8 March v. SKC

 Sounders Make Most Of The Final Soggy Minutes

39,240 drenched individuals jumped, sang, screamed, and generally caused a ruckus for 90+ minutes on Saturday. Such a scene could only mean one possible thing...

The Sounders were back. 

In one of the more interesting season openers in Major League Soccer's history, it had the making of all an historic showdown. For Sporting Kansas City in marked the 2013 Cup Champions starting their quest to regain the title, the debut match for GK Kronberg after long-time 'keeper Nielsen departed the club over the winter, and the largest "Away Section" for supporters outside of a Cascadia match. For the new-look Sounders squad it was a chance to erase the bitter memories of last year's campaign and a chance to prove that the Rave Green can be a colour to fear once again. 

Before the physical contest could take place (25 fouls to SKC vs. 15 to Seattle) the supporters took to the streets for the traditional "March To The Match", complete with the all too familiar green smoke bombs & chants. 

"You Will Hear Us!"

One of the biggest match highlights was the unfurling of the Tifo. What made this even more special was the size & complexity of the design, not to mention to inclusion of the entire CenturyLink stands! Paying homage to 40 years of Sounders soccer, it was the largest offering ever attempted by the supporters. 

Photo courtesy of Joshua Mayers

Photo credit: Marcus Yam, The Seattle Times

On the pitch the Sounders gave their customary "Full 90" but it didn't prove enough to get the job done.

The first half showed a few signs of things to come as Dylan Remick showed off the speed that earned him the call-up to the first team, as well as his aerial prowess by winning multiple balls in the area. Goalkeeper Stefan Frei earned the start for Seattle after a training-camp competition with fan favourite (and Sounders legend) Marcus Hahnemann. (Frei made three saves to earn the shutout, bobbling only one.) Several scoring chances were had but the Sounders just couldn't seem to pull the trigger on the goal.

Several scoring chances came in the second half but SKC's Kronberg was up to the task, turning away 2 balls that a lesser GK would have missed. Not even the entrance of Clint Dempsey at the 57th minute (for Marco Pappa) could propel the Sounders ahead. The Rave Green Lads were staring down the barrel of a 0-0 draw as the 90th minute struck. As people started filing out of the stadium, their thoughts already turned to next week's match (against off-season big spenders Toronto FC), the almost-unthinkable happened... New comer Chad Barrett made the most of a hectic scramble in front of the net and notched the winning goal! 

Photo Courtesy John Lok (@jlokseattle)

Barrett's post match remarks on the goal, which came at the 93:33 mark (the second-latest in Sounders history behind Djimi Traore’s goal last year at 93:59, also a game-winner against Kansas City), made for some of the most entertaining on the night :“When I scored, I couldn’t even hear myself screaming. I’m pretty sure I was screaming, or I was going through puberty — one of the two.” 

It's as great of a way to start the season as any. After last season's penchant to collapse late, the last minute heroics and "Never say die!" attitude was a refreshing sight. “One of the things we talked about going into the season was we wanted to be a team that would fight, scratch and do everything we could until the end of the game,” said Coach Sigi Schmid, “and today was a good snapshot of that.” 

Fun Facts: Seattle is on a 7-0-1 streak in the head-to-head series with SKC in league games; five of those wins, remarkably, have come in stoppage time ... The match marked the debut of home-grown player Sean Okoli of Federal Way who was a second half substitute ... Seattle is now 4-2 in home-openers