Seattle soccer fans have finally got what they’ve been waiting for, a professional team.
Tomorrow night, March 19, the Seattle Sounders Football Club will play their first regular season game in Major League Soccer. They will face the New York Red Bulls at 6 p.m. at Qwest Field. The match will also be televised on ESPN2.
Some of the best soccer players in the world have come to play for the Sounders. Starting goalkeeper Kasey Keller has played in four World Cups and was named U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year three times.
Another player coming in is Swedish star Freddie Ljungberg, who was his country’s captain in the 2008 Euro Cup. In that tournament he played every minute of every game. He has played 11 seasons in the English Premier League, arguably the best league in the world. He scored 72 goals in that time.
The Sounders will be getting even more winning experience from their new coach Sigi Schmid. Schmid was recently named the coach for the 2009 season. He led the Columbus Crew to the league championship last year, and was given the MLS Coach of the Year Award.
The outlook on the Sounders’ first season is bright. They have already played seven exhibition games, winning six, and took a trip to Argentina a few weeks ago to battle some teams there.
There is a mixture of veteran players and younger men. Many of the players on the Sounders roster were picked in the expansion draft last year, where they were able to take players off other teams in the league. The Sounders also had the first pick in the 2009 MLS SuperDraft, where they took the top college player, Steve Zakuani from the University of Akron.
The 2009 season consists of 30 games, stretching from March through October, and then the play-offs for the top eight teams that qualify. Also included are a few tournaments and exhibition games.
On July 18, the Sounders FC host Chelsea FC, one of the best teams in England.
All home games will be at Qwest Field, with most of them being on Saturday nights. Tickets start at $16. With the current demise of Seattle sports, the Sounders may prove to be the one successful professional team in the city.
Kyle MacDonald is a West Seattle High School journalism student. This article appears originally in the school's newspaper, The Chinook.
