Believe it or not, the ball is officially rolling — literally and metaphorically — on the Seattle Sounders’ 2017 season.
Saturday marked the beginning of Seattle’s spate of preseason matches with a fitting curtain-raiser against the Portland Timbers in Tucson, Ariz. The match itself was split into two 45 minute stanzas with nearly a full XI change at halftime from each side. In fact, the only holdover in the field for the Sounders from the first half to the second was Harry Shipp, who came on for Clint Dempsey after a half hour. Goalkeeper Tyler Miller played the full 90.