Seattle Sounders Win 2010 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup
A record crowd of 31,311 fans at Qwest Field witnessed their hometown Seattle Sounders defeat the Columbus Crew by a score of 2-1 last night for their second consecutive Lamar Hunt US Open Cup Trophy in as many years.
Inspired by the Sounders supporters, Seattle started the night out with the run of play and had several scoring opportunities in the first opening minutes of the game. The Crew defense withstood the onslaught and eventually worked themselves back into the game. And it was Columbus who got on the board first. In the 25th minute, Kevin Burns finished off a nice series of passes that saw a cut-back cross from Frankie Hejduk picked up by Steven Lenhart who laid the ball off square to Burns. He struck the ball low left and squeezed the ball into the goal just inside the left goalpost.
Seven minutes before the half Seattle got on the board with a goal by Sanna Nyassi. The ball was served across the top of the box and Crew goalkeeper Andy Gruenebaum raced out to punch the ball away. But his deep run left his goal vulnerable and when the ball was passed back to Nyassi, he found that Gruenebaum was not all the way back into his net. The Gambian pivoted and hit his shot right of the Columbus keeper and into the back of the net squaring the match.
Nyassi found the back of the net again in the 66th minute when Freddy Montero let go an excellent cross from the right side of the field. The ball curved, dropped and one-hopped to Steve Zakuani who headed it over Gruenebaum but hit the crossbar. Nyassi was there to fire home the game winner for the Sounders.
“I say you’ve always got to dodge a few bullets to win a game,” said Seattle head coach Sigi Schmid. “If you’re playing a good team, you’re not going to shut them down completely. Luck was a little bit on our side there but we always worked very hard and we deserved it.”
Along with getting their team name engraved on the Dewar Cup, Seattle is awarded $100,000 in prize money and has earned a spot in next year’s CONCACAF Champions League. As the second place team, Columbus takes away $50,000.
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Congrats to Soundersfan74 (and all of the other “real”, Seattle FC fans who aren’t johnny-come-lately bandwagon jumpers) on yet another USOC Cup victory. Enjoy!
Congrats to Seattle Sounders. They’ve always been a great club. I remember the beginnings of Vancouver – Seattle rivalry. What a great partnership.
Congratulation to the Sounders and the fans.
It was an amazing turnout and the atmosphere was long overdue for a tournament with so much history. Seattle and Columbus showed that this Open Cup really meant something. I hope this tournament can get bigger.