Fire can't halt Seattle's Open Cup run

Sean Johnson -- Getty Images

By Charlie Corr
ESPNChicago.com

The Chicago Fire spent a large portion of Tuesday's Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup simply attempting to endure Seattle Sounders FC's frequent attacks and possession.

It was only a matter of time before the Sounders would strike, and Fredy Montero provided the winner in the 77th minute to lead Seattle to a 2-0 win over the Fire in front of an Open Cup-record crowd of 35,615 at CenturyLink Field in Seattle.

"I just think we never got [in] rhythm," Fire interim head coach Frank Klopas said. "We had a little bit of a momentum change in the first half, then it just seemed that we didn't get that back. And our frontrunners didn't seem to work well off each other."

Osvaldo Alonso added a goal five minutes into second-half stoppage time as Seattle won its third straight Open Cup.

Chicago fell to 4-2 in Open Cup finals, also dropping the 2004 title match to the Kansas City Wizards, while winning the 1998, 2000, 2003 and 2006 Open Cups.

Read more at ESPNChicago.com.