A beautiful day has dawned for a big day in the Sounders’ short history, trying to win their second trophy while becoming the first MLS club to repeat as U.S. Open Cup champion.

The basics: Columbus vs. Sounders, 7 p.m., Qwest Field. Tickets remain available, and the game will be broadcast on Fox Soccer Channel.

Here’s the TNT preview story, and one from the Columbus Dispatch, and one from the MLS website.

That MLS link has video highlights from the Sounders’ 4-0 win in Columbus last month.

I asked some Sounders this week if they think that result will have any relevance tonight.

SIGI SCHMID
“I think it does register. It certainly gives us some confidence but, like I said before, they are a good team. They are a proud team [. . .] They are a team that’s going to want to come and say, ‘Hey, look, that’s not a reflection of our abilities.’ And it isn’t because they are too good of a team.”

NATHAN STURGIS
“I think that gives them a little extra motivation, because it probably wasn’t a four-zero game. They actually played pretty well, and they’re a good team. The score probably flattered us a little bit. But it’s Open Cup final, so you don’t need extra motivation.”

KASEY KELLER
From Sounders’ perspecitve: “I don’t think anybody looks back at that game and thinks it was a 4-0 game. Sometimes you take advantage of your chances, and they didn’t take advantage of theirs. They’re a good team, we know they’re a good team. They’re going to want to come in here and avenge that 4-0 loss, so we have to be at our best if we want to win this game.”

From Crew’s perspective: “That will be a huge motivation for them. But they’ll also look at that four-nil and say they had plenty of chances to not have that game be four-nil. So they’re going to have a little bit of confidence knowing if they keep it tighter at the back they have created chances against us. They just need to put it away.”