Sounders aim at collecting another honor
Seattle has outside shot at Supporters’ Shield
U.S. Open Cup euphoria spilled into Wednesday for Sounders FC.
For starters, a 3,000-square-foot team scarf was flown over Seattle and Bellevue for two hours in celebration of a third straight Open Cup championship. The Sounders’ fourth trophy in franchise history had been earned less than 24 hours earlier with a 2-0 win against the Chicago Fire in front of a record crowd of 35,615 at CenturyLink Field.
But even before the champagne had dried in the locker room and the confetti had been swept up off the artificial turf, the team was looking ahead to its next goal.
An MLS loss by the league-leading Los Angeles Galaxy on Tuesday kept the Sounders’ faint hopes alive for another trophy: the Supporters’ Shield.
“We’ll celebrate this for a couple days, but we have a big game Saturday,” said midfielder Brad Evans of Seattle’s 7 p.m. home game against Philadelphia. “If we can get three points there and catch some ground again, we put ourselves in a good position to possibly get the Supporter’s Shield and carry this to the MLS Cup.”
The Supporters’ Shield is awarded to the team with the best regular-season record, and Seattle, which is seven points behind L.A. in the standings, must beat the Union to stay in the hunt.