TORONTO - It’s more than 2,500 miles between Seattle and Toronto, but that distance isn’t too much for the nearly 2,000 Sounders fans who are expected to be at BMO Field for Saturday’s MLS Cup rematch (4 pm ET; ESPN, UniMás in US | TSN, TVAS in Canada).
That’s a significant increase on the approximately 1,500 fans who made the trip to Toronto for last season’s championship showdown.
“I love our fans,” Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer said after his team’s final practice Friday. “They’re great. They were very loud last year, they’ll be loud this year. It just adds to the excitement in the building already. [Toronto] has good fans as well. It’ll be a good, good vibe tomorrow.”
A full house of more than 30,000 is expected for the final and the Sounders fans will be grouped together to cheer on their team. Sounders midfielder Cristian Roldan said the team expects to get a lift when they take the field Saturday and look up to see a swarming corner of rave green among the red-clad Toronto fans.
“It’s overwhelming in a good way,” Roldan said. “You wouldn’t expect that in MLS, for sure. It’s part of the reason we’re here. We have fantastic fans. It’s the reason we’ve been so successful at home.”
Sounders forward Will Bruin said it’s “awesome” how many fans are making the cross-continental journey.
“It’s a long trip, so credit to them for coming out,” Bruin said. “They’re amazing, they support us everywhere whether it’s the middle of the season, summer in Houston, or a cold MLS Cup in Toronto. They’re always there for us and that’s something we really appreciate.”
