Behind The Scenes At The USOC Final

You can see those "manufactured fans" at the end of the video.
From Sounders FC.

Manufactured?

(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

The Red Headed Step Child to the South would have you believe that the Sounders and their fans, are fake, corporate and manufactured. Well, I don't think 200 fans waiting in the rain at 3:45 AM is manufactured. Local Seattle news affiliate King 5 was there to film the Sounders homecoming last night.

Here is a fan video. Not quite the same quality as the King 5 link.

More On The Open Cup Final

History was going to be made no matter who won the match. DC United were looking for back-to-back titles while the Sounders were seeking their first US Open Cup championship. Here are a few of my thoughts on last night's game:

The atmosphere at RFK looked pretty amazing. I know that a lot of Seattle fans were upset that the final wasn't held in Seattle, but the presence of the Screaming Eagles, Barra Brava and La Norte made it look great on TV.

The referee crew deserves a ton of praise for their performance last night. I never found myself arguing any call by yelling at the TV. Only a few surprise comments of, "That's not a foul." Great job by the 4th official for catching the stomp/jump of Josh Wicks on Freddy Montero. I saw it in real time but was surprised no one else did.

Speaking of Josh Wicks, I think the former Timbers keeper either needs anger management classes or he needs to lay off the roids. First, he attacked his own teammate Marc Burch on saturday during their game against Chicago and now the stomp on Montero. Hey Garber! How about a drug test for this guy?

Kasey Keller is the man... and so is Santino Quaranta. Quaranta brought new life to a sputtering DC attack.

I thought the Sounders needed finishing practice, but so does United. Most of their shots sailed high not even bothering Keller.

I saw someone post, "Le Toux + Levesque = Le Goal" on one of the many sites I was on before the Open Cup kicked off. I laughed a little to myself and found it amusing but highly unlikely. Boy was I wrong! And I couldn't be happier.

Lastly, I was enthused by Freddie Ljungberg's response to winning the cup. This guy has won three FA Cups and here he is celebrating with the rest of the team and kissing the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup trophy. It made me optimistic about the future of MLS and soccer in the United States.

Clyde Simms scored the lone goal for DC United while Freddie Ljungberg was instrumental in the Seattle attack.

Sounders win USOC

Great game, stupid Wicks, Glory for SSFC. Amazing to see so many Sounders supporters.

Now It's On!

I've been very complimentary about DC United's most recent marketing campaign to try and put some butts in the seats for the US Open Cup final. But I'm done. The newest post on Behind The Badge brings it to a personal level. So screw you and your 12 trophies United. I hope no one shows up at RFK to see you lose to the Sounders.

P.S. - The Sounders do have 4 Championships. 2 from the A-League years and 2 from the USL-1 years.

And here's one more picture of your epic DP fail!

The We Win Trophies Tour

DC United have now kicked their Open Cup marketing into overdrive. First they launched their website and drove people there with stickers. Then the President of United, Kevin Payne, issued a challenge to the people of DC, while newspaper ads were also all over the place. They even made pics for your Facebook and Twitter profiles. Now they are having a 12 stop trophy tour. That's right, one stop for each of their trophies. I guess they spent a lot of money on their bid and they need to recoup it... or else they need a good showing and another trophy to get a stadium deal done.

We Win Trophies... Among Other Things

Many of you have seen the website, We Win Trophies where DC United is trying to sell tickets to the US Open Cup Final against the Sounders. I think it's a cool concept and I like the viral marketing that some MLS clubs have decided to try. What I find funny though, is the parody of the We Win Trophies site that a disgruntled Red Bulls fan has put up. Having lived in New York during the Metrostars era, I can feel their pain. I remember sitting through my first US Open Cup final in the empty cauldron called Giants Stadium with only 5,183 fans. It was cold, raining and the plastic pitch there was terrible. I drove through rush hour traffic in Manhattan to support my local side, and I saw them fail miserably. The only redeeming element was seeing former Metro and one of my favorite Reggae Boyz, Andy Williams hoist the cup. The dude has gone through a lot recently so look out for a future post from me on how you can help.

