Erik Friberg heads back home to Sweden after one season with the Sounders

By Money Mike



Unfortunately, another Sounder is packing up and leaving Seattle. After one season with the Seattle Sounders, midfielder Erik Friberg is heading back to Sweden. The 25-year old midfielder has transfered to Swedish Allsvenskan club Malmo FF and will officially join his new club on New Years Day 2012. Reports are saying that Friberg is starting a young family. And honestly, I don't know what they mean by that. All I know is that Friberg wants to be close to his family and is officially transfering from the Sounders on New Years Day when the International Winter Transfer period officially opens.

This move now puts an end to the Brad Evans-Erik Friberg contriversy, but not the way anybody would've hoped. Friberg made 28 appearances for the Sounders (including the playoffs), scored one goal and assisted on two others and he was just about 10x better and more consistant than Brad Evans. Evans these past couple of seasons has been injury prone and on the pitch, he's made some sloppy passes. He really shouldn't be in the starting 11 next season, and with Steve Zakuani returning next season, I don't even think that Evans will be in the starting 11. They may move Mauro Rosales to an attacking midfield position or maybe they'll spend money in the transfer window and pick up an attacking midfielder. Whatever it is they'll do, I doubt Evans will be a starter and I don't think he should be a starter because this guy sucks.

Here's what Friberg said in a statement......

"I am very proud to have played for Sounders FC and our tremendous fans. It's been a fantastic year for me, one that I will never forget. I want to thank my teammates, the coaches, the club officials and our supporters for all their help and encouragement. Perhaps in the future, there will be an opportunity for me to come back and play again for the Sounders."

I'm shocked to hear that Friberg's leaving because he was an asset to the team and everyone who has been watching should agree with this statement. I don't think it's that big of a loss for the Sounders, but I didn't see it coming at all because they protected him in the Expansion Draft, they exercised his option for the 2012 season, but as said on the statement, Friberg isn't ruling out a return to the Sounders in the future, and I hope he comes back to Seattle.

Sounders rally falls short losing 3-2 on aggregate to Real Salt Lake

By Money Mike

The Seattle Sounders were 3-nil down coming into the 2nd leg and in need of a three goal win to force extra time and at least a four goal win to take the series. They ended up with only two as they won the 2nd leg 2-0, however, they fell 3-2 on aggregate which means the 2011 season is over and also Kasey Keller long and memorable career is over. Real Salt Lake will move on to the MLS Cup semifinal against either the LA Galaxy or the New York Red Bulls. For the Sounders, they have still yet to make it past the MLS Cup Quarterfinals. In 2009, they were knocked out by the Houston Dynamo. In 2010, they were knocked out by the Los Angeles Galaxy. Now this year, they were knocked out by Real Salt Lake. It's gonna be tough to come by for a couple of days, but none the less, the Sounders are getting better and better and I believe that they will soon put their hands on an MLS Cup.

The Sounders almost got the breakthrough early on. Erik Friberg's cross was deflected right to Fredy Montero who touched it just wide right of Nick Rimando's goal.

The Sounders had to make two early subs in the first half, bringing on Lamar Neagle and Roger Levesque for Brad Evans and Alvaro Fernandez due to injuries.

The biggest save of the night was defender Tony Beltran clearing Jeff Parke's volley off the line with his head. So many opportunities that could've resulted in a comeback win in the series for the Men in Rave Green.

The Sounders got on the board in the 56th minute. Lamar Neagle sent in a cross for Mike Fucito who was pulled down by Tony Beltran and referee Jair Marrufo wasted no time pointing the penalty spot. Beltran was also booked for the challenge. Ozzie Alonso stepped up to take the penalty for the Seattle Sounders and he would drive it low and right down the middle to put the Sounders on the board in the series, making it 1-0 in the second leg and 3-1 RSL on aggregate.

Five minutes later, the Sounders got another goal. Lamar Neagle first-timed a Fredy Montero pass into the far corner and all the sudden, the Sounders were back in the series. The Sounders continued to attacked all game, but in the end, Real Salt Lake did well enough to hang on and win the series.

Scoring summary (first leg):

Real Salt Lake - Alvaro Saborio (Chris Wingert, Javier Morales) 41'

Real Salt Lake - Alvaro Saborio (Javier Morales) 53'

Real Salt Lake - Ned Grabavoy (unassisted) 88'

Scoring summary (second leg):

Seattle Sounders FC - Osvaldo Alonso (penalty kick) 56'

Seattle Sounders FC - Lamar Neagle (Fredy Montero, Osvaldo Alonso) 61'

- Real Salt Lake advances 3-2 on aggregate

Misconduct summary:

Real Salt Lake - Tony Beltran (caution; Tactical foul) 55'

Real Salt Lake - Nick Rimando (caution; Delaying a restart) 56'

Seattle Sounders FC - Roger Levesque (caution; Reckless tackle) 62'

Seattle Sounders FC - Leonardo Gonzalez (caution; Reckless tackle) 92'+

Lineups:

