Montero returns to Seattle with Whitecaps to face Sounders (Sep 27, 2017)
Fredy Montero knows that he is in for an emotional evening.
But will the emotions surrounding his return to Seattle in another team's uniform for the first time be overshadowed by a protest against U.S. President Donald Trump?
That is a looming question as the Vancouver Whitecaps striker gets set to play his first game Wednesday in the Emerald City, where he scored his and the Sounders' inaugural Major League Soccer goal before embarking on a global odyssey.
The Western Conference-leading Whitecaps (14-9-6) are unbeaten in seven games and the Sounders, winless in their past five outings (0-1-4), could move into a tie for first place.
But while Montero looks forward to his return to the adopted city he calls home, it remains to be seen whether players from both sides stage a symbolic protest before or during the U.S. national anthem, as NFL and Major League Baseball players have done recently.
"It's going to be strange to be back in the place where I began my MLS career," wrote Montero in an article on The Players Tribune. "But as soon as the whistle blows, I'm a Whitecap. I'm not just going to Seattle to see my family, I'm going to bring three points back to Canada."
But despite a Canadian team's presence, the pregame events could focus on American domestic issues. Sounders goalkeeper Stefan Frei, a Swiss-born naturalized U.S. citizen, told The Seattle Times that the team has not discussed any anthem protest, but he's certain that one will happen at some point.
"It has to be done, not as a fashionable, 'Here's a hype train, let's hop on it,'" Frei said. "It has to be done with the right intentions. Whichever team does that, or whichever athlete or prominent person does that."
Both teams have several American players on their rosters.
Meanwhile, Montero, 30, who spent four seasons with Seattle from 2009 to 2012 before going on to play for squads in his native Colombia, Portugal and China and returning to MLS, can help the Whitecaps improve their hopes of finishing atop the West for the first time.
He leads the Whitecaps with an MLS career-high 13 goals and has scored three goals in two games against the Sounders in Vancouver, where the Whitecaps posted a win and the clubs tied.
But Montero is not sure what kind of reaction he will receive in Seattle, which he and his family still call home in the offseason.
"Honestly, I don't know," he told reporters. "I'm excited to see that. I respect all the people in Seattle, and I have a good past with them."
