August was a pretty amazing month for the Sounders. It started with a 2-0 win over FC San Francisco of Panama to get into CONCACAF Champions League group play and concluded Tuesday with a 1-0 win over FC Dallas to advance to the U.S. Open Cup final.

In between there was a 2-1 win that gave Sporting Kansas City its first loss in its new stadium, a 4-1 rout of Comuniciaciones, a 1-0 win at Dallas, a 1-0 win at Monterrey, a 6-2 mauling of Columbus. The only imperfection was a scoreless draw against Chivas USA.

Much credit to

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After the Sounders 1-0 win over Dallas last night in the U.S. Open Cup semifinal, several Sounders credited the home advantage — and especially the home advantage of playing at Starfire Sports Stadium — for playing a part in the club advancing to its third straight Open Cup final. Dallas coach Schellas Hyndman even said he thought his team was “a little bit intimidated by the whole event.”

In assessing the victory Sounders general manager Adrian Hanauer said, “It’s a good group win, and obviously we like playing here as well.”

In light of that, we asked Hanauer about Starfire’s …

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Here’s some Sounders reaction to the club’s 1-0 win over Dallas tonight, which puts them through to their third straight U.S. Open Cup final, Oct. 4 against Chicago:

SIGI SCHMID
On Fredy Montero’s goal) “It’s been a while since he scored. I thought he was a little unlucky because he almost got on the end of another one. Obviously the bicycle kick was one that he just barely missed, so he could have three tonight with a little bit better luck.”

On what winning a third U.S. Open Cup would mean to the team) “It means a lot.

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Here’s some Dallas reaction to their 1-0 loss to Seattle tonight in the U.S. Open Cup semifinal:

Dallas coach SCHELLAS HYNDMAN
On the difference makers in the game…) “Montero’s goal was a great goal. We had quite a few chances in the first half. We were, I think, a little bit intimidated by the whole event. I think a lot of things weren’t going our way and I think we just kind of got wrapped up. But it was a great goal by Montero.”

On what factors were not going FC Dallas’ way…) “I think we were losing

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The U.S. Open Cup has been contested since 1914, and in all that time there has been only one club to win three consecutive tournaments.

Sounders FC will try to make it two at 7 p.m. Oct. 4, when they meet the Chicago Fire at CenturyLink Field. Tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. Tuesday.

The Sounders played their way to a third straight final with a 1-0 win over FC Dallas before a crowd of 4,593 Tuesday at Starfire Sports Stadium.

“I thought in the first half we were the better team with more chances,” coach Sigi Schmid said. “In the second half for sure they were more aggressive, played forward a little bit quicker, played with a little bit of desperation and we didn’t always handle it well and really didn’t counter as well as we needed to to take advantage of that. But in the end, we’re happy with the 1-0 win, and we’re happy to get to our third final.”

The Fire advanced earlier in the evening with a 2-1 home win over the Richmond Kickers of USL-Pro.

If the Sounders win that one, they will join Greek American SC of New York, which won three straight cups from 1967-69. No other team has done it in a tournament that dates to 1914.

Seattle punched its ticket to the final on the strength of a Fredy Montero goal in the 40th minute. Montero faked outside, turned in instead, and fired with his left foot from about 20 yards.

Despite both teams’ heavy August schedule, the Sounders and Hoops contested a fast-paced, free-flowing and sometimes chippy game.

The first half was solidly in Seattle’s favor as Brad Evans, Mauro Rosales and Fredy Montero all had good early chances – Montero’s coming on a bicycle kick that sizzled just wide.

Dallas pressured Seattle regularly in the second half, and had one great final chance as goalkeeper Kasey Keller got trapped away from the goalmouth, but
Marvin Chavez skied a shot over the crossbar. It was the second near-miss for Chavez, who had banged one off the near upright in the 50th minute.

The Sounders will now take a five-day break from training. They will resume training Monday, preparing for their return to MLS regular season play Sept. 10 against Real Salt Lake at CenturyLink Field.