Real Salt Lake - Nick Rimando; Robbie Russell, Chris Schuler, Chris Wingert, Tony Beltran; Andy Williams (Ned Grabavoy 57'), Kyle Beckerman, Javier Morales (Luis Gil 89'), Will Johnson; Fabian Espindola, Alvaro Saborio (Yordany Alvarez 76')

Seattle Sounders FC - Kasey Keller; Zach Scott, Jeff Parke, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Leonardo Gonzalez; Brad Evans (Roger Levesque 21'), Osvaldo Alonso, Erik Friberg, Alvaro Fernandez (Lamar Neagle 14'); Mike Fucito (Sammy Ochoa 76'), Fredy Montero

Sounders become the first team in 42 years to win three straight U.S. Open Cup titles

By Money Mike

Three Years, Three trophies. The Seattle Sounders have done what no MLS team has done before, win three U.S. Open Cup titles in a row, and they have become the first team since the New York Greek-Americans in from 1967-1969 to win three in a row. The Sounders defeated the Chicago Fire by a score of 2-0 after two second half goals by Fredy Montero and Ozzie Alonso and with yet another Cup title, the Sounders have qualified for the 2012-2013 CONCACAF Champions League. The Chicago Fire failed in their bid to join Bethlehem Steel and Maccabi Los Angeles as the only five-time Champions in U.S. Open Cup history. In last years cup final, Seattle broke the attendance record with 31,111 fans. This year, they broke their own record with 35,615 fans in attendance.

Chicago had an early opportunity off a free kick about 30 seconds into the match. Pavel Pardo's delivery found its way to Cory Gibbs who directed his header well wide of Kasey Keller's right hand side.

Seattle began to press immediately after. In the 2nd minute, Mike Fucito's free kick was intended for Jhon Kennedy Hurtado at the far post, but the delivery was just over his head. A minute later, Seattle won a corner. Lamar Neagle took the corner from the left hash mark and found Jeff Parke who's header was blocked by a Chicago defender, may have been Cory Gibbs with the block but Pavel Pardo was also defending on the play. The ball bounced right back to Parke who had another chance at it, but all he could do was get a toe poke on it and the ball was easily gathered by Sean Johnson.

Sounders weren't done yet. In the 5th minute, after some great ball movement, Alvaro Fernandez made a good run against Marco Pappa who was back defending after Gonzalo Segares was caught out of position and whipped in a good ball to Mike Fucito in the penalty area, but the opportunity in the end came to nothing.

In the 7th minute, Lamar Neagle out jumped Dan Gargan and nodded it into the penalty area for Fucito who caught it on the volley with his left foot and forced a terrific kick save from Johnson after Josip Mikulic got caught not paying any attention to the third year man out of Harvard University.

In the 10th minute, the Fire nearly snatched an early goal. Daniel Paladini got it free to Marco Pappa while Ozzie Alonso was applying pressure. Pappa, who scored a hattrick away at Real Salt Lake in one of last weeks midweek matches, unloaded off his left foot which took a deflection and just sailed wide to the left of Keller.

Things got a little quiet since that opportunity until the 39th minute when Marco Pappa made a cut into the middle and unloaded with his left foot again which was deflected as well and almost got caught wrong footed by the deflection but he was able recover and make the save.

In the 44th minute, Gonzalo Segares gave the ball away to Mike Fucito in a dangerous area. Fucito was forced wide by Josip Mikulic and couldn't get a shot away, instead, be back healed the ball to Alvaro Fernandez for a first timed shot and Sean Johnson was forced to make another save. The Sounders nearly broke through just before the break. Fredy Montero after dribbling away from Pavel Pardo made a cut to the middle and got off what looked like a weak right footed effort, but the shot somehow nearly went in as it hit the post (the goalkeepers best friend). The ball bounced off Mike Fucito but he couldn't get anything on it and it went out of play. Montero beat four Chicago players by the look of things. Dribbling away from Pardo Pardo, Patrick Nyarko couldn't get back in time to break up the opportunity and both Logan Pause and Josip Mikulic just stood around and left a gap for Montero to shoot at. Both teams went into the locker room scoreless at halftime, but it could've been 4-0 Sounders after all of that.

In the Second half, the Sounders took out Alvaro Fernandez after he suffered a head injury and that's the last thing you want to hear this late in the season. He was replaced by Erik Friberg and I was quite surprised by the move and didn't know why because I was in the stands, but turned out to be a good sub, Friberg did very well in the second half. In the 53rd minute, Seattle once again was denied by the goalpost. Leo Gonzalez's long throw found Lamar Neagle just outside the box. Neagle directed his header brilliantly to the path of Mike Fucito and the little guy jumps up and lobs it over Sean Johnson at the far post, but the post yet again keeps Chicago from falling behind in the early stages of the second half. And this has happened a lot, especially big clubs, that even if you have 10, 20 or even 30 opportunities and you're unable to capitalize on them, it could come back to haunt you and with an hour gone and another half hour to go in the match, we were sort of at the point where something like that could happen.

