SEATTLE — It was going to be a special night anyway, with major professional soccer returning to the Pacific Northwest after some 25 years.
But when the Seattle Sounders FC tacked on a win Thursday in the team’s inaugural Major League Soccer match, well, the evening was just grand.
The Sounders kicked off a new era of soccer in the Puget Sound area with a 3-0 victory over the New York Red Bulls at Qwest Field. Forward Fredy Montero of Colombia scored two goals and goalkeeper Kasey Keller, the Olympia native, made some big saves to preserve the shutout before a noisy, scarf-swirling sellout crowd of 32,523 (soccer seating is in the lower bowl only).
Confetti fell like snowflakes throughout the game and the decibels approximated Seattle Seahawks levels. Afterward, fireworks lit the nighttime sky.
“The crowd was outstanding, the atmosphere tremendous,” Sounders coach Sigi Schmid said. “It was everything I expected and more, and I think it will continue to be.
“We want to make (Qwest Field) a fortress and today was a first step in that direction,” he added. “This is going to be a place in MLS where teams are going to have to think twice about coming in here and playing because it’s got atmosphere and it’s loud.”
The crowd, which stayed on its feet throughout the game, was loud enough that Schmid had trouble communicating with his players. Likewise, Keller had trouble calling out to his defensive teammates.
Not that any of the Sounders were complaining.
“I know the Seahawks brag about the 12th Man,” Keller said. “I don’t know what our catchphrase is going to be, but there’s probably not a better atmosphere for soccer in America. It’s just a huge honor to be a part of that.”
Montero scored the first goal in Sounders FC history 10 minutes into the game, taking a pass from midfielder Sebastien Le Toux to the right of the net and sending a low shot across the goal mouth and into the left side, past diving New York goalkeeper Danny Cepero.
Fifteen minutes later, midfielder Brad Evans scored from left of the goal with a spinning shot that seemed to nick Cepero before sliding into the net.
New York increased its pressure in the second half, but was repeatedly turned away by Seattle’s defense. Keller ended up with only two saves, and both came within a space of about five minutes in the second half. First he stopped a point-blank shot with a hand in front of his face. Minutes later he leaped high to deflect another long shot over the crossbar.
Montero scored the third goal in the 75th minute with a breakaway. He bluffed a shot to the left that caused Cepero to stumble, and then blasted a shot into the right side of the net.
Afterward, the team stayed on the field to salute the fans. It went on for several minutes, as if neither the players nor the fans wanted to leave.
“It was,” Keller said, “a tremendous atmosphere for all of us. There are a lot of players on the New York team that I know who are extremely envious of what we have here.”
Speaking through an interpreter, Montero called it “a beautiful way to start.”
“It was a beautiful final result,” Schmid agreed. “I thought we were opportunistic. Was it the best game? No, I think we’ll play better. … But I couldn’t be more pleased.”
The evening began with a half-hour pregame show, beginning with a dance performance by the Seattle Sea Gals and youngsters holding many of the flags of the world. Joe Roth, Adrian Hanauer and Drew Carey, the team’s three owners, then moved to a podium at the center of the field, where they were joined by Washington Governor Christine Gregoire (a Sounders season ticket holder) and MLS Commissioner Don Garber.
“It was spectacular,” said Garber later, describing the evening. “I don’t know that I would’ve expected to see this at this point in (the league’s) development.”
Sounders fans, he went on, display “an incredible knowledge of the game. It’s an enormous passion. There’s an electricity. The passion is just thick in the air.”
“It was definitely a European atmosphere,” Schmid said. “It was definitely a South American atmosphere at its best. It was something, being very frank, that was very unique to MLS. Hopefully, as other teams and other fans across the country watched this game today it’ll raise everybody’s level. Everybody is going to say, ‘Hey, we want our place to be like that.’”
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