Tonight the Sounders play their first game of the season, the first leg of the team’s CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal against Mexican team Santos Laguna. Everyone from Q13 to the Sounders organization itself contends that this is a key game in franchise history. Yet it seems likely to be played at a half-empty Century Link Field.
The game isn’t part of the regular season ticket package. All tickets have been sold separately. As a result, instead of the rollicking 38,000 Sounders-crazy stadium the team can expect for MLS games, the team may be playing to more empty seats than full ones. As of last week, only 16,500 tickets had been sold, despite prices as low as $15 per ticket. It’s likely that a considerable number of those tickets were sold to Mexican League fans rather than Sounders supporters. And with freezing temperatures expected for the 7 p.m. kickoff, it’s hard to imagine a large walk-up crowd.
I’m going, coated with as much wool as a sheep. I implore you–come on out! Plenty of good seats are available, at prices far below what you’d normally pay for them, for one of the biggest games in Sounders history. If just for the benefits of radiating body heat, the more the merrier!
You’re ignoring me, aren’t you? Fair enough. As Yogi Berra once said: “If people aren’t going to come out to the ballpark, how are you going to stop them?” But, it brings up the question: Are Sounders fans really fans of Sounders soccer? Or are they just fans of the Sounders game experience?
Mull that one over, then we’ll talk about the game itself, which you can watch from your warm home on Fox Soccer Channel.
The big on-the-field question for the Sounders is whether newly acquired striker Eddie Johnson will start. Johnson, a former U.S. National Team player, has been struggling with a hamstring injury. If Johnson doesn’t start, former Mexican League player Sammy Ochoa probably will, and you’ll see Johnson make his Sounders debut as a sub.
The Sounders’ quarterfinal opponent, Santos Laguna, is currently fourth in the top division of Mexican soccer. In other words, they are no joke. Oribe Peralta is Santos’ leading goal scorer this season, with 5 in 9 games. He’s listed at 5’10” and looks kind of skinny, so I’m going to assume he’s fast and has incredible skill. The Sounders can counter with speedy defender Jhon Kennedy Hurtado. When those two end up near each other, that’s the matchup to watch.
From inception, the Sounders have dreamed big. “I see a team that plays so well together that they can get on the field in any country in the world and play competitively,” owner Joe Roth said in December 2007, more than 20 months before the franchise’s first game. Tonight the Sounders will take the biggest step toward that vision. Would be nice if their fans were there to see it.