Chicago struggled mightily to create any opportunity in the second half and they had to make a change defensively in the 61st minute. Rookie Jalil Anibaba came in to replace Josip Mikulic and my guess the reason for this switch was that he may picked up an injury after an attempted sliding challenge to dispossess one of the Sounder players. He made the challenge and I don't remember if there was a foul called or the referee signaled for a throw in. But Mikulic stayed down on the turf and I don't know what the hell the Emerald City Supporters were chanting. The stadium was too loud, but from what I heard, it sounded like they were chanting "LET HIM DIE". Again, I couldn't hear what they actually said, but it was somewhere at that line.

In the 77th minute, the Chicago back line had so many difficulties clearing the ball way. James Riley's cross towards Fredy Montero was headed away by Jalil Anibaba. The ball however fell to Erik Friberg who fed Riley with a nice lead pass. Riley's cross found Montero for a header that was cleared off the line by Anibaba. Ozzie Alonso out jumped Daniel Paladini and got a head to it, directing to Lamar Neagle, who nodded it down for Mike Fucito who had a go from about 18-yards away, but it was Anibaba getting the way again. Jeff Parke stepped in to the Chicago half and touched it on to James Riley who chipped it back in. Fredy Montero did very well to use his strength and chest it down to Brad Evans for a left footer, but doing all the work to deny the Sounders again was Jalil Anibaba and Seattle won a corner. And usually in these circumstances, it's the goalkeeper that yells at his defenders for not clearing the ball away, but Anibaba was the guy yelling at his teammates and he had every right to be angry because he was doing all the dirty work for goalkeeper Sean Johnson while the other defenders were just standing around being lazy.

After all that, I sensed a goal coming for the Sounders, and I told few people that it's coming and guess what? 30 seconds later, straight from a set play, the Sounders got their goal. Erik Friberg's outswinger from the near hash mark found Jeff Parke who directed his header towards the far post and forced another Sean Johnson as he went down and got his right hand to it and right there at the door step was Fredy Montero to knock it into the back of the net and the Sounders finally broke through with just over 12 minutes to go and the stadium erupted as Fredy Montero knocked home his 16th goal in all compititions this season.

Chicago made to attack minded substitutions, bringing in Diego Chaves in the 80th minute and Sebastien Grazzini in the 85th, but that didn't help at all. In stoppage time, Seattle switched to the possession game to kill time off the clock. Fredy Montero took it to the end line and with 3 red shirts around him, he did very well to keep it in play and Lamar Neagle fed it to Ozzie Alonso who had other ideas besides keeping the ball away from Chicago, he made sure Chicago had no chance of getting back into the game at all. Alonso made a brilliant cut to force Marco Pappa to slip and fall. He then dribbled around Sean Johnson who collided with teammate Patrick Nyarko while trying to recover and slotted the ball into an empty net to put this game beyond reach and cap off an Emerald City 3-peat for the Seattle Sounders.

The Sounders have had quite a history of playing big matches and winning trophies. Back in the NASL days they made it to the Championship and fell short, most notabally to the New York Cosmos who had Pele at the time and then the NASL folded and the Sounders are out of business for a few years. They got back on the field in 1994 after the USL was formed and they won 4 USL titles. Them USL team folded in 2008 after an MLS team a bought in Seattle to begin play at the start of the 2009 season. And the week when we had to vote for a name, which was just before the start of our final USL season in April of 08', there were three candidates and the Sounders were not one of the three. Instead, the three were Seattle FC, Seattle Republic and Seattle Alliance, and I can tell a lot of us were unhappy with that. Then about a day later, they decided to add a write in, which was fair enough for me, but the concern was that what the folks, who never heard of the Sounders that time, would write in. The name, Seattle Sounders, had to be name of the MLS team, otherwise the history of Soccer in Seattle, in my opinion, is ruined. So I chose the write in and voted Seattle Sounders. And right off the back, Seattle has had an MLS team for three years now, they've made the playoffs all three of those years and they already have three trophies.

The game I went to earlier this season was also against the Chicago Fire which ended with the Sounders coming out on top 2-1 and getting their first game of the season. I also mentioned that it was the best match I've seen. SCREW THAT!! The U.S. Open Cup final was the best match that I've seen with my own eyes now. Prior to this match, I was at home, waiting for a while before we left for the match and I was shaking a bit, and my heart was pounding off and on because this was a huge match. We parked about a couple miles from Safeco Field at about 6:25 and a lot of fans were still making their way to the stadium. I was following the crowd who were on the streets or the sidewalks. When you're following a crowd, there's an easy chance you could end of getting lost for a little bit. There was a rediculus fan running to the match like he was gonna be late for kickoff and he ended up losing his energy and he didn't even make it to Safeco Field. For people that didn't attend, because the game was on FOX Soccer, I wonder what the result was between people watching the game and people heading to SeaTac because of the fact that Amanda Knox landed in Seattle somewhere at the time of kickoff for the final. After the game and the trophy presentation, the team shops in Seattle were still open and they were already selling the 3-peat t-shirts. The first shop we went to, all they had left was a Double XL. Sure I'll buy one, lol. We tried another shop and all they had was small. So no luck on buying a shirt, but then later I looked online to see if they had it available and they were available to pre-order for $20 so maybe I will get a shirt soon. But I enjoyed every single minute of the game.

