Sounders Travel To Portland To Defend U.S. Open Cup

Seattle Sounders FC, the current holders of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, will travel to Portland on Wednesday, June 30, seeking to defeat the Timbers at PGE Park.

The Timbers beat the Kitsap Pumas 4-1 on June 22 in the second round of Open Cup play and will be anxious to secure a second victory on home soil. This is the first cup game for the Sounders this season, who by virtue of their status as title-holders, enter the tournament in the third round.

It's deja vu for the two rivals, as last year Portland hosted Seattle in the same round of the Cup. The Sounders took home the spoils in 2009 with a 2-1 victory. The most searing memory most Sounders fans have of that match is that of Roger Levesque, just 45 seconds into the game, diving forward to head the ball into the back of the net.

The two sides met more recently, in a so-called friendly in March. Portland won the match, and although the game was supposedly meaningless, both supporters and players will be looking for the Sounders to extract a little revenge.