I'll give you a moment to digest the headline.
If you're not from Seattle, it might give you indigestion.
I apologize if I've done any damage to your system, but I truly believe this statement:
A championship match appearance by Seattle Sounders FC would be a major boost for MLS.
I say this for two reasons; one, the game itself will be played at Qwest Field (per today's official MLS announcement), and two, Seattle as a market (thanks to ticket sales and an apparent civic fervor) has already shown it has the potential to be shining light on the American soccer landscape.
Nothing could showcase the league better than 60,000+ fans packed into a stadium designed for great crowd noise and the crowd making said noise doing so for American soccer. Don Garber must salivate at the thought.
Consider this a hope and a dream for yours truly, and although I have no affiliation with the Sounders, their fans, or their city, I want to see what's best for MLS and American soccer. A showcase match on a magnitude greater than Beckham-in-New York (sorry, New Jersey) or Beckham-in-DC is desperately needed; MLS Cup in Seattle, Sounders v. Whoever, could be that showcase match. Something with stakes, something that means something. Something where the payoff is more than some pretty bloke taking his shirt off as thousands of teenage girls scream with delight. A showcase match like that might even drum up a little hype from the hated mainstream sports media. How could they ignore what is supposed to be an American football stadium filled to the brim with soccer fans?
The kicker is that it's extremely unlikely that the Sounders will be good enough to get there. While the MLS playoff structure allows any team that makes it a shot at the title (see: Red Bull, New York), simply making the playoffs could be a difficult task for the brand new club. Sigi Schmid's offense might not be a problem, but there are questions about the defense.
Despite the unlikely nature of a Seattle cup run, an expansion team winning it all is not unprecedented. The Chicago Fire managed to pull off the trick way back in 1998, so it can happen. Although, all I want is for Seattle to be one of the two teams in the final; I don't really care if they actually win. And that can happen too.
Not that I think it will. But a man can dream, and the league needs it.
As for the game being in Seattle in the first place, I realize that some (like Ginge) have concerns about Qwest's fake turf. I hate the stuff too, but I think it's necessary to make sacrifices in order to raise the profile of the league.