Scoring summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Fredy Montero (unassisted) 77'

Seattle Sounders FC - Osvaldo Alonso (Lamar Neagle) 96'+

Misconduct summary:

Chicago Fire - Patrick Nyarko (caution) 27'

Chicago Fire - Daniel Paladini (caution) 37'

Seattle Sounders FC - Fredy Montero (caution) 90'

Chicago Fire - Jalil Anibaba (caution) 90'

Seattle Sounders FC - Fredy Montero (caution) 90'

Lineups:

Chicago Fire - Sean Johnson; Dan Gargan (Sebastian Grazzini 85'), Josip Mikulic (Jalil Anibaba 61'), Cory Gibbs, Gonzalo Segares; Marco Pappa, Logan Pause, Pavel Pardo, Daniel Paladini (Diego Chaves 80'), Patrick Nyarko; Dominic Oduro

Seattle Sounders FC - Kasey Keller; James Riley, Jeff Parke, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Leonardo Gonzalez; Alvaro Fernandez (Erik Friberg 46'), Osvaldo Alonso, Brad Evans, Lamar Neagle; Mike Fucito (Roger Levesque 91'+), Fredy Montero

Different lineup - Same result for the Seattle Sounders

By Money Mike

With the U.S. Open Cup final just three days away, Sigi Schmid made some changes in his lineup and rested a few of the key players leading up to Tuesday's Cup final match against the Chicago Fire. Despite a few shaky areas in the lineup, the Sounders still managed to come away with all three points, defeating the New England Revolution by a score of 2-1. The Sounders are now 6 points clear of Real Salt Lake for second place and are now just a point away from securing home field advantage in the MLS Cup Quarterfinal. The Sounders return home to Seattle tomorrow morning after a long traveling week to Vancouver, B.C., Guatemala City and Foxborough. My guess is they will have Sunday off and then get back to training on Monday for the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup final on Tuesday night at CenturyLink Field. Kickoff time for that match is 7pm on FOX Soccer and will also be aired on 97.3 KIRO FM. The Sounders will look to become the first team since the New York Greek-Americans to win their third consecutive U.S. Open Cup title.

New England thought they had a goal in the opening minutes of the game. Benny Feilhaber's free kick was headed out of the area by a Seattle defender. Ryan Guy headed it back into the danger area and it fell to Milton Caraglio who headed it into the far post, but the offside flag was up. The replay however showed that the assistant referee got that wrong and that should've been the opening goal for the New England Revolution. In the 20th minute, Ryan Guy's delivery found 16-year old Diego Fagundez from point blank range who just tucked his shot wide of Kasey Keller's left. Three minutes later, Fagundez spun away from Patrick Ianni and Seattle were caught on a 2 on 1 break. Fagundez fed it across to a wide open Ryan Guy who took one touch and was denied by the veteran Kasey Keller. That one touch may have eluded Ryan Guy. New England started the game brightly for the first 35 minutes of the game. The only Sounders player who looked lively in the early stages of the game was David Estrada.

In the 35th minute, the young lad who the Revs are very high on, opened up the scoring in this match. Benny Feilhaber sent in a brilliant cross off the corner kick to the middle of the danger area and the man getting on the end of it was Diego Fagundez, coming in unmarked to head home his second professional goal in his fourth professional appearance. New England is very very high on this young kid, only 16-years old. He scored on his MLS debut on August 6th against Chivas USA. He will become more of a threat in years to come. If he gets a lot of playing time next season, he could end up hitting the 10 goal mark, or close to it. I may be bluffing here, but as Arlo White said, this guy has a great future as a footballer.

The lead however lasted only a minute and a half. In the 36th minute, it's the red hot Fredy Montero once again. After an error on Ryan Cochrane's attempted clearance, Montero pounced on the ball and curled it into the far corner for his team leading 10th goal of the year.

In the 48th minute, it was Montero once again. David Estrada's effort was deflected by a Revolution defender. The ball fell to Nate Jaqua who chested it to Fredy Montero who toe poked it past Matt Reis and into the back of the goal for his third brace of the season and oh yes.... to give Seattle the lead. And that goal turned out to be the difference as Seattle sweeps New England in the season series winning 2-1 in both matches.

The Sounders return home for their final homestand of the season with four matches in all compititions and let me say it again. The first of the four will be on Tuesday against the Chicago Fire in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup final and I will be there to catch it. They get back to MLS action on Saturday October 8th against former Sounder Sebastien Le Toux and the Philadelphia Union.

