We have photos thanks to Chris Coulter and Sounders Photos from Wednesday’s US Open Cup Semifinal between Sounders FC and Chivas USA.

Enjoy!

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Steve Zakuani assisted on the first two goals. The third goal, Jaqua’s second, came off a brilliant cross by second half substitute, Roger Levesque.

Seattle will play the Columbus Crew on October 5th at Qwest Field in the US Open Cup Final. Jaqua noted, “Great win for us tonight and the chance to play a Final at Qwest Field in front of our fans is an unbelievable opportunity.” The 6’3″ striker is now tied (Paulo Araujo of Miami FC) for the US Open Cup goal scoring lead with 5.

Sounders FC is looking to become the first club to repeat as USOC Champions since the the New York Pancyprian Freedoms did it in 1982 & ’83.

Tickets for the Final will go on sale at 10a on Tuesday September 7th.

Scoring Summary
SEA — Nate Jaqua (Steve Zakuani) 10
SEA — Fredy Montero (Steve Zakuani) 58
CHV — Jesus Padilla (Justin Braun) 68
SEA — Nate Jaqua (Roger Levesque) 92+

Chivas USA – Zach Thornton, Michael Umana, Mariano Trujillo, Ante Jazic, Dario Delgado, Marcelo Saragosa (Jesus Padilla 54), Paulo Nagamura, Rodolfo Espinoza, Jonathan Bornstein (Michael Lahoud 46), Justin Braun, Giancarlo Maldonado (Sal Zizzo 63).

Substitutes Not Used: Carlos Borja, Yamith Cuesta, Ben Zemanski, Kevin Guppy.

TOTAL SHOTS: 10 (Jesus Padilla 3); SHOTS ON GOAL: 6 (Jesus Padilla 2); FOULS: 13 (Paulo Nagamura 3); OFFSIDES: 3 (Justin Braun 2); CORNER KICKS: 7 (Rodolfo Espinoza 7); SAVES: 6 (Zach Thornton 6)

Seattle Sounders FC – Kasey Keller, James Riley, Tyrone Marshall, Taylor Graham, Leo Gonzalez, Alvaro Fernandez (Roger Levesque 83), Osvaldo Alonso, Nathan Sturgis (Mike Seamon 66), Steve Zakuani (Jeff Parke 90), Fredy Montero, Nate Jaqua.

Substitutes Not Used: David Estrada, Michael Fucito, Zach Scott, Terry Boss.

TOTAL SHOTS: 19 (Steve Zakuani 5); SHOTS ON GOAL: 9 (Steve Zakuani 3); FOULS: 9 (3 tied with 2); OFFSIDES: 1 (Fredy Montero 1); CORNER KICKS: 10 (Osvaldo Alonso 7); SAVES: 5 (Kasey Keller 5)

Misconduct Summary:
CHV — Paulo Nagamura (caution; Reckless Tackle) 51
SEA — Osvaldo Alonso (caution; Reckless Tackle) 79

Referee: Ricardo Salazar
Referee’s Assistants: -Colin Arblaster; Mike Kampmeinert
4th Official: Josh Wilkens
Attendance: 4,547
Time of Game: 1:51
Weather: Partly Cloudy-and-67-degrees

Sounders vs. Chivas US Open Cup Semifinal

A sold out crowd is expected for the match between the defending Cup Champions and the Chivas squad who is currently in the basement of the MLS Western Conference.

The Boys in Rave Green are currently undefeated in their USOC play at Starfire (5-0-0), their home away from Qwest. But they are playing a club who they have never defeated, and one who frankly, has nothing else to play for in 2010. Chivas forward Justin Braun noted that Wednesday’ match is, “biggest game in the clubs [sic] history…”

Sounders Head Boss, Sigi Schmid noted, “Certainly, a team like them, who in their history hasn’t won a trophy, at this stage to be in the semifinal they are going to be a hungry team. It’s going to come from the front office on down: ‘This is a chance. We are in the semifinal. We are one game away from getting to the final. We are two games away from having the trophy.’ So they are going to be a hungry team.”

In four MLS league matches, the Southern Californian club holds a 2-0-2 record against Seattle, and has never given up a goal to the Sounders. If Seattle wants to make it to the Final, they will have to end both of those streaks.

If Seattle wins, the US Open Cup Final will be held at Qwest Field on October 5th against the winner of the other semifinal between the Columbus Crew and DC United. No team has won back-to-back Cups since the New York Pancyprian Freedoms did it in 1982 & ’83.

The Sounders will be without midfielder Sanna Nyassi, who was called in to the Gambian national team for its African Cup of Nations qualifier vs. Namibia on Saturday at Banjul, Gambia.

