August 7, 2007
Seattle, WA - Qwest Field
US OPEN CUP QUARTERFINALS
1 - Blurry but true ... 5-0 middle of 2nd half ...
2 - Colorado got tired of waiting for the terminally tardy Sounders to start ...
3 - Oh look, the Sounders joined them! 7:00 start did not happen as the game finally got underway at 7:23, most likely due to the walk up crowd of 6600ish being typically Seattle and last minute ...
4 - Suites are like a living room that opens up to the stadium ...
5 - After one of the first half goals ... I did a terrible job of getting pictures this time as I was really enjoying chatting with Tim, the Polish photographer, and the Chilean fan in the suite as we tried to explain "stoppage time" to the soccer newcomer ... I will now root for Lechia Gdansk and Colo Colo whenever it is possible ... sort of like I tend to root for Flamengo after the Pedro Sauer Brazilian Jiu Jitsu seminar I took in 2005 ...
6 - Random game image ... try and find the ex-Sounders on the Rapids like Hercules Gomez or the ex-Rapids on the Sounders like Danny Jackson ... go ahead, I'll wait ...
7 - More Random game stuff ... the game got a bit chippy, which given that it is a game with consequences and one team was handing the other its @$$ that is hardly surprising ... not surprising that someone got sent off, just glad it was a Rapids player ... Oh, and the lines are yellow now? I think that is new for Qwest ...
8 - Former national team goalkeeper Zach Thornton did not make a case for a recall ...
9 - Tim rubbing it in online to Rapids fans around the world ... both of them ...
10 - No stoppage time in the second half? Really? Remember, "stoppage time" is discretionary and not arbitrary, see #5 above ...
About tonight's game:
Clearly, the differences between USL1 and MLS are not that great which really highlights that the USL1 is more like a "mid-major" than a "minor league" ... The USL1 cannot claim to be "major league" because they are "Division 2", but they really aren't "minor league" either ...
My notes just weren't very good so I will just toss most of them ...
The game was a lot of fun and frankly the Rapids just aren't that good and were sloppy with their basic passing and trapping on too many occassions ... When one team has not won a league match in months and the other hasn't lost a match of any kind in a dozen games things like this can happen ...
The Rapids and Sounders had met in the Open Cup before … 1-0 to Colorado in Denver … in 1999 - now the series is tied 1-1 ...
It was very cool to get to chat with Jimmy Mac briefly after the game about the differences between the NASL circa 1977 and the state of pro soccer today ...
Sounders Coach Brian Schmetzer was an assistant coach for Rapids Coach Fernando Clavijo 1995-1997 for the short lived indoor soccer Seattle Seadogs that played at Key Arena and won the CISL title in 1997 … and Clavijo's teammate in San Diego in the mid-80s as members of the San Diego Sockers meaning that the last two open cup matches have seen the opposing coach be a former teammate (Preki as coach of Chivas USA and former Tacoma Stars teammate) ...
I had actually seen the Sounders play the Rapids in a friendly, with the Rapids winning 4-0 in Marysville in 1998 … Adrian Paz from Colorado gave Jacob (then 1 1/2) his Rapids tee shirt after the game in a very cool gesture … the 1998 game was on Father's Day and coincided with the USA losing earlier that day in the World Cup to I believe Iran …
Since the Sounders won, they host the semi final against FC Dallas according to usopencup.com … on Sept 4 … meaning all 5 Open Cup matches will have been played at home venues - be they Starfire or Qwest ...
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