Scoring summary:

New England Revolution - Diego Fagundez 2 (Benny Feilbaber 5) 35'

Seattle Sounders FC - Fredy Montero 10 (unassisted) 36'

Seattle Sounders FC - Fredy Montero 11 (Nate Jaqua 2) 48'

Misconduct summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Fredy Montero (caution; Reckless tackle) 28'

New England Revolution - Milton Caraglio (caution; Reckless tackle) 84'

Lineups:

Seattle Sounders FC - Kasey Keller; Roger Levesque, Zach Scott, Patrick Ianni, Tyson Wahl; David Estrada, Erik Friberg (Osvaldo Alonso 79'), Servando Carrasco, Alvaro Fernandez (Lamar Neagle 46'); Nate Jaqua, Fredy Montero (Mike Fucito 68')

New England Revolution - Matt Reis; Kevin Alston, Ryan Cochrane (Darius Barnes 68'), A.J. Soares, Chris Tierney; Ryan Guy, Shalrie Joseph, Benny Feilhaber, Monsef Zerka (Pat Phelan 69'); Milton Caraglio, Diego Fagundez

Seattle Sounders FC preview vs Real Salt Lake

By Money Mike



After a much needed break, the Seattle Sounders hit the pitch as they host Real Salt Lake. Kickoff time is at 1pm and will be televised on KING 5 and on Radio at 97.3 KIRO FM. The Sounders are coming off a weeks rest after playing 8 matches in all compititions in the month of August in which the Sounders finished 7-0-1. The last time these two clubs met was on May 25th at Rio Tinto Stadium aka The Fortress (at least until that match ended), where the Sounders ended RSL's 29 game unbeaten streak at home in MLS play by defeating them 2-1. Patrick Ianni and Lamar Neagle were the goalscorers in that one for the Sounders. Now with the Sounders attack stronger than ever, RSL's defense is going to be under so much pressure with the creativity coming from Mauro Rosales and Fredy Montero, the speed of Lamar Neagle and also pressure coming from the central midfield with Erik Friberg and Ozzie Alonso.


Injury report:

Real Salt Lake - God damn, look at this list. Chris Agorsor is out. Nelson Gonzalez, Javier Morales and Chris Wingert, also out. Kyle Reynish is doubtful. Robbie Russell is listed as questionable. Jean Alexandre, Kyle Beckerman, Fabien Espindola, Ned Grabavoy, Jamison Olave, Nick Rimando and Alvaro Saborio are all listed as probable.

Seattle Sounders FC - For the Men in Rave Green, one new player listed on here. Backup goalkeeper Terry Boss suffered a concussion last weekend on international duty with Puerto Rico and has been shut down for the rest of the season. Steve Zakuani still rehabing from that ugly injury. Just a question if he'll be back at all by the time the playoffs begin. Mike Seamon is also out. O'Brian White, also questions about him being back this season. I tell ya what, setbacks are never pretty.


Key matchups:

Lamar Neagle vs Tony Beltran - The Sounders should come right at the defense right away at the start of kickoff. Lamar Neagle coming off a hat-trick a couple weeks ago against Columbus, I don't think Tony Beltran will have a chance to get forward.

Mauro Rosales vs Chris Schuler - Just like Beltran at right back, Schuler is gonna have some nervous moments going up against Mauro Rosales who has 5 goals and 9 assists. It's gonna be a long day for Schuler and his teamates.

Sounders defeat San Francisco FC 2-0, advance to the group stage of the Champions League

By Money Mike

The Seattle Sounders, coming into the second leg down 1-0, needed to win by two, and the easiest way to do that was to avoid conceding an away goal. And that is exactly what they did. Alvaro Fernandez and Nate Jaqua came through for the Sounders as they defeated San Francisco FC in the 2nd leg 2-0 and they will proceed to the Group Stage of the CONCACAF Champions League after a 2-1 aggrigate series win. The winner of this matchup (which we know now is the Sounders) was drawn into Group D with Monterrey (Mexico), Comunicaciones (Guatemala), and C.S. Herediano (Costa Rica) who also advanced from the Preliminary round.

You won't believe this number here. The Sounders outshot San Francisco 34-5 from the first kick to the final whistle.

The First blood came in minute number 41. Leo Gonzalez made an overlaping run from the back and whipped in a very good cross to the middle of the area and found Alvaro Fernandez unmarked and Big Man Fernandez headed the ball off the far post and in the goal to give the Sounders a 1-0 lead in the 2nd leg and level the series up at 1-1.

The Sounders came close late in normal time to put this game and the series away. Fredy Montero, who has really stepped his game up this past month, just barely shot wide of the near post off a free kick. Not long after, goalkeeper Miguel Torres came up to stop Nate Jaqua of a breakaway chance.

In stoppage time, Mauro Rosales whipped in a cross, Torres looked like he got a punch on it. The ball came to Fredy Montero who had loads of time to settle and get a shot away but the ball just sailed high over the bar.

In the 8th minute of extra time, the Sounders broke the deadlock on aggrigate. Alvaro Fernandez rather than trying to put the ball away with his left, squared the ball across and the ball fell to Nate Jaqua who took one touch and then roofed it into the goal to give the Sounders the lead in the series and it turned out to be the winner after it was all said and done.