Seattle forward Nate Jaqua has three goals in this Open Cup, the most of any player remaining in the tournament.

The game is sold out, but the match will be broadcast on SoundersFC.com. Kickoff is slated for 730p.

And before we go too much further, it must be said… that this post is brought to you by, Pauliner. Delicious Pauliner. About 6 pints worth to be exact.

But throw in the towel, we should not do. Our play was beautiful, and for those that follow me on twitter ( shameless plug for @yamsmos) you will know that i guaranteed a win. Not quite sure what happened, but I have a call into sigi to understand why he didn’t give us the win that we requested.

A few bullet points about the match… and then bed. Well, wine, and then bed. oh, and i do my best at caps… but i am sure i fail

- jeff parke. Somehow we we don’t talk about him much in this blogosphere. none of us have had many problems with him, other than questioning his commitment, however, can we all now agree that he is first class? we knew he would be good, but much better than that, he is. I love having him back there. The rotation of him, Hurtado, Ianni, and Marshall is not bad at all is it?

- Alonso. He did his best to try and make me love him more than I already do. And I didn’t know that it was even possible. But it is, b/c i saw that shot in slow mo… and all I can say is F Thornton. Not sure why we didn’t pull the ol’ hot sauce in the contact lens… b/c that would have really done him in, and we would have won that match.

- nkufo. This isn’t a put down or a major critique, but I don’t know what is different for him. Is the service lacking?  Are the defenders tougher? Is he homesick?  I have no idea and any hypothesis would be mostly guessing, unless someone knows some facts. We all want him to succeed, but being honest, his first touch is very heavy and he really hasn’t shown a heck of a lot that makes me think he is going to start banging in goals.

I am more than happy/willing to give him the benefit of the doubt… but he has to start delivering.

- the red card was  just silly. it was almost silly for the chivas player, but  VERY SILLY for leo… it was just dumb all around. Most of all, the 4 minute conference for Prus and Co to come up with the reason for why they were going to come up with so much crap.

- Montero, for the first time, came up just a bit flat today. the whole team did on the finishing. You can excuse him for the thornton smack down that he received…. but still.

I am ok with the draw, not happy, but ok. btw…

caps were sort of there… take what you can get ok?

Chivas USA (5-10-3, 18 points) was riding a 4 match result streak before losing last week 1-2 against Toronto FC.

Seattle’s streak finds their 8-8-4 (27 points) record good enough for 4th place in the West and have won the last 4 MLS matches. A streak that has seen the Sounders out-score their opponents, 6-1.

Across all competitions, the Rave Green are 7-1-2 in their last 10.

The key to the resurgence? Fredy Montero. It’s hard to argue that the trade of Freddie Ljungberg, and the arrival of Blaise Nkufo and Alvaro Fernandez has ignited an internal spark in the young Colombian. The 23-year old striker is tied for 4th in MLS for goals scored, and second with 9 assists- both marks lead Seattle.

Over the last 9 matches, Montero has recorded either a goal or an assist.

If the Sounders’ winning and Montero’s scoring streak continue, it would end Seattle’s record against Chivas USA. In the three historical matches between the two clubs, Chivas has never lost. In fact, along with their 2-0-1 record against Seattle, the Sounders have never scored against The Goats. Zach Thornton returns to netminding for the Southern California club; he has been out since July 10th with an ankle injury.

Saturday’s Kickoff is set for 8p on Saturday.

Following the Chivas match, the Sounders head to Honduras to take Marathon in CCL action on the 19th, and then return to Qwest Field on August 25th to face Monterrey. [Tickets]

Alex Prus will be the man in the middle with the whistle.

The match is set for Wednesday, September 1st at Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila. Kickoff is slated for 730p.

Sounders FC move to 9-6-11 (38pts) on the season.

More to come…

Sounders FC (9-6-10, 37pts) finds itself in the midst of a Playoff run with 5 matches remaining against The Goats from Southern California (11-9-3, 36pts) who is also in the same post-season posturing.

Head Boss for the Sounders, Sigi Schmid, should have his entire lineup at his disposal for the match with no players facing suspension or major injury.

This is the third meeting on the 2009 campaign for these two clubs. Chivas has won the two prior matches; 2-0 on April 18th and 1-0 on June 6th- both of those matches were played in Southern California.

The Sounders have not won, or scored, at Qwest since the July 11th 2-1 decision over the Houston Dynamo. Including the International Friendlies against Chelsea and Barcelona, 0-3-2.  The last Rave Green goal came in the 46th minute of that Houston match on Patrick Ianni’s bicycle kick winner- that’s 495 minutes of play with out scoring.Kickoff is slated for 12noon. [Buy Tickets Now]

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