Sounders Get Seattle Times Love

The Sounders and their fans were shown a little love by the Seattle Times in a 2009 wrap up piece. When I lived in New York, I never heard about the Metrostars, lets hope that changes for RBNY when that new arena opens.

Zakuani On FSN

I thought it was cool to see a MLS player being interviewed during the halftime of a basketball game. Granted it's only the UW Men's Basketball team, but it's the closest thing Seattle has to the NBA. You can catch up with Zakuani's off-season here.

Pre-Christmas Roundup

A few items as we head into the Christmas holiday...and all those Boxing Day matches!

Don't know what to give your loved one? How about a massage?

Will Manchester United put a little Pep in their step?

With the new NASL breakaway league making all the noise, we've all forgotten about what's left of the USL. The PDL announced their alignment today and there are a lot of teams in that league.

According to Ives, Jermaine Jones' rehab at Schalke isn't going so well. Sucks for all the USMNT supporters.

Do you ever wonder what MLS coaches do during the offseason? Sounders FC goalkeeper coach, Tom Dutra has been in Hoffenheim, Germany learning from 1899 Hoffenheim. Check it out, it's an interesting read. He also got to see Jens Lehmann's bathroom break that ODB told you about.

Finally, here are the 30 players that Bob Bradley called into the January training camp.

Scenes From MLS Cup Weekend In Seattle

Our boy, Shawn Francis of The Offside Rules and the newly formed MLS Insider took a couple of videos this weekend that I wanted to pass along. They are from the welcome party on Friday night at the Seattle Aquarium.


In the last video, you can see Adam Spangler of This Is American Soccer take a photo of the scuba diver. He's a cool guy; you should definitely read his stuff.

Sounders FC vs Dynamo Highlights

Sounders FC Commercial

The Sounders and King 5 have dropped another ad hyping the playoff game against Houston on Sunday. And I'm not the only one impressed with the Sounders Commercials.

Sounders FC vs Dynamo Highlights

Does anybody else wish that MLS used the away goal rule?

We're Doing Cribs Today

Sounders FC Defender Taylor Graham takes us on a tour of the Sounders FC facilities. With Special appearances by our boys Ben Dragavon and Gary Wright.

A Run In With Pete

I was having a late lunch today at the Starbucks in Bellevue Square. It was uneventful until I was walking to my car in the parking garage and noticed a dude getting out of his car. His head was down but it looked familiar. As the guy looked up I saw that it was Pete Vagenas of Sounders FC. I said, "What's up, Pete?" He said, "How you doing?" "Looking forward to Thursday," I replied. And with that, Passback Pete kept limping his way towards the entrance. Why couldn't I have ran into Freddie Ljungberg?

Pete a year and a half ago. Partying Big Willie Style with David Beckham.

Vagenas must not have been a very good wing man. Makes you wonder what he did to deserve the studs up treatment.

Sounders FC Home Finale

David Falk, the Seattle Soccer Examiner posted this video from Saturday night. The bummer of the evening was that FC Dallas and Jeff Cunningham didn't make it into the post season. But the Charlie Davies tribute was unreal. It's at the 2:02 mark.

Sounders FC vs KC Wizards Highlights

Fredy Montero Speaks English (sort of)

Last Sunday's Sounders FC Weekly had the first ever english interview with Fredy Montero.


Then, a few days later Matt Gaschk had the opportunity to interview Montero in english.

Crossbar Challenge Part 3

The Sounders have posted part 3 of their Crossbar Challenge series.

Zach Scott is in this one, and Ty used to play with him, he's a good player.

Crossbar Challenge

Sounders FC have been posting a couple of videos showing the lighter side of practice.

Episode one.


Episode 2
Check out Montero's strike. I'd love to see him use that against Blanco and the Fire.

Sounders FC To Host Philly Union For MLS First Kick 2010

MLS announced the home openers for the 2010 season. The First Kick will be on March 25th with Sounders FC hosting the expansion side Philadelphia Union. In a related note, the Union will have to play their home opener at Lincoln Financial Field due to construction delays (you've got to love unions).

Sounders FC vs Chivas USA

Being at the game I felt like the Sounders dominated in opportunities on goal, but this just confirms it. Not a single Chivas highlight to be had.

It's Official: Sounders In The Champions League

Sounders FC are the first official team in the CONCACAF Champions League for the 2010-2011 competition. Generally, the US Open Cup champion would gain entry to the tournament but nothing was official until now.

Behind The Scenes At The USOC Final

You can see those "manufactured fans" at the end of the video.
From Sounders FC.

Manufactured?

(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

The Red Headed Step Child to the South would have you believe that the Sounders and their fans, are fake, corporate and manufactured. Well, I don't think 200 fans waiting in the rain at 3:45 AM is manufactured. Local Seattle news affiliate King 5 was there to film the Sounders homecoming last night.

Here is a fan video. Not quite the same quality as the King 5 link.

More On The Open Cup Final

History was going to be made no matter who won the match. DC United were looking for back-to-back titles while the Sounders were seeking their first US Open Cup championship. Here are a few of my thoughts on last night's game:

The atmosphere at RFK looked pretty amazing. I know that a lot of Seattle fans were upset that the final wasn't held in Seattle, but the presence of the Screaming Eagles, Barra Brava and La Norte made it look great on TV.

The referee crew deserves a ton of praise for their performance last night. I never found myself arguing any call by yelling at the TV. Only a few surprise comments of, "That's not a foul." Great job by the 4th official for catching the stomp/jump of Josh Wicks on Freddy Montero. I saw it in real time but was surprised no one else did.

Speaking of Josh Wicks, I think the former Timbers keeper either needs anger management classes or he needs to lay off the roids. First, he attacked his own teammate Marc Burch on saturday during their game against Chicago and now the stomp on Montero. Hey Garber! How about a drug test for this guy?

Kasey Keller is the man... and so is Santino Quaranta. Quaranta brought new life to a sputtering DC attack.

I thought the Sounders needed finishing practice, but so does United. Most of their shots sailed high not even bothering Keller.

I saw someone post, "Le Toux + Levesque = Le Goal" on one of the many sites I was on before the Open Cup kicked off. I laughed a little to myself and found it amusing but highly unlikely. Boy was I wrong! And I couldn't be happier.

Lastly, I was enthused by Freddie Ljungberg's response to winning the cup. This guy has won three FA Cups and here he is celebrating with the rest of the team and kissing the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup trophy. It made me optimistic about the future of MLS and soccer in the United States.

Clyde Simms scored the lone goal for DC United while Freddie Ljungberg was instrumental in the Seattle attack.