Scoring summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Alvaro Fernandez (Leonardo Gonzalez, Fredy Montero) 41'

Seattle Sounders FC - Nate Jaqua (Alvaro Fernandez, Mauro Rosales) 98'

Misconduct summary:

San Francisco FC - Roberto Brown (caution; Reckless foul) 46+'

Seattle Sounders FC - Osvaldo Alonso (caution; Reckless foul) 60'

Seattle Sounders FC - Mauro Rosales (caution; Handball) 61'

San Francisco FC - Johann de Avila (caution; Reckless tackle) 63'

Seattle Sounders FC - Erik Friberg (caution; Dissent) 110'

Seattle Sounders FC - Kasey Keller (caution; Dissent) 110'

Lineups:

San Francisco FC - Miguel Torres; Luis Olivardia, Roberto Cohen, Edgardo Panezo (Jefrey Diaz 102'), Martin Gomez, Rolando Algandona; Manuel Torres, Eybir Bonaga; Johann de Avila, Amir Waite (Freddy Arizala 85'), Roberto Brown

Seattle Sounders FC - Kasey Keller; James Riley, Jeff Parke, Zach Scott, Leonardo Gonzalez; Mauro Rosales, Osvaldo Alonso, Erik Friberg (Servando Carrasco 112'), Alvaro Fernandez (Lamar Neagle 111'); Pat Noonan (Nate Jaqua 68'), Fredy Montero

Manchester United just too much for the Sounders

By Money Mike

In front of a crowd of 67,052, Manchester United score 6 second half goals and spank the Seattle Sounders by a score of 7-0. This is the only friendly match the Sounders have this season. There was quite a bit of Red in support of Manchester United. There are still match day scarfs from last nights match available to purchase online at soundersfc.com. As a matter of fact, you can still purchase scarves from previous friendly matches against Chivas de Guadalajara, Boca Juniors and of course they're still selling the scarves from 09' against Chelsea and Barcelona. The only matchday scarf I have is from July 28th of last year when the Colorado Rapids came to town. That was the match I went to. I didn't get one from the April 9th game against Chicago which was the fifth game of the 2011 season. The only time you'll expect me to purchase another one is if I'm attending an international friendly match or maybe a Champions League match (if they sell them during that time).

As you can see on the picture, they brought the Premier League trophy out on to the field as both teams entered the XBOX Pitch at CenturyLink Field. Now this was weird. I know they're a big club and all, but I didn't see Barcelona do that in 09' following their La Liga title. But captain Nemanja Vidic carried the trophy out onto the pitch with his walking buddy.

United opened up the scoring in the 15th minute. Patrice Evra made a run from his left back spot and was found by Ashley Young. Evra sent in a drivin cross and somehow the ball fell to Michael Owen for the opening goal.

Now this is one thing you Sounder fans don't understand, and that is player development. Why the hell would Sigi Schmid leave his first team out there in the 2nd half of a friendly match just because they were down 1-0? Comeon that's just stupid. Of course he would put in Michael Tetteh, David Estrada, Mike Seamon, Miguel Montano, etc.

In the 49th minute, a beautiful ball by Nani found Mame Biram Diouf who made one touch to get around backup goalkeeper Terry Boss, then settled, then tapped the ball into an empty net to make it 2-0.

In the 51st, again it was Nani who was the provider. This time he set up Wayne Rooney who ripped the ball into the top corner. Rooney wasn't done there, he added another goal in the 69th minute, rolling the ball into the top corner. Rooney wasn't done there, he was found off a driven cross by Gabriel Oberton in the 72nd minute for his 3rd goal of the game, also known as a hat trick. Oberton would get on the scoresheet in the 88th minute and that's how the friendly would end.

The Sounders resume competitive play on July 26th when they head to Panama for the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions League preliminary round against San Francisco F.C.

Scoring summary:

Manchester United - Michael Owen (Patrice Evra, Ashley Young) 15'

Manchester United - Mame Biram Diouf (unassisted) 49'

Manchester United - Wayne Rooney (Nani) 51'

Manchester United - Wayne Rooney (unassisted) 69'

Manchester United - Park Ji-Sung (Wayne Rooney) 71'

Manchester United - Wayne Rooney (Gabriel Oberton) 72'

Manchester United - Gabriel Oberton (unassisted) 88'

Lineups:

Manchester United - Anders Lindegarrd (Ben Amos 46'); Rafael da Silva, Nemanja Vidic (Jonny Evans 56'), Rio Ferdinand, Patrice Evra (Fabio da Silva 56'); Nani (Gabriel Oberton 56'), Anderson, Ryan Giggs (Park Ji-Sung 46'), Ashley Young (Michael Carrick 66'); Michael Owen (Mame Biram Diouf 46'), Federico Mecheda (Wayne Rooney 46')

Seattle Sounders FC - Kasey Keller (Terry Boss 46'); James Riley (David Estrada 73'), Jeff Parke (Michael Tetteh 64'), Patrick Ianni (Taylor Graham 64'), Leonardo Gonzalez (Zach Scott 46'); Mauro Rosales (Servando Carrasco 46'), Osvaldo Alonso (Brad Evans 46') (Mike Seamon 64'), Erik Friberg (Pat Noonan 46') (Mrisho Ngassa 76'), Alvaro Fernandez (Lamar Neagle 46') (O'Brian White 76'); Roger Levesque (Nate Jaqua 46') (Miguel Montano 76'), Fredy Montero (Mike Fucito 46')

Sounders rally with three second half goals. Defeat Rapids 4-3.

