World Cup qualifier slated for Seattle

The U.S. national team’s road to the 2014 World Cup goes through the U.S. city that has embraced soccer unlike any other American city.

Announcing news that has long been expected, U.S. Soccer confirmed Thursday that the U.S. will play host to Panama in a World Cup qualifier on June 11 at CenturyLink Field. Seattle has had things going against it when it comes to hosting a qualifier, most notably the stadium’s artificial playing surface and the fact that Seattle is a rather remote outpost for a national team that features several Europe-based players on its roster. But ultimately playing a game in a city that averaged 43,144 for Major League Soccer games last year was something that just made too much sense.

“Going to Seattle for a World Cup Qualifier was very high on our list because of the fantastic atmosphere,” U.S. national team coach Jurgen Klinsmann said in a press release. “It was a no brainer. We knew we had to go to Seattle and the sooner the better because it will hopefully give us an advantage in our game.”

A temporary grass surface will be installed for the game, and the Sounders’ June 8 home game against Vancouver will be placed on grass. The U.S.-Panama game kicks off at 6:30 p.m., and with the Mariners playing a night game across the street, CenturyLink Field will be set up with a 42,000-seat capacity to mitigate traffic and parking concerns.

“The reality is there’s a relationship between the stadiums and the city that provides a framework for attendance,” Sounder general manager Adrian Hanauer told reporters after Thursday’s practice. “It relates to traffic and uses of parking garages, ingress and egress of pedestrians, but for us, we’re sort of making the best of the situation. Sell 42,000 tickets and then see.

“I hope that we sell those and sell them quickly, but you never know. It’ll be great. We’ll have it be a fantastic, intimate atmosphere, and we think it’ll give the U.S. a big home-field advantage.”

This will be the U.S. national team’s first World Cup qualifier in Seattle since the American squad beat Canada in 1976 at the Kingdome. The U.S. team previously played at CenturyLink in the CONCACAF Gold Cup in 2005 and 2009, winning games against Cuba and Grenada, respectively. The U.S. national team has a 6-2-1 all-time record in Washington state.

The game very likely will feature Sounders forward Eddie Johnson, who has been a regular on the U.S. team since being called up for qualifiers last fall. Sounders midfielder/defender Brad Evans also has been called up for recent qualifiers, though he was not included on the team that plays Costa Rica today and Mexico on Tuesday.

Tickets for the World Cup qualifier go on sale Tuesday, April 2 at 10 a.m. and can be purchased through Ticketmaster or at the CenturyLink Field box office.

Of note

Major League Soccer has moved Seattle’s April 7 game against Chivas USA to Sept. 4. The change was made to give the Sounders a weekend off between their two CONCACAF Champions League semifinal games against Santos Laguna. Seattle plays host to Santos Laguna on April 2 then plays the away leg of the semifinal on April 9. Santos Laguna eliminated the Sounders in the quarterfinals of last year’s Champions League competition,

Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com.