The Seattle Sounders will play their 2017 Major League Soccer home opener on Sunday, March 19 (4 p.m. PT; FS1, KIRO Radio 97.3 FM, El Rey 1360AM | TICKETS), eight years to the day after their inaugural MLS match — and against the same team.
The Sounders welcomed the New York Red Bulls to a CenturyLink Field crowd of 32,000-plus fans on March 19, 2009, and stormed onto the MLS scene with a resounding 3-0 victory over the previous year’s MLS Cup runner-up. Fredy Montero bagged a brace and Brad Evans added another to start Seattle’s MLS tenure on the right foot.
SoundersFC.com caught up with some of the Sounders involved in that opening match to relive the experience.
The build-up to the inaugural match was filled with loads of tons of uncertainty.
VICE PRESIDENT OF SOCCER AND SPORTING DIRECTOR CHRIS HENDERSON: “I remember before, the anticipation of, ‘Please make this go well.’ The Red Bulls were coming off losing in the MLS Cup the year before, so we knew they had a quality team, and you go through preseason and everything looked good, we felt good, but you just never know.”
MIDFIELDER BRAD EVANS: “We actually had a very successful preseason, but that’s not really indicative of how a season can go or how it can start. Understanding it’s a home opener for a new club, there’s certain nerves and tension, but I’m not sure that the city really knew what to expect. I do remember being excited of course and wanting to put in a good effort.”
CLUB DIRECTOR OF GOALKEEPING TOMMY DUTRA: “I didn’t know what to expect from the fans. I didn’t know what to expect from our team. I didn’t know what to expect from the Red Bulls. I was just so excited for the game to be here and to see the boys get a result.”
HENDERSON: “Everyone had high expectations, but around the city, people thought, ‘You’re just an expansion team.’ I remember people coming up to me and saying, ‘You guys are expansion this year, you’re not going to make the playoffs.’ I’m thinking, ‘Well, I want to keep my job, so I hope we make the playoffs. That’s the plan.’”
MIDFIELDER OSVALDO ALONSO: “I had no idea what was going on before the game, I got there and was surprised to see a lot of people.”
The atmosphere in the stadium on the day of the game was electric as 32,000-plus fans welcomed their beloved Sounders into a new era.
DUTRA: “I remember the weather being terrible, but I remember the crowd being into it.”
EVANS: “I remember being really nervous. I remember not knowing what to expect. We had a lot of unproven MLS players, whether coming from South America or USL. We were fortunate enough to play a New York Red Bulls team that wasn’t very good, and that kind of spurred us on to pretty big things.”
SOUNDERS HEAD COACH BRIAN SCHMETZER (then assistant): “The Seattle fans [on our team], born and raised here, when we walked out, the fans were just going nuts and they’re cheering. For a guy like me, that was impressive.”
ALONSO: “It was my first game in MLS in front of a big crowd. When I walked to the field and saw the people screaming ‘Seattle Sounders,’ yelling our names, I was feeling great.”
DUTRA: “I knew this was a soccer city growing up here, working with the old team. I was just so impressed by the fans.”
HENDERSON: “I knew it was going to be big. I grew up here, I went to games in NASL, so I knew that people would come out and what the fans were like in Seattle, but I was so proud that the rest of the country saw that. And they’re like, ‘Seattle, wow.’ It was something to say, ‘Hey, we’re here, and we’re going to support our team.’ It was a proud moment for a Pacific Northwest native.”
EVANS: “I’ll never forget walking out of the tunnel for the first time. [The crowd size] was something that was unheard of, especially coming from Columbus. The guys who played on the old Sounders had never really seen numbers like that. That was probably the biggest sticking point of that first game. I had never played in anything even close to that before.”
Montero’s goal in the 12th minute staked the Sounders to an early 1-0 lead, one they wouldn’t relinquish.
DUTRA: “I remember us scoring the first goal and thinking, ‘Holy smokes, we might be a decent team.’ I remember [Kasey] Keller making some incredible saves in the first half for us and putting on a good show for the crowd.”
HENDERSON: “When Fredy Montero scored and the guys put it all together and we ended winning 3-0, when we scored that first goal it was almost shock for the whole stadium. It was kind of a shock when we scored and went up and were playing very good soccer.”
EVANS: “I felt really proud, and anytime you experience that for the first time you don’t want to lay an egg in your first outing in front of those fans. We were very fortunate to get the result that day. We dominated the game, and I think the fans left happy and felt inspired by us. We also felt inspired by them, which was the ultimate goal in your opening game in your stadium in front of your fans, it made it special.”
The Sounders have used that opening match as a springboard and have never looked back. The club continues to grow without forgetting its roots.
HENDERSON: “At the very beginning we had one team, that was it. Now we have Sounders, Sounders 2, Academy teams down to 11- and 12-year olds. That’s a lot of teams, and our staff behind the scenes now is three times the size. Everything that’s going on around it and the amount of energy and work that people are putting in to the club, it’s just amazing to think where we were in 2009 and where we are now.”
DUTRA: “It’s crazy, right? It seems like it was just yesterday to be honest, 2009. It’s been quite a while since then and seeing the club grow in so many different ways and seeing how many cups we have in that span, it’s pretty cool to see. It’s amazing to see where we’re at now.”
HENDERSON: “I just look at the young players and the pool of players who are playing compared to when I grew up here. There is soccer everywhere in the Northwest. I’m proud that it keeps moving in that direction. We’re getting the biggest crowd we’ve ever had [for a home opener], just the pride that the fans have in the club here and the relationship between our club and the fans and our work in the community is something that I think all Sounders are really proud of.”
EVANS: “It’s a winning tradition. Anytime a club is successful in the majority of the games that you play, you’re going to have a good vibe around the city, and the city is always going to rally around you. Of course that starts with a winning first season. It’s easy to build a winning culture after that. Keep fans into the game and keep them coming out. Ultimately, at the end of the day, we’re going to get results. It’s been a constant growth, we’ve sold more tickets year after year after year, we’ve played big clubs and big games for this team.”
ALONSO: “Now we’ve got 40,000-45,000 people every game. Little by little, it’s grown. The fans love us, we fight for them. Now [this Sunday will] be the first game for them after we’ve won the trophy, it’s going to be unbelievable.”