By Money Mike

The Seattle Sounders are now 6-0-3 in their last 9 games and in that stretch have now won 5 of their last 6 matches. Taking a look at all the numbers, this is the highest scoring game for the Sounders in their history, defeating the Colorado Rapids by a final score of 4-3. This match was also being played on natural grass, which was put on over the turf for the Sounders friendly match against Manchester United on Wednesday. The Sounders are now 1 point back of the Los Angeles Galaxy for the top spot in the West. LA did have a game today, but it wasn't a league game, it was a friendly against Spanish club Real Madrid at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

The match didn't start out the way 36,424 fans would've hoped. A poor clearance by Jeff Parke was quickly pounced on by Wells Thompson who took one touch and drove a low 18-yard shot into the left corner to give the Rapids the lead only a minute into the match.

The Sounders however didn't lose their focus and in the 7th minute, Ozzie Alonso found Alvaro Fernandez streaking down Seattle's left hand side, and the DP from Uruguay held off Kosuke Kimura long enough to fire a shot in at the far post.

In the 21st minute, Pablo Mastroeni, who picked up a yellow card, should've been shown a second yellow card for his altercation with Erik Friberg. Mastroeni reacted to the foul on Friberg by throwing a forearm at him just as he was getting back up on his feet. These Rapids are just turning into a bunch of dirty pricks. Almost the entire team has played dirty all match. Conor Casey threw an elbow on one of the Seattle players, I don't know if it was James Riley or Mauro Rosales. Drew Moor threw a forearm at Rosales as he was on the ground. The referee should've sent Pablo off for the elbow on Friberg, but he just gives him a warning which is ridiculous. And also, Kyle Martino, who is the Color Commentator on Fox Soccer Channel, needs his ass whooped. I mean really, this guy is the worst Color Commentator ever. After Brian Mullan made that tackle on Steve Zakuani, Martino backed him and said, "Brian Mullan isn't a dirty player." That's bullshit. And now he's backing up the referee for no sending Pablo off, I mean he's pretty much a guy who thinks no fouls are worthy of bookings.

On the stroke of halftime the Rapids jumped back ahead. Wells Thompson collected a long ball from Omar Cummings, and laid it off at the top of the area for Jeff Larentowicz who fired a low drive off the far post and in.

The Sounders, much like they did in the early stages of the first half down a goal, respond quickly a minute into the second half. Roger Levesque flicked in a cross from Mauro Rosales to level the match up a 2-2.

With eight minutes to go, the Sounders fould the break trough. Brad Evans, who actually played today, tried his luck from a tight angle. Matt Pickens made the save, but Fredy Montero came crashing in and he put the rebound away with a diving header to give Seattle a 3-2 lead. The Sounders weren't done yet. Two minutes later, Fredy Montero's ball into the penalty area was not dealt with by Drew Moor and Mauro Rosales capitalized on the missed touch and slotted the ball past Matt Pickens.

Colorado cut the lead to one in the 89th minute when Caleb Folan slammed home a rebound off a corner kick. But it was not enough as the Sounders held on for a 4-3 win.

Scoring summary:

Colorado Rapids - Wells Thompson 1 (unassisted) 1'

Seattle Sounders FC - Alvaro Fernandez 5 (Osvaldo Alonso 1) 7'

Colorado Rapids - Jeff Larentowicz 4 (Wells Thompson 1, Omar Cummings 2) 42'

Seattle Sounders FC - Roger Levesque 3 (Mauro Rosales 6, Osvaldo Alonso 2) 47'

Seattle Sounders FC - Fredy Montero 6 (unassisted) 82'

Seattle Sounders FC - Mauro Rosales 2 (Fredy Montero 5) 84'

Colorado Rapids - Caleb Folan 3 (unassisted) 89'

Misconduct summary:

Colorado Rapids - Pablo Mastroeni (caution; Reckless tackle) 18'

Colorado Rapids - Conor Casey (caution; Dissent) 25'

Seattle Sounders FC - Fredy Montero (caution; Goalkeeper interference) 27'

Seattle Sounders FC - Roger Levesque (caution; Reckless tackle) 69'

Colorado Rapids - Wells Thompson (caution; Reckless tackle) 79'

Lineups:

Colorado Rapids - Matt Pickens; Kosuke Kimura, Marvell Wynne, Tyrone Marshall, Drew Moor; Sanna Nyassi (Ross LeBauex 80'), Pablo Mastroeni, Jeff Larentowicz, Wells Thompson; Omar Cummings (Andre Akpan 86'), Conor Casey (Caleb Folan 38')

Seattle Sounders FC - Kasey Keller; James Riley, Patrick Ianni, Jeff Parke, Tyson Wahl; Mauro Rosales, Osvaldo Alonso, Erik Friberg (Brad Evans 73'), Alvaro Fernandez (Lamar Neagle 71'); Fredy Montero (Nate Jaqua 91+'), Roger Levesque

Sounders rally to defeat the Timbers 3-2

By Money Mike

On the day the United States women's national team defeated Brazil on Penalties to move on the FIFA Women's World Cup, the Seattle Sounders come to Portland and strike 3 times against the Portland Timbers to win the match 3-2 and move into second place and are still 4 points back of the Los Angeles Galaxy who they will face in the Quarterfinal of the U.S. Open Cup on Tuesday at Starfire Sports Complex in Takwila. It was a great day for soccer not only for the Sounders, but for the entire nation as well with the U.S. Women moving onto the Semifinals against France on Wednesday at 8:30am.

