This is starting out as a good week for Sounders FC forward Eddie Johnson.
On Sunday, he scored the goal that started Seattle on its way to a 4-0 win over the Los Angeles Galaxy.
On Monday, he was selected Major League Soccer Player of the Week.
The goal was Johnson’s 10th of the season, which leads the club and is tied for fifth in MLS. Six of those have come in his last seven MLS games, and he has scored seven of Seattle’s last 12 goals.
The player-of-the-week honor was Johnson’s first as a Sounder. However, he won the weekly award three times during the 2007 season when he played for the Kansas City franchise, then called the Wizards, now known as Sporting Kansas City.
Coincidentally, that’s who Johnson and the Sounders will face Wednesday in the U.S. Open Cup final.
“I had a lot of good times and a lot of bad times in Kansas City, but it’s going to be a good place to go back to,” Johnson said Sunday. “I enjoyed my time there. I got some friends back there. I didn’t get a chance to play in the new stadium yet, and I’m looking forward to it. It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be a good atmosphere there, and we’re looking forward to the game.”
The match will be played at Livestrong Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kan. First kick is scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday. The game will be shown live on the GolTV cable channel.
The Sounders are aiming for an unprecedented fourth straight U.S. Open Cup title.
“To win four in a row would be unbelievable,” coach Sigi Schmid said. “We’re the first team in a long time to win three in a row, but nobody’s ever won four in a row. There are guys who have been in four finals in a row, but they haven’t won four in a row. So this is a huge thing for us as a franchise.”
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