It was a battle for first place in the MLS Western Conference. The Seattle Sounders came into the match just two points behind league-leading Real Salt Lake.
Less than three minutes into the match, Obafemi Martins put the Sounders in front, and they never looked back. Lamar Neagle also added to his career high tally of 8 goals, and Michael Gspurning earned his tenth shutout of the year as they kept RSL scoreless to win it 2-0.
It’s always fun to shoot these matches when they open up the entire stadium. You would think there isn’t a huge difference between 38,000 for a regular match and the 55,000 that showed up on Friday night. But those extra 17,000 voices really do make a difference in the overall volume and energy. And it’s clear that the players really feed off of it. They are now 6-0-0 with a goal differential of 14-1 when playing in front of crowds of more than 55,000.
They are planning to open up the entire stadium just one more time: October 27th, the last regular season match against L.A. Galaxy. Should be a good one!
