TUKWILA, Wash. – For MLS clubs, the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup tournament always represents something of a balancing act between pursuing a trophy, while also maintaining the health of first team players who are in the midst of the long and physically demanding MLS season.
2016 will be no different for the Seattle Sounders, who found out Thursday that they will begin this year’s Open Cup journey on Wednesday, June 15, with a fourth-round fixture in the friendly confines of Starfire Sports in Tukwila.
Sounders head coach Sigi Schmid offered up his thoughts on the draw following Seattle’s Thursday morning practice at Starfire, saying that getting to start the tournament run at home should bode well for his side as they prepare for the fast-approaching match.
“It’s good to be at home in the first game,” Schmid said. “It’s also good because it means we’ll be able to watch the game on the 14th, which if we had been on the road that might have been impossible. So we’re excited about that.”
The question of just how much stock the Sounders should put into this year’s Open Cup is a fair one. The franchise does, after all, already have four Open Cup trophies to its name and a first-ever MLS Cup is still the team’s unquestioned number one priority.
But Schmid pointed to a couple of factors that he says should incentivize his team to be plenty motivated to put on a strong Open Cup showing – the first being that there simply isn’t a point to entering a tournament without the full intention of winning it.
“My belief has always been, every game you enter into, you enter to win,” Schmid said. “Now, who you play in those games – Do you play some young guys? Do you rest some guys? – that’s something you take into account [based on] where you are.”
Schmid added that he has noticed in the past that Open Cup form can sometimes carry over to league play.
“The Open Cup has served us well in the past,” he said. “Sometimes when we’ve struggled in the regular season, having good results in the Open Cup has propelled us also in league [play].”
The next step for the Sounders will be finding out their fourth-round opponent. Seattle will play either the Kitsap Pumas or Sacramento Republic FC, who face off June 1 for the right to take on the Sounders. Tickets for the match will be available via presale to Season Ticket Members on Friday, May 20 beginning at 10 a.m. with a general onsale to follow on Monday, May 23.
