Seattle Sounders Three-Peat into U.S. Soccer History

The Seattle Sounders won the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup title for the third consecutive time Tuesday night by defeating the Chicago Fire 2-0, to the delight of the huge crowd at their CenturyLink home field.  The Sounders made Open Cup history by becoming only the fourth club in the nearly 100 years of the competition to win the Cup in three consecutive years.

History was going to be made in Seattle Tuesday night no matter what the result.  The Chicago Fire, playing in their sixth Open Cup final since their inaugural 1998 season, would have also earned elite status with another Cup title to become only the third club to win five U.S. Open Cups.  But it was not meant to be.

A record Open Cup final crowd of over 35,000 partisan fans (that also included a contingent of Fire fans making the long journey to cheer for their Men of Red) saw a classic contest.  Great goalkeeping by Seattle’s international veteran Kasey Keller, 41, was matched by his 22-year-old Chicago counterpart, Georgian Sean Johnson. Although Seattle dominated in shots, shots on goal, corner kicks and played a quite physical match in which they committed over 20 fouls, Chicago hung on until the Seattle waves of attack washed away their chance to enter the history books.

The match was scoreless for 78 minutes, as not only fine goalkeeping on both ends but a goalkeeper’s best friend, the goalposts, prevented either club from taking the lead. Seattle finally broke the ice on a set piece, as a corner kick headed by Jeff Parke was saved well by Johnson. Unfortunately for Fire fans, the rebound fell to an unmarked Fredy Montero, and the former Deportivo Cali man slid the ball into the net from close range for his third goal in this year’s Open Cup competition. With little time left, the Fire had to press to equalize and the ensuing defensive vulnerability was taken advantage of by Seattle’s Osvaldo Alonso, who made some wonderful moves before firing past Johnson to add an exclamation point to Seattle’s Cup victory. In taking home the Dewar Trophy (and the $100,000 team bonus that accompanies it), Coach Sigi Schmid’s Seattle side became the first team since the New York Greek American in 1969 to win a third consecutive title.

“Obviously we’re very pleased to win three in a row,” said Sounder head coach Schmid. “It was a hard fought game. I thought Chicago played very well. Their players were giving everything they had and committed themselves totally to the game. We were a little unlucky with a couple off the post – Fredy Montero’s in the first half, [Mike] Fucito’s in the second. I thought we were more dangerous on chances.”

“To win three in a row is something very special and very unique. It hasn’t been done in a long time. Like we said, every time we enter a competition we want to win it, so we’ll enter it next year and we’ll want to win it next year as well.”

It was certainly an enjoyable sight to see Washington native and Sounders’ captain Keller lift the Dewar Cup. A veteran of over 100 USMNT contests, Keller has had a stellar career, plying his trade in England, Spain and Germany before returning to the Pacific Northwest, giving the new MLS franchise in Seattle heightened recognition when he signed in August, 2008.  With the tradition established by the Sounders since their days in the original NASL and the USL, the club has enjoyed unprecedented success in attendance and on the field. Keller will retire after the current season, so it was especially fitting that he hoist the Cup for a third time.

“To be able to win a cup, at any time, is a tremendous feeling,” said Keller. ” Whenever you get a chance to lift a trophy, you know it’s a special occasion. We were so disappointed that first year, that we weren’t able to host the final–we thought we deserved it, we thought our fans deserved it–but we had a great travel support to D.C. and we were able to win there. Then last year, can we get back here and be able to host the event and win it in front of our fans, which we were able to do, break all kinds of records for MLS Open Cup. Then to think, can we do this a third time and host it once again?”

In addition to the history made in Seattle Tuesday, the US Open Cup final was also a testament to the rising quality of the American game.  The match not only featured Keller, but another international with over 100 caps for his country, Fire midfielder Pavel Pardo, who also was on championship sides in Mexico with Club America and in Germany with VfB Stuttgart. Young stars like Johnson, the Colombian Montero and Alonso from Cuba played alongside such solid MLS veterans as Brad Evans, Dan Gargan, Cory Gibbs and Roger Levesque, who has been with the Sounders since their D2 days back in 2003.  Also showcased in the final were other players who’ve moved up the pyramid from the lower divisions of American soccer such as Seattle’s Lamar Neagle, a Tacoma native who played for 2010 USL-2 champions the Charleston Battery and Chicago’s Daniel Paladini, who played an important role in the Carolina RailHawks run to the 2010 USSF D2 playoff finals. The mix of international stars, young foreign talents, solid MLS players and players who’ve gotten experience at the lower levels of American professional soccer is paying off as a record Cup crowd saw a memorable match.

Chicago coach Frankie Klopas and the Fire players who played well, but not well enough to win, are now 4-2 in Open Cup finals. Both teams made Tuesday’s final one to remember.