The Seattle Sounders FC inaugural season has been filled with benchmarks.
There was the first game, the first road game, games against Chivas USA--then the league's top team--a game against Columbus, the defending MLS champion, and a few others that have helped the first-year team gauge its success.
Today, in front of another sellout at Qwest Field, Seattle will face perhaps its biggest test to date when it hosts the Houston Dynamo. Since starting 0-2-2, Houston is 9-1-2 and finished the first half of the season as Major League Soccer's best team.
"Every time we play we learn something, and certainly when you go against a team like Houston it's a good measure not only of your soccer playing ability but also of your character," said Seattle coach Sigi Schmid, who will miss today's game to be at his son's wedding.
Sounders FC midfielder Freddie Ljungberg thinks his team has played well against other top teams in the league this season, even if the results haven't always showed it, and is confident Seattle can do the same today.
"When we played Columbus, Chivas, D.C., some of the top teams, I think we played better than them even when we didn't get the results we wanted," he said. "So I don't really think about who we're playing, I just want to concentrate on our game and playing well. I think if we play the offense we normally do and create a lot of chances, and keep things clean on defense, I think we'll be fine."
But Ljungberg also acknowledges that his team needs to be better to contend for a league title. Eventually playing well but losing or drawing won't cut it for a team with high hopes. A win today could show that Seattle is making the necessary progress.
"That's the small bit we're missing at the moment," Ljungberg said. "Maybe we play great, score goals, but make a mistake somewhere, and in big games you can't do that. Good teams will punish you when you do that. So for us to be contenders, that's what we have to put away, and if we can put that away right now that would be great."
Houston's success is nothing new. Over the last decade, as both the San Jose Earthquakes and then the relocated Dynamo, Houston/San Jose has been one of the league's most successful franchises. In its first two years in Houston, the Dynamo won back to back league titles in 2006 and 2007, and in San Jose, the team won titles in 2001 and 2003, and had the best regular season record in 2005.
"If you watch Houston you can tell what they're all about," said Seattle forward Nate Jaqua, who played for the Dynamo in 2007 and 2008. "That's just a good hard-working team, everyone knows their job and they take care of their job. Nobody cheats on the field, so it's a game where you've got to come out and really play well. We're not going to get any sort of breaks from them in that sense. We're just going to have to play better soccer and win."
Jaqua was picked by Seattle in the expansion draft, and while he looks forward to playing his old team, the Oregon native is happy to be back in the Northwest and holds no grudges against his former team for letting him go.
"It will be good to play them, but there's no hard feelings or anything," he said.
No hard feelings, but plenty of desire to beat his former team.
"We've been on a little bit of a roll," Jaqua said. "If we can keep that going, especially right now in the middle of the season, that would be really crucial for us."
