(Sports Network) - Seattle Sounders FC will host the New York Red Bulls to not only open the 2009 Major League Soccer season on Thursday night, but to open the expansion franchise's inaugural season in the league.

A sold-out Qwest Field and a national television audience will witness history, with the Sounders taking to the pitch as the league's 15th team for the first time with a crowd in the stands in a regular season game.

"We've been at a little bit of a disadvantage where [Seattle management] wanted the first game [at Qwest] to be the first real game," Sounders FC goalkeeper Kasey Keller told The Sports Network. "You don't want to have a couple preseason games and have the fans here and kind of take the shine off of a huge monumental occasion for the city of Seattle and for this team and franchise."

As a result, Keller, who is a U.S. national team veteran with 100 caps as well as an established veteran of European soccer, isn't sure what to expect from his new home field.

"It would be nice to have had a couple gated preseason games just to get that feel for it, but that's not what's happening and so we are going to have to really be up for that. That is where we are truly going to be able to tell where we are at, after the first couple games," he said.

Leading the Sounders will be reigning MLS Coach of the Year, Sigi Schmid, who came over from the champion Columbus Crew, where he had spent the previous three seasons.

"It's obviously a change coming from a team that we spent three years building and had gotten it to a point where we won a title and it was functioning and working," Schmid told The Sports Network. "Starting all over is a new challenge. It's also a lot of fun. It's like building a house. Sometimes it's easier to build one from scratch then to remodel something that already exists. From that standpoint it has been a lot of fun and challenges are what make the day happen for me."

Schmid isn't sure what to expect from his team in it's first game, but hopes his club can at least stay competitive.

"Last year, San Jose as an expansion team did a good job of being competitive in almost every game they played in," he said. "They had a chance to get points out of every game they played, which is all you can really ask of your team. Then as they got to know each other better, they made some additions at midseason. They put together a little bit of a run and almost got themselves there. We want to emulate that in some ways. We want to make sure we give ourselves a chance in every game to get points."

That will be a tough task against a re-tooled Red Bulls club that is coming off an appearance in the MLS Cup title game last season. New York coach Juan Carlos Osorio, in his second season with the Red Bulls, had a chance to add depth at positions that fit his preferred style of play, and the team hopes that translates into a more consistent and even more successful team in 2009.

"We made some changes for this coming season here and I'm real excited because I personally think we are more well-balanced this year than we were last," New York striker Juan Pablo Angel said at the team's preseason media day on Monday. "This is going to be a very hard season, MLS is getting tougher every year. But I think we are getting a group of players in here that are getting along well together, we are getting to understand and know each other very well. I'm excited because I think we can, and hope we are, going to be better this year."

Out of the lineup for Settle on Thursday will be forward Jarrod Smith, defender Taylor Graham and midfielder Pete Vagenas because of various injuries. Designated player signing Freddie Ljungberg is also expected to sit after just recently getting back from offseason hip surgery.

The Red Bulls will be without goalkeeper Jon Conway and midfielder Khano Smith because of suspensions they accumulated last season, but the only injury is to defensive midfielder Seth Stammler, who should play, but isn't 100 percent after having surgery late last season.



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