✔846 Lumen Field

Seattle Sounders 1-1 FC Cincinnati

MLS

Tuesday 27th September 2022

Seattle is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States in the seat of King County, Washington state. (population: over 737,000) It’s the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region of North America, situated on an isthmus between Puget Sound and Lake Washington. It is also the northernmost major city in the United States, located about 100 miles south of the Canadian border. A major gateway for trade with East Asia, Seattle is currently the fourth-largest port in North America in terms of container handling.

The area was inhabited by Native Americans for at least 4,000 years before the first permanent European settlers.  Arthur A. Denny and his group of travellers, later  known as “The Denny Party'', arrived from Illinois via Portland, on the schooner Exact at Alki Point on the 13th November 1851. The settlement was moved to the eastern shore of Elliott Bay and named "Seattle" in 1852, in honour of Chief Si'ahl of the local Duwamish and Suquamish tribes.

Seattle's first major industry was logging, then by the late 19th century became a commercial and shipbuilding centre, as a gateway to Alaska during the Klondike Gold Rush. Growth after World War II established Seattle as a centre for aircraft manufacturing. Nowadays, the city has developed into a technology centre, with the likes of Microsoft, Amazon and Alaska Airlines all emerging from Seattle.

Seattle also has a significant musical history from Jazz Clubs from 1918 up to the 1950s, to the birthplace of  Jimi Hendrix, as well as the Grunge scene from the likes of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Alice in Chains.

The original Seattle Sounders FC  competed in the North American Soccer League from 1974 to 1983. The phoenix club was established on the 13th November 2007, and began playing in 2009 as an MLS expansion team. The Sounders played their inaugural match on the 19th March  2009, beating the New York Red Bulls 3-0.  Sounders have been the most successful club in the MLS, winning the U.S. Open Cup four times, the Supporters' Shield in 2014, and the MLS Cup in 2016 and 2019. Seattle qualified for the MLS Cup Playoffs in each of its first 12 seasons and competed in the CONCACAF Champions League six times, becoming the first MLS team to win the modern version of the competition in 2022. The franchise has also set a new MLS record for average attendance in each of its first five seasons. 

Lumen Field

800 Occidental Ave S,

Seattle,

WA 98134,

United States

 

Lumen Field is a multi-purpose stadium, built between 2000-2002, located in the city's SoDo neighbourhood. It is also home to the super Seattle Seahawks of the NFL and OL Reign of the National Women's Soccer League. Originally called Seahawks Stadium, it was renamed Qwest Field in June 2004, when telecommunications carrier Qwest acquired the naming rights. The stadium became known as CenturyLink Field following Qwest's June 2011 acquisition by CenturyLink, when it was nicknamed "The Clink". Its new name came in November 2020 with CenturyLink's rebrand to Lumen Technologies.

The stadium is beautifully designed with two curved roofed three tier stands on each side, with the lower tiers running behind the goals.  There’s a triangle-shaped seating area behind the goal, known as the “Hawks Nest” on NFL Game Days with a tall slim scoreboard screen above it which allows for open views of Downtown Seattle. 

The seating capacity is 68,740 spectators for NFL games and 37,722 for most MLS matches (with the upper third tiers closed) however in August 2013, the Sounders broke a new home field attendance record when 67,385 fans turned out to watch them play the local rivals Portland Timbers.

Seattle Sounders 1(Montero 58)

Red card:Rowe 69

FC Cincinnati 1(Brenner 24)

MLS matchday 32

7.08pm ko

Att.31,291

Admission $22

A magnificent strike from Fredy Montero just before the hour mark rescued a point for the Sounders. The match was littered with sloppy play, with the game's first slice of quality coming in the 24th minute when Brazilian Brenner produced a good finish to give Cincinnati the lead. Following Montero’s equaliser, Sounders were reduced to ten men when Kelyn Rowe was given a straight red after a foul on the edge of the box. Seattle actually played better in the closing stages, but weren’t good enough on the night to earn the victory.

#Heedhopper

Following on from the first part of our U.S. west coast holiday in San Francisco, the breadknife and took the 1016am Delta Airways Saturday (the 24th) flight to Seatac, which took just over an hour and a half. 

Seattle is a city I’ve always wanted to visit. Not just because of the facts stated at the beginning of this post, but mainly because I feel an affinity with Seattlelites, due to their location, stuck up in the northern part of their county and the last major place before crossing over the border, plus… I’m a big Seahawks fan! 

This was our second game at Lumen Field after taking in the Seahawks game with Atlanta Falcons the previous Sunday, so I was lucky to visit my new favourite stadium twice and tick it off for football… sorry…I meant soccer! 

I loved my time in Seattle, as it offers all the things I enjoy - fantastic beers, terrific brewery pubs, a wonderful stadium and loads of top quality record stores, so basically  - my perfect holiday location.