The Seattle Sounders announced Monday that tickets are now on sale for the 5-Match Pack, a collection of the five biggest games of the season played in front of full-capacity crowds later this year at CenturyLink Field.
Here’s a breakdown of the five teams playing a part in this year’s 5-Match Pack, and what to expect from each game.
New York City FC [June 25]
Some of the world’s biggest stars have converged on New York City in recent years, making NYCFC one of the most popular – and polarizing - clubs in major League Soccer. With a cast of characters including Spain’s David Villa, Italy’s Andrea Pirlo and England’s Frank Lampard all playing under the watchful eye of former French international and World Cup winner Patrick Vieira, NYCFC has never been shy about spending big money on big names.
NYCFC and the Sounders have only met once since New York’s expansion season in 2015, and the Sounders prevailed 3-1 at Yankee Stadium. NYCFC is the only team in MLS that has never played at CenturyLink Field, so it begs the question: How will they respond to a rabid crowd at the first full-stadium match of the year?
June 25 also marks the Sounders’ annual Pride Match, started last season in recognition of the club’s support for the LGBT community. Fans can expect additional activities and ceremonies surrounding the match and leading up to kick off.
LA Galaxy [July 31]
Few thought it was possible to crank the Sounders’ rivalry with the Galaxy up any higher after a slew of classic games from 2009-13, but the two clubs have managed to do just that over the past two years. Seattle trumped LA for the Supporters’ Shield in the final match of the season in 2014, the first time in league history that two teams competing for the Shield played each other for it in the very last match. The Galaxy then went on to knock the Sounders out of the playoffs that same year, crushing a postseason run that many believed would end with Seattle hoisting the MLS Cup.
Seattle tasted revenge when they met last fall, however, as Erik Friberg’s goal knocked LA out of the postseason and sent CenturyLink Field into a frenzy. LA has since re-tooled its roster with the offseason additions of Jelle Van Damme, Ashley Cole and Nigel De Jong, but names like Robbie Keane, Steven Gerrard and Mike Magee are all back for more.
Prognosis: There will be fireworks.
Portland Timbers [Aug. 21]
It’s Seattle. It’s Portland. Need we say more?
The biggest crowds, the biggest TIFOs and the most electrifying atmosphere will be on display as the next chapter in this epic Cascadia rivalry unfolds in August. This marks the only time the Timbers and Sounders will clash in Seattle this season – the Sounders play in the Rose City twice this year – and the Timbers will ride into town as the reigning MLS Cup champions, a fact the Sounders and their fans know all too well.
As for the game atmosphere, no league match draws more fans in any year or any city than this one. The all-time record for an MLS regular season game is 67,385, a mark set when these two teams met at CenturyLink Field in 2013. They’ve also drawn more than 64,000 fans each of the past two years, and more than 66,000 when they met in 2012.
Vancouver Whitecaps FC [Sept. 17]
The second match of the year between these two rivals comes just as the season’s stretch run kicks in, and in front of a booming Cascadia crowd. The Whitecaps topped the Sounders 2-1 in March on a pair of highly controversial calls, meaning this will be the first time the Sounders can exact some revenge on their neighbors to the north.
There’s also bit of bitter taste left over from 2015, when the ‘Caps surged into CenturyLink Field and dropped the Sounders 3-0 to sour the first full-stadium match of the season. In fact, the Whitecaps are the only team to beat the Sounders in front of a full-capacity crowd at CenturyLink Field. The Rave Green are 15-2-3 all-time in front of the big crowd, but they lost to Vancouver last year and in 2014.
Real Salt Lake [Oct. 23]
Real Salt Lake is the only undefeated team left in MLS and have been something of a surprise this season under head coach Jeff Cassar. RSL have topped the Sounders once already this year in March, when the Rave Green traveled to Utah and conceded a late goal to seal their 2-1 fate. The goal came following a questionable foul called when midfielder Osvaldo Alonso took down RSL midfielder Sunny outside the box, a play for which Sunny was fined by the league for embellishment.
RSL has managed to keep the core pieces that won an MLS Cup in 2009. With Javier Morales, Kyle Beckerman, and Nick Rimando, RSL has one of the most consistent spines in all of MLS, and striker Joao Plata is finally healthy and looks like one of the most dangerous weapons in the league right now.
The Sounders handled RSL in the full-stadium season finale in 2015, clinching a spot in the postseason for the seventh straight year in the process. This game will also mark Season Ticket Member Appreciation Day, and members of the Sounders’ ownership group will address the crowd to cap the regular season.
