The Round of 32 of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup brings in MLS clubs. After an offseason of drama around the participation of MLS in this tournament it is now put up or shut up time for the rest of American soccer. For Louisville City it is an opportunity to travel to one of the most successful American franchises in the Seattle Sounders and prove they belong in that conversation.

For Seattle, this early MLS season has been a mixed bag. Coming off a season where the Sounders finished 2^nd in the MLS Western Conference, expectations were pretty high for 2024. But the 2024 campaign didn’t start the way they expected. Starting the season with 5 straight winless results have been an extreme disappointment for the club. A 5-0 thrashing against CF Montreal seemed to have raised hope but then another three matches only producing one point brought fans back to earth. Most recently the Sounders traveled to the Philadelphia Union and secured a surprising 3-2 victory where they jumped to a 3-0 lead in the first 37 minutes. But just this weekend, Seattle and LA Galaxy split points at Lemen field with the visiting Galaxy featuring a rotated side.

With the lack of results in MLS play, one might believe a good US Open Cup run could jump start the Sounders. Veteran Midfielder Alex Roldan after the round of 32 draw did not shy away from making their feelings known about the importance of this competition.

“It’s a tournament we’re taking seriously.” Roldan continued, “It’s a berth in Champions League, it’s another direct route to get into a tournament we want to get back into. We want to be back in those tournaments, competing against the world’s teams. If that’s our chance, we’re going to take it.”

For Louisville City, momentum couldn’t be any higher. Los Morados has been cruising through the USL season only dropping points to Charleston Battery a month ago. LouCity is the second ranked scoring club in USL with 23 goals and only have conceded 7 goals. In their opening fixture of the US Open Cup, LouCity won convincingly over the Greenville Triumph 3-1 (). But come matchday it will have been eleven days since LouCity’s most recent 6-0 win over Hartford Athletic. The long break may have provided them with plenty of time to prepare for Seattle.

For two LouCity players this match will be a bit of a homecoming. Ray Serrano and Jake Morris were former Seattle Sounder academy players. No doubt they will want to make an impression on their former academy club.

The match is scheduled for Wednesday May 8^th at 10:30 PM EST. The venue will not be the Sounder’s typical home field of Lemen Field but rather at Starfire stadium which is home to the Seattle Reign and the Tacoma Defiance. Link to the stream is below.