Sounders Focus Sights On Next Goal

The team celebrates Oba’s late goal that capped of their U.S. Open Cup victory.

The Seattle Sounders are coming a huge win against the Philadelphia Union in the final of the 2014 U.S. Open Cup. It was Seattle’s fourth time winning the trophy, which ties the record for most times winning it, but this was arguably the most satisfying. On the road. Coming back from being down 1-0. Surviving regulation time. Scoring two goals in extra time. Truly spectacular. Never had this team faced that much adversity in an Open Cup final, so seeing the squad come out on top Tuesday night was extremely satisfying for the players, the coaches, and the fans.

Chad Barrett‘s header was Seattle’s only regulation goal. The defense had to hold off some late pushes from the Union towards the end of the match. Once extra time began it was all Sounders FC, as Clint Dempsey and Obafemi Martins were each able to net goals.

Now Seattle sets its sights on the team’s next goal: winning the Supporters’ Shield. Awarded to the top team at the end of the MLS season, the Sounders have never won the honor – they were runners-up in 2011. At 54 points, the Rave Green are currently at the top of the standings by three points with a game in hand and seven matches left. Last year, Seattle had lead in the race for the Supporters’ Shield with seven games left only to see it crumble away as they failed to win another game.

The team does not want that to happen again. Not this year. You can bet this team is motivated to play extremely well over the final stretch. And that final stretch begins tomorrow in a road match against the New York Red Bulls. No doubt this will prove to be a huge test for the Sounders, as New York is riding a four-match winning streak and hasn’t lost at home since May. Not to mention they have two of the more prolific front lines in MLS in Thierry Henry and Bradley Wright-Phillips, who leads the league in goals with 21.

It’s the first game of the final stretch for Seattle and they need to get off to a good start. The team cannot afford a late-season collapse like last year, and I doubt the players will let that happens.

In case you missed the game, here are the highlights of the U.S. Open Cup Final (no audio):

You can watch tomorrow’s match at 4:30 PT on NBC or listen on 97.3 FM. GO SOUNDERS!

Sounders Get Back To Winning Ways

These two were back to their old ways in Portland on Sunday.

Sunday afternoon the Seattle Sounders looked much more like, well…the Seattle Sounders. After struggling to score goals over the past few weeks, Seattle routed their rival Portland Timbers 4-2 and looked much more like the potent offense that we have seen for the majority of the season. The Sounders are back on top of the MLS standings and leading the race for the Supporter’s Shield. All is well.

On top of the win, Oba Martins won MLS Player of the Week with his 2-goal performance on Sunday. He also notched an assist on a beautiful pass that Clint Dempsey flicked into the back of the net to put the Sounders up 2-0. It’s pretty evident that Martins and Dempsey love playing with each other. Unfortunately, the two have struggled to create much on the offensive end – mostly due to inconsistent playing time together – the past few weeks (Dempsey only had one goal since the end of April) and Seattle has struggled to get the results that they expect. It’s been a rough patch of games the past month. But this game had the Martins and Dempsey combo at full force, as they were involved in all four Seattle goals. They both are tied for the team lead with 10 goals a-piece.

When these two are at their best, the Sounders have the most explosive scoring duo in the league. Fluid. Fast. Dangerous. The Rave Green will need both of them to keep playing like they did on Sunday if the Sounders hope to stay on the top of the standings. As the final month of the season approaches, expect the team to rally behind Clint and Oba. As they go, the team will go.

It’s good to see us back in the win column. Especially against the Timbers – in Portland. Go Sounders!

Here are the match highlights:

Next match: Seattle will come back home again on Saturday for a match against the Colorado Rapids.

Mariners Depressing You? Ride the Sounder Train!

Sounders forward Clint Dempsey dribbles around a Portland defender.

With the Mariners losing yesterday (another one-run game…sigh), they are now 3-7 in the 10 games since the All-Star Break, and they’ve lost 5 of the last 6 games. In other words, it’s bleak times for the M’s right now. However, Seattle fans should not be depressed! Football season right around the corner, and in the meantime there is another successful team in Seattle to cheer for: Seattle Sounders FC. Since they joined MLS in 2009, the Sounders have attracted quite a following, yet remain below the Mariners in the hierarchy of Seattle sports. Whether you like soccer or not, I strongly encourage you to follow the Sounders over the next couple of months.

Here are my top five reasons why:

Best team in the MLS. The Sounders sport a record of 12-4-2 for a total of 38 points. That’s good enough for the top spot in the Western Conference (6 points better than Real Salt Lake) and a tie with Sporting Kansas City’s 38 points in the race for the Supporter’s Shield (Seattle has played 3 less matches than SKC).

Highest scoring team in the league. For those of you who like watching goals, the Sounders are the right team to watch when it comes to the MLS. Without a doubt, this squad plays a very entertaining brand of futbol. With a relentless, attacking style of play, Seattle likes pushing the ball forward and getting it on the feet of the two people below in dangerous spots.

Clint Dempsey and Obafemi Martins. They are arguably the best forward combination in the MLS. Dempsey has been Dempsey. After struggling to find the back of the net last season in his first two months with the club, he leads the team with 9 goals this season, and he’s done so in only 10 matches. He also has 3 assists to add to his stat sheet. Meanwhile, Oba has worked his way into the MVP discussion. His 8 goals are second on the team and his 6 assists are tied for the team lead with Gonzalo Pineda. When these guys are on the field together they are almost impossible to stop.

Seattle is fully healthy and at full strength. After having its depth tested in May and June by injuries and players away on international duty, the Sounders are finally getting healthy. Dempsey and DeAndre Yedlin were representing the U.S. in Brazil, while many key players like Brad Evans, Djimi Traore, and Leo Gonzalez have been sidelined by the injury-bug. Even Oba has struggled with a hamstring injury for the past few weeks. While the group performed admirably with thin depth, getting healthy is just what the Sounders need right now – mainly because of the reason below.

8 matches in just over a month. Following a two-week break from MLS play, Sounders FC have a busy month ahead of them. It starts tonight in a nationally-televised match (ESPN2) at home against L.A. Galaxy. Seattle has won it’s last 6 MLS-matches at CenturyLink.  5 of the next 8 games are at home, and it is important that the team takes advantage of their recent brilliant home-field play. This next month is a crucial one for Sounders FC on their quest for their first MLS Cup.

You may not be a huge soccer fan, but neither was I just a few years ago. It was exactly this time of the year that I first started watching the Sounders play – mainly because I wanted to cheer a team on before football season started, and the Mariners were struggling. With the M’s playing depressing baseball the last two weeks, why not follow a team having a great season? Hop aboard the Sounder Train, it’s a one-way ticket towards success.