--what they're calling Century Link Stadium--although not our usual seats.  Because it's not part of the season pass, regular attendees got an opportunity to see the game from another angle in another section, and as a bonus, they opened the Hawk's Nest, this weird wedge-shaped seating area that is normally closed.  Later in the game, it was announced that it had a record-breaking attendance of 35,600 for this Open Cup tournament, beating their count for last year's Open Cup game by 4,000.  I'm sure that if they had exceeded that number even more significantly, they would have many thousands of more seats open on the upper decks--I think the Manchester United game had upwards of 67,000 in attendance when they played at the CLink against the Sounders in a friendly game.  Of course, the Sounders have set attendance records for MLS; they have an average of nearly double or triple every other MLS team in the country--they average 36,000 at each game, where the next two teams after that average about 22,000--even in L.A. where Beckham plays.  

The tifo grew up over the "Crazy Section" at the South end of the field to mark the start of the challenge....  It wasn't as dramatic and awesome as the tifo for the Portland game, but still impressive!  Tifo is Italian for "fan" and has become a word to describe displays that the uber-fans create for their teams.  The Emerald City Supporters certainly fall into the category of uber-fans.  Maybe even crazed uber-fans.  The entire area that is covered by these enormous banners clap and sing in unison, chant, wave their scarves around, and display the most amazing civilized mayhem.  Unlike their European counterparts, these guys will be sad if the team loses, but then go have drinks with fans of the opposing team at the nearby pub afterwards without any arrests or rioting.

We were seated almost directly across from Kelly & the guys' group seats, but several rows back.  Being seated on the other side of the field, I could see more clearly where the guys sit in relation to the bright green Z that is set up in honor of injured player, Steve Zakuani, whose leg was broken back in April during a game against Colorado.  They take the Z away at the end of each game, so I hope that it's set up in the same place each time.  I think they're somewhere in the middle of the section, but that's just guessing based on counting the rows.

The new seats turned out to be a great blessing since we were under the roof that shields only half the stadium.  Apparently, there is a superstition that any football team that has a covered stadium will never win the Superbowl.  Unfortunately, not every team with an uncovered stadium has won; having an uncovered stadium and tens of thousands of cold, wet fans does not guarantee a winning season, so I say let's be nice to the people who pay good money to watch these guys and cover the damn thing.  Unfortunately, that usually turns a $300 million stadium into a $700 million stadium.  

The game started at 7:00 and went along with a lot of close goals--but for some reason an unusual number of the shots bounced right off the upright bars of the goal.  One of my favorite players, Harvard-educated Mike Fucito, fought hard all game and made several shots on goal but none of them ended up finding the back of the net.  At half time, the game is scoreless.  At one point in the second half, a fight ensues...two yellow cards are issued as a result.  I think it was Fucito that was pushed or tripped (besides being a little nearsighted, it's hard to see over all those 6 foot tall guys, even when I was standing on a step next to my seat on the aisle).  Everyone on the field was a little emotional and got caught up in the excitement, and migrated up the field, leaving Mike sitting on the ground, still in pain. Eventually, the game resumed and the Sounders scored two goals in the 77th minute and the 95th minute (in stoppage time).

In the end, the Sounders were again victorious, preventing any goals being scored against the indomitable Kasey Keller, and the game ended in a 2-0 win.  For the third year in a row, the Seattle team was able to take the trophy.  In the words of retiring goal keeper Kasey Keller (who is just slightly older than me), "Winning is winning.  It never gets old." They handed out commemorative t-shirts to the players (which were created prior to the game starting...I don't know what they would have done with them if they had lost...), and then began the fireworks, the celebration, ticker tape, and the third cup!  

The most beautiful sight of the day!  Five of the seven of us went out for a celebratory drink before heading home, eventually arriving home just after midnight.  It was a short night before getting up for work again, so we're hoping for an early night tonight...after karate and Cub Scouts...

K