Opening Night for the Sounders!

After an incredibly sloppy and slow start at Qwest Field, the Sounders settled down and beat up on expansion team the Philadelphia Union. The Union’s mohawked defender mugged Fredy Montero and was given a yellow card early in the first half, and 35 minutes later Toni Stahl had received two yellows and the Union were down a man. In the interim, the Sounders began to control the game and scored on a beautiful counter attack started by Freddie Ljungberg and ended with a low shot from 8 yards by Brad Evans. Freddy Montero’s diving header in the 43rd minute made it 2-0 and the game was all but over. Despite numerous chances in the 2nd half the Sounders couldn’t score again, and this was their downfall last year: not taking advantage of great scoring opportunities and putting teams away. The comments I read in the PI today were encouraging though, with no one on the team seemingly satisfied with the game, and not just because they were playing a lowly expansion team from Philly.

The Union’s head coach Peter Nowak was very critical of Ljungberg’s whining and flopping, but perhaps he hadn’t seen him play before because that’s always been his M.O, at least with the Sounders. I agree with Novak and hate this part of Ljungberg’s game, criticizing him harshly last season on this very blog. But one comment struck me as sounding like sour grapes. Nowak indicated he wasn’t impressed with Seattle’s crowd and said it was quiet in the 2nd half. Well, it may have been quieter, but the team was up 2-0, it was pissing down rain, and the chanting continued throughout. The crowd was fantastic, loud and engaged, all 36, 241 of us, and it was a great night and start to the season. Good luck the rest of the way Sounders!