Sounders!

While kids in the States are likely raised on a healthy diet if NBA, NFL, and Major League Baseball, living overseas, our kids have been getting more and more into watching soccer. They were super into the World Cup last year, even though the U.S. team had failed to qualify for the tournament, and are super into watching the women's World Cup this summer, especially since the U.S. women's team is favored to repeat as champions and have been dominating the tournament.

Their aunt and uncle are diehard Seattle Sounders fans and have been outfitting the kids in green and blue Sounders gear for a couple of years now. I thought it would be fun if we could all go to a Sounders game together while we were in town. It just worked out they were playing regional rival the Vancouver Whitecaps. To top things off the game fell on Pride Night.

There were tables set up in the main concourse of the stadium with rainbow markers and stamps so we could paint the pride colors on our faces.

The pre-game festivities included both the U.S. and Canadian national anthems. As well as flamethrowers and fireworks. 

And in place of the 12th man flag which usually flies at the end of the stadium, commemorating the support of the crowd as the "12th man" on the Seahawks 11 man roster, flew the Pride flag.

After a scoreless first half, the contest stayed locked in a scoreless draw through 96 minutes and looked destined to end as such until Leerdam buried the winner off a feed from left back Brad Smith.

Sounders midfielder Danny Leyva, making his first career MLS start, looked to have opened the scoring on the hour mark with a 30-yard lob after Whitecaps goalkeeper Zac MacMath came off his line to make a deflection save off a breakaway shot from Justin Dhillon. But the goal was waved off after Video Review by referee Alan Kelly after Dhillon was judged to have fouled MacMath during the shot, denying Leyva his first MLS goal and keeping the game scoreless, much to the chagrin of the home crowd. (Recap courtesy of the Sounders website) Everytime MacMath touched the ball thereafter, the crowd broke out into a chorus of raucous boos.

A slow starting game, but exciting ending to say the least.