The Sounders Make It Three

Both teams entered this match looking to make history, the Sounders looking to be the first team in over forty years to win three in a row and Chicago looking to be just the third team in the tournament's history to claim five cups (Bethlehem Steel and Maccabi Los Angeles the other two). Despite the two being deadlocked for the majority of the match, two of the Sounders key players came through in the end and brought yet another US Open Cup to the Emerald City.

Though the match was deadlocked until the seventy seventh minute, there was plenty of action to be seen. The most notable chances came for the Sounders, both involving woodwork. First, Montero hammered a shot from long range off of the left post in the dying minutes of the first half. Then, early in the second half Mike Fuctio was able to pop the ball over Chicago GK Sean Johnson but the ball only managed to strike the right post. In fact, most of the fight was in Chicago's defensive third of the field. The Sounders finished the match with a whopping twenty seven total shots to Chicago's paltry six.

The Sounders finally broke through both the deadlock and Chicago's tight defense in the seventy seventh minute. Jeff Parke made the initial attempt on goal off of a corner kick taken by Erik Friberg, Sean Johnson saving the header. Montero was waiting for the rebound, however, smashing the ball into the back of the net. The Sounders finally broke through after maintaining enormous amounts of pressure on Chicago, and as the match entered it's closing stages the Sounders kept up that pressure ultimately leading to their second. In the last minute of stoppage time Osvaldo Alonso got the ball right above the penalty area, and made a fantastic run into the box running past and shaking off all of Chicago's defense before easily and cooly slip the ball home.

Not only did the Sounders make history with their performance on the field, the fans filling Century Link Field made their own history as well. Last year the Sounders smashed the attendance record for a USOC final, setting it 31,311. They've done it once again, drawing just over four thousand more fans, setting the record at 35,615.

Notes

• Another marquee match for the league took place tonight, the LA Galaxy visiting the New York Red Bulls. The Red Bulls pulled off a shocking upset topping the Galaxy 2-0 on goals by Luke Rodgers and Thierry Henry.