What started as a quiet Saturday in the Pacific Northwest turned out to be a massive day for the Seattle Sounders.
Earlier in the day, FIFA announced Seattle as one of 11 host cities for the inaugural edition of the expanded Club World Cup next year. A couple of hours later, the club clinched a spot in the 2024 Audi MLS Cup Playoffs after FC Dallas and Austin FC dropped points in their respective matches. The Sounders followed up that news with a professional 1-0 win over the Houston Dynamo to vault the visitors into 5th in the West, three points out of the 2nd seed.
“I absolutely love the fact that the guys persevered, powered through, won the game, closed out the game, kept the lead under some duress and we actually punched our own ticket into the playoffs,” said Head Coach Brian Schmetzer. “I’m extremely proud of this franchise and the players in [the locker room]. We’ve made the playoffs 15 out of 16 years, it’s a good accomplishment.”
It was an important win following the team’s frustrating draw against the San Jose Earthquakes in their last match. But as the Sounders enters the final three games it was the type of gritty performance that instills confidence as they prepare for the postseason.
“I believe that we can beat anybody,” said Paul Rothrock, who scored the decisive goal against the Dynamo. “I’m not worried about anybody. I think we play well when the chips are down and people doubt us a little bit. I think we rode that energy tonight. I think the crowd was great tonight, you could feel a different energy in the stadium.”
To cap it all off, Schmetzer revealed that not only is Seattle a host city for the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, but all three of Sounders FC’s group stage matches will be played at Lumen Field.
“I can confirm that Seattle is going to be the host city for all three of our group games,” he said. “When I talk about group games, I’m talking about Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Palmeiras, Boca Juniors. It could be any one of those teams. That is a massive, massive opportunity. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime event for the city of Seattle … I’m hoping everyone can buy a ticket for us playing against some of the best teams in the world. I would love to see everybody there in the stadium and see it filled.”
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Midfield stalwart Cristian Roldan echoed those sentiments.
“I hope the stadium is completely filled because we need that energy,” added Roldan. “We need that type of atmosphere. We saw it against Toronto in [2019] MLS Cup, we saw it in Champions League. We feed off that energy. To be able to play three FIFA Club World Cup games at home is pretty special.”
The Sounders return to action on Wednesday night for a Cascadia rivalry match against the Vancouver Whitecaps (7:30 p.m. PT; Watch on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV, 950 KJR AM, El Rey 1360AM) at BC Place.