Open Cup Scores

Marina Auto Stadium - Rochester, N.Y.

Rochester Rhinos 1 FT 0 Wilmington Hammerheads

Maryland Soccerplex - Boyds, MD

D.C. United 2 FT 1 Harrisburg City Islanders

Blackbaud Stadium - Charleston, SC

Charleston Battery 0 FT 4 Houston Dynamo

Starfire Sports Complex - Tukwila, WA

Seattle Sounder FC 1 FT 0 Kansas City Wizards

Rochester will be making the trip to play D.C. United and Seattle will be playing host to the Houston Dynamo. Both games will be on July 21st.

Love by Poems

Ahead of tomorrow's big US Open Cup clash against the Sounders and the Timbers, I wanted to remind everybody that the world needs love. Well, really I just wanted an excuse to drop this beat by Poems of the LA Symphony crew. Why can't more hip hop be like this?

Sounders vs. Rapids USOC Recap

We're having issues with embedding the video so just click here to watch it on the Sounders FC website.


Video courtesy of Sounders FC.

Summoning the OG's... Original Gangsta's

First it was the Sebastien Le Toux's 2 goal, 2 assist performance against Real Salt Lake, which made me think back to a not so distant USL past, then tonight it was more of the same... The old school Sounders delivered another classic US Open Cup victory. A long throw from Sanna Nyassi (USL-1 OG) found the head of Roger Levesque (USL-1 OG) who back flicked it across the goal, to find Kevin Forrest (USL-1 OG) connecting on a diving header. Forrest's goal in the 62nd minute was all they needed to hold off a last gasp effort by Colorado defender Michael Holody. Finding space at the top of the box, Holody blasted a shot that forced Kasey Keller to make 1 of 4 saves on the night, thus ending any comeback. This makes 2yrs in a row where Colorado has failed to make the tournament and the last time they met the Sounders in the USOC, they lost 5-0. Seattle has only missed the tournament twice (1998, 2004) and last year they became the first USL First Division team to advance to the semifinals in two consecutive seasons. Sounders FC and D.C. United, join automatic qualifiers Columbus Crew, New England Revolution, Houston Dynamo, Kansas City Wizards, Chicago Fire and Chivas USA in the third round of the Open Cup, with those matches set to be played June 30. How about Kevin Forrest scoring on his debut? Should the Sounders play more of their USL-1 guys? How far will they get? Do you think Gary Smith had a strong starting 11 for Colorado?

US OPEN CUP.

Seattle Sounders vs Colorado Rapids. Frustrating you can't catch the game on the telly, maybe this is something they can work on for next year. I know the demand means more in Europe when it comes to domestic cups, but from what I've been told no coverage is bad coverage. PUT THE GAME ON THE TV! Oh well... Here's a link to the Sounders website for the live audio feed. Enjoy!http://www.soundersfc.com/Matchday/Matches/2009/Season/US-Open-Cup-Rapids.aspx

A Look back at FC Dallas

For those of you old schoolers, you will remember the Sounders' opponents this week as the team formerly know as the Dallas Burn. Who can forget the awesome fire breathing horse with lightning legs logo that Dallas rocked back in the day? If I were an FCD fan, I might be asking the front office to bring back the Burn days complete with Jason Kreis, Brian Haynes, Mark Dodd, Alain Sutter, Leonel Alvarez and Hugo Sanchez; not offering me Drew Cary replica glasses. Who knows, maybe another re-branding might help FC Dallas to put some people in the seats at Pizza Hut Park? Or maybe they should just move back to the Cotton Bowl.

So with that, I leave you with a high point in Dallas' footy history...Highlights from the 1997 US Open Cup Final against DC United.



P.S. - I have the short sleeve version of the jersey that United was wearing. So if you want it, make me an offer that I can't refuse and you can have the shirt off my clothes rack.