Your Chance to Establish Sounders Cred

You know how people are always like, "oh, I saw Nirvana play at the OK Hotel with Andy Wood, blah blah." That's annoying, but also, you get a little jealous, because they have grunge cred and you don't.

Today, the Sounders have 16,000 folks on the hook for season tickets. I suspect they'll draw at least 30,000 to their opening game next year. If the team's deep-pocketed ownership group comes through on their promises to make the Sounders a world-class team, they could end up as the most popular franchise in town.

And it will be nice if you can say that you were one of the people who saw them before they were big, back in the USL days.

And if you want that cred, tonight's the night to get it.

The Sounders play in the U.S. Open Cup against MLS club Chivas USA tonight. In the weird way that soccer works, it's probably their biggest game of the season, even though it's not a league game. Winning the U.S. Open Cup would mean more to the Sounders than winning the USL title, if only because the Sounders already have several of those.

If you head to the game, Matt Massey of the Times has written a terrific preview about the matchup to watch: Sounders midfielder Kenji Treschuk vs. Chivas striker Sacha Kljestan.

Says Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer: "Kenji is going to have his hands full tonight. I doubt just physical play is going to be enough. There needs to be some cleverness and a little bit more doggedness ... Kenji will have to be on him [Kljestan] the entire game and wear him down."

Meanwhile, Sounders striker Sebastien Le Toux will be trying to find space against legendary but superannuated Chivas defender Claudio Suarez. Le Toux's speed will work to his advantage here.

The Sounders beat Chivas last year in the U.S. Open Cup, then another MLS team, Colorado, advancing to the semis before losing on penalty kicks.

According to Matthew Gaschk of the P-I, Chivas coach Preki (yes! that Preki!) is bringing his full squad, determined to avoid a repeat of last year's loss.

The Sounders tell me they're expecting a near-capacity crowd--the game is at 7pm at Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila (right near where I-5 and 405 intersect), which has grandstand seating on both sides of the field. It should be a fun time.