Sounders FC hosts Kansas City in Open Cup quarterfinals

TUKWILA — Sounders FC is three wins from a championship in its first season in existence, and the road to some hardware will go through its own back yard.

That championship is the U.S. Open Cup, and Seattle is one of eight teams left in the tournament as it prepares to host the Kansas City Wizards, a Major League Soccer foe, in the Cup quarterfinals Tuesday. Win, and Sounders FC is in the semifinals, also scheduled to be played at home at Starfire Sports Stadium, right next to where the team trains.

Win again, and Seattle is in the championship game. There's been no determination as yet where the final will be held, but at least one other home game in the tournament awaits the Rave Green if it can advance past the Wizards.

Sounders FC outbid its potential opponents to get the Open Cup matches at home. A shrewd move, considering that Starfire Stadium has been filled with around 4,000 fans for the two previous tournament games involving Sounders FC.

"It's our fans, it's intimate, it's close, it offers them a different setting when people watch the game here," Schmid said after Monday's practice at the stadium. "It gets you closer and you really see the speed of the play a little bit more and the speed of the game ... when you're closer up to the field and you can sense the pace more and you see the contact a little bit more, you see what the game's all about in terms of the physical elements of the game."

Running the table is easier said than done. Sounders FC won twice over MLS opponents — both games at Starfire — to get into the third round of the Open Cup. Then it defeated the Portland Timbers of the United Soccer Leagues First Division last week in Portland to advance to the quarterfinals.

These games are in addition to Sounders FC's regular-season schedule, which continues Saturday at Qwest Field against the Houston Dynamo. Add to that the friendlies the team is playing against Chelsea on July 18 and FC Barcelona on Aug. 5.

The Dynamo could be next for Sounders FC in the U.S. Open Cup. Houston is on the road to play the Charleston Battery on Tuesday with the winner facing the Sounders FC-Wizards winner on July 21.

A title is one motivational factor to continue winning. So is the prize money for the teams that make it to the finals. In 2007, the champion got $100,000 to divide among its players. The runner-up received $50,000.

"The players will come up with some formula based on who played, and they'll divvy it up that way," Schmid said. "It's extra games and obviously you'd like to get paid for extra games. Everybody likes to get paid for overtime."

Seattle has a good track record in the U.S. Open Cup. The USL Sounders made it to the semifinals in 1995, 1996, 2007 and 2008, the furthest the club advanced in the tournament.

The team is taking the U.S. Open Cup seriously, midfielder Steve Zakuani said. Zakuani is expected to play Tuesday, having overcome an injured right ankle, and Sounders FC is more fresh, having not played this past weekend.

"I feel like I'm close to 100 [percent]," Zakuani said. "We've earned the right to play here again, so we're definitely taking it seriously. The more you keep winning, it just keeps the momentum going.

"The more we win, we've been seeing that the fans take it seriously. They came out here to support, they came to Portland ... if you've come this far, it's not a good time to lose and you want to keep going."

José Miguel Romero: 206-464-2409 or jromero@seattletimes.com