One does not have to go far in Seattle, Washington, to be reminded that it's a soccer town. Two days before Friday's 2-0 win for the US over Australia, all I had to do was get on the train.
Riding the light rail to lunch on Wednesday and hopping off at Westlake Station, I was a few blocks from Pike Place Market, the city's famous waterfront gathering spot. The train car I'd arrived on had been overflowing with US jerseys and Australia kits. Riding the escalator up into the resplendent afternoon sun, someone tugged at my bag.
I'd been recognized, and it led to a few minutes of lovely conversation. Eventually the reader casually mentioned that he'd been a goalkeeper in the 1990s for the Seattle Sounders and the Portland Timbers, long before they joined MLS. It felt so random I couldn't help but laugh.
Related: World Cup 2026: USA reach knockouts with victory over Socceroos – in pictures
In this part of the country, though, interactions like these can seem like the norm; uniquely ***** ociated with teams like the Seattle Sounders and Reign, Portland Timbers and Thorns, and to a slightly lesser extent the Vancouver Whitecaps. The men's clubs have existed in fits and starts since the 1970s and their fans have navigated some of the leanest years in the history of American soccer, the dark ages between the time the North American Soccer League came crashing down in 1984 and the birth of MLS in 1996.
Riding the light rail to lunch on Wednesday and hopping off at Westlake Station, I was a few blocks from Pike Place Market, the city's famous waterfront gathering spot. The train car I'd arrived on had been overflowing with US jerseys and Australia kits. Riding the escalator up into the resplendent afternoon sun, someone tugged at my bag.
I'd been recognized, and it led to a few minutes of lovely conversation. Eventually the reader casually mentioned that he'd been a goalkeeper in the 1990s for the Seattle Sounders and the Portland Timbers, long before they joined MLS. It felt so random I couldn't help but laugh.
Related: World Cup 2026: USA reach knockouts with victory over Socceroos – in pictures
In this part of the country, though, interactions like these can seem like the norm; uniquely ***** ociated with teams like the Seattle Sounders and Reign, Portland Timbers and Thorns, and to a slightly lesser extent the Vancouver Whitecaps. The men's clubs have existed in fits and starts since the 1970s and their fans have navigated some of the leanest years in the history of American soccer, the dark ages between the time the North American Soccer League came crashing down in 1984 and the birth of MLS in 1996.
3 months ago