I’ll add some quotes in other posts above. Here are stats:

Scoring Summary:

SEA — Fredy Montero (Alvaro Fernandez) 40

FC Dallas– Kevin Hartman, Jair Benitez (Jack Stewart 89), Jeremy Hall, Ugo Ihemelu, Andrew Jacobson, Daniel Hernandez, Daniel Cruz (George John 46), Marvin Chavez, Brek Shea, Ricardo Villar (Jackson 64), Maicon Santos.

Substitutes Not Used: Victor Ulloa, Bobby Warshaw, Andrew Wiedeman, Chris Seitz.

TOTAL SHOTS: 14 (Marvin Chavez 6); SHOTS ON GOAL: 1 (Maicon Santos 1); FOULS: 14 (5 tied with 2); OFFSIDES: 0; CORNER KICKS: 4 (Daniel Hernandez 2, Ricardo Villar 2); SAVES: 3 (Kevin Hartman 3)

Seattle Sounders — Kasey Keller, Zach Scott, Jeff Parke, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Leo Gonzalez, Mauro Rosales, Osvaldo Alonso, Brad Evans, Alvaro Fernandez (Lamar Neagle 84), Fredy Montero (James Riley 89), Pat Noonan (Mike Fucito 66).

Substitutes Not Used: Erik Friberg, Nate Jaqua, Tyson Wahl, Josh Ford.

TOTAL SHOTS: 13 (3 tied with 3); SHOTS ON GOAL: 4 (Brad Evans 2); FOULS: 16 (Leo Gonzalez 4); OFFSIDES: 2 (Fredy Montero 1, Pat Noonan 1); CORNER KICKS: 4 (Mauro Rosales 4); SAVES: 1 (Kasey Keller 1)

Misconduct Summary:
DAL — Daniel Cruz (caution; Reckless Foul) 12
DAL — Daniel Hernandez (caution; Dissent) 22
SEA — Leo Gonzalez (caution; Tactical Foul) 35
SEA — Brad Evans (caution; Reckless Tackle) 58
DAL — Ricardo Villar (caution; Reckless Tackle) 63
DAL — Maicon Santos (caution; Dissent) 63
DAL — Daniel Hernandez (ejection; Abusive Language) 94+

Referee: Hilario Grajeda
Referee’s Assistants:-Mike Rottersman; Paul Scott
4th Official: Jeff Hosking
Attendance: 4,593
Time of Game: 1:53
Weather: Partly Cloudy-and-68-degrees

All Statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial.

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This just in from her alma mater: the University of Washington:

Hope Solo, a former Washington women’s soccer star, who recently helped lead the US Women’s National Team to the Championship Game of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, will be one of 12 celebrities to compete on the 13th season of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars.

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In addition to Sounders-Dallas tonight at Starfire, the other U.S. Open Cup semifinal also will play out tonight in Illinois.

Here’s a quick overview from the Fire:

The Chicago Fire (4-7-15, 27 points) shift their focus to a Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Semifinal against the Richmond Kickers at TOYOTA PARK on Tuesday, Aug. 30 at 7:30 p.m. CT with the match streaming live on Chicago-Fire.com. The Fire have never lost a home U.S. Open Cup match after the tournament’s round of 16, holding a perfect 11-0-0 record, outscoring opponents 30-10, in quarterfinals, semifinals and finals

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FC DALLAS AT SOUNDERS FC
7 p.m., Starfire Sports Stadium, Tukwila.
TV/RADIO: None. The game will be streamed live at SoundersFC.com.
NOTES: This is a semifinal match of the U.S. Open Cup, the U.S. Soccer Federation’s national championship, which is open to all
amateur and professional soccer teams affiliated with U.S. Soccer. The tournament began in 1914 and is the oldest annual team competition in U.S. sports. … The winner advances to the final Oct. 4 against the winner of the Chicago Fire-Richmond Kickers (USL-Pro) match, also tonight. If the Sounders advance, the final will …

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