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Final Score: Philadelphia 0 - Seattle 2

Seattle, WA (Sports Network) - The Seattle Sounders opened the 2010 Major League Soccer season with a resounding 2-0 victory over the expansion Philadelphia Union on Thursday night at Qwest Field.

Brad Evans and Fredy Montero scored first-half goals to lead second-year club to victory.

The decisive win shows just how far the Sounders (1-0-0) are ahead of the Union, just 12 months after their own debut. Seattle, which won it's inaugural game over Red Bull New York, 3-0, went on to have one of the most successful expansion season's in the history of the league in 2009.

The Union (0-1-0) appear to be on the path of the majority of past MLS expansion clubs, who struggled in the early going, especially in year one.

The Union showed the type of game they planned on playing less than a minute in when defender Danny Califf hacked Sounders forward Montero away from the ball inside 30 seconds. Califf earned an early yellow - the first booking in the history of the Union - for his efforts.

The Sounders showed what type of game they planned on playing in front of a sellout crowd of over 36,000 fans early as well when a solid buildup starting from the midfield led to a goal inside 15 minutes.

Forward Freddie Ljungberg started the chance when he controlled the ball in the offensive third before playing to the left side to Montero. Montero then played out wide to winger Steve Zakuani streaking down the sideline. The second-year pro then played back to the middle at the top of the 18-yead box to Evans, whose shot found the back of the net, past Union goalkeeper Chris Seitz.

The Union continued to play a physical game, which caught up to them five minutes before the break when Toni Stahl earned his second yellow to force his side to play the rest of the game down a man.

The Sounders immediately made the expansion club pay, adding a goal two minutes later off a corner kick. After the corner was punched away by Seitz, defensive midfielder Osvaldo Alonso volleyed back toward the left post, and Montero dove to knock it home with his head from close range.

The teams battled to a stalemate in the second half, with the Sounders controlling the majority of the game.