In the 32nd minute, public enemy #1 Roger Levesque (Timber fans hate him) got open with a run of the left side but rather than using that space to try to slot one past the keeper Troy Perkins, he decides to cross it to the top of the box for Fredy Montero but the Portland backline had that covered.

Six minutes later, Alvaro Fernandez snuck behind Portland's defense to a clear look at goal but Troy Perkins came off his line to cut down the angle for the Uruguayan international.

Just seconds into the second half, the opening goal went to Rose City FC. Kalif Alhassan went wide of the Seattle's defense and slid a pass into the danger area for Jorge Perlaza who was jostling for possession with Jeff Parke and the ball deflected off Parke and in for an own goal and a 1-0 Portland lead.

In the 57th minute, Seattle answered with a free-kick goal by the Colombian, Fredy Montero. It was his 4th goal of the Season, all have come on the road in 2011.

In the 69th minute, Seattle found themselves on the bottom end again. Jorge Perlaza was freed by a brilliant entry pass from fellow countryman Diego Chara. Perlaza's shot glanced off Tyson Wahl and past the diving Kasey Keller for the goal.

Seattle responded five minutes later. Lamar Neagle put in a cross from the left hand side. Midfielder Mauro Rosales brought it down on the right side to set up an easy tap in from Fredy Montero of all people to tie the match up again at 2-2.

In the 81st minute the Timbers would end up losing a player. Midfielder Lamar Neagle was tackled from behind by Eric Brunner in the box, breaking up a breakaway chance for the Seattle Sounders and referee Jorge Gonzalez quickly reached into his back pocket and showed Brunner the red card. Ozzie Alonso stepped up to take the PK for the visiting team. Coming into this game he was 0 for 1 on PK's for the Sounders, missing one last year in a Champions League match at Saprissa, but Alonso went to the right side, just out of Perkins's reach to give the Sounders the lead for good. The Sounders unbeaten streak lives on, as well as Portland misery at home since they won their first 5 home matches.

Scoring summary:

Portland Timbers - Own goal (Jeff Parke) 46'

Seattle Sounders FC - Fredy Montero 4 (unassisted) 57'

Portland Timbers - Jorge Perlaza 4 (Diego Chara 1) 69'

Seattle Sounders FC - Fredy Montero 5 (Mauro Rosales 5, Lamar Neagle 1) 74'

Seattle Sounders FC - Osvaldo Alonso 3 (Penalty kick) 83'

Misconduct summary:

Portland Timbers - James Marcelin (caution; Reckless foul) 56'

Seattle Sounders FC - Fredy Montero (caution; Shirt Removal) 58'

Seattle Sounders FC - Osvaldo Alonso (caution; Reckless foul) 63'

Seattle Sounders FC - Mauro Rosales (caution; Unsporting behavior) 78'

Portland Timbers - Eric Brunner (ejection; Denied Scoring chance (foul)) 81'

Lineups:

Seattle Sounders FC - Kasey Keller; James Riley, Jeff Parke, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado (Patrick Ianni 56'), Tyson Wahl; Mauro Rosales, Osvaldo Alonso, Erik Friberg, Alvaro Fernandez (Lamar Neagle 66'); Roger Levesque, Fredy Montero

Portland Timbers - Troy Perkins; Steve Purdy, Eric Brunner, Mamadou Danso, Rodney Wallace; James Marcelin, Diego Chara, Jack Jewsbury, Darlington Nagbe (Sal Zizzo 64'), Kalif Alhassan; Jorge Perlaza (Kenny Cooper 75')

Sounders defeat Red Bulls 4-2 in front of a record crowd of 46,065

By Money Mike

In front of a record crowd for an MLS match in Seattle, the Seattle Sounders(7-4-7) did not disappoint as they defeated the New York Red Bulls(5-3-8) 4-2 as the fan favorite Roger Levesque found the back of the net twice for the Sounders. The win pushes Seattle into a tie for 2nd place with FC Dallas in the Western Conference and are 6 back of the Los Angeles Galaxy for 1st place. 3 of the Sounders 4 goals have come off set plays which Hans Backe's team has had issues defending. With Defenders Tim Ream and Rafa Marquez still on Gold Cup duty for their countries as well as 18-year old Forward Juan Agudelo, Backe went with Carlos Mendes and former USL Seattle Sounder Stephen Keel at Central Defense and with Theirry Henry suspended for this match and Luke Rodgers out injured, Backe partnered up Dwayne De Rosario with Dane Richards. But now the question for them is, should they take Goalkeeper Greg Sutton's starting job away for his error he made which lead to the forth goal? I mean really, for a guy who represented Senegal at the 2008 African Cup of Nations, I'm pretty sure Bouna Coundoul wouldn't have made that kind of mistake.

Despite a pretty shaky start, the Sounders got on the board first in the 11th minute. Mauro Rosales sent in a corner from the near hash mark to the middle of the penalty area which was headed away by Teemu Tainio but right to Erik Friberg who cut the ball to his right foot to get rid of Dane Richards who was defending and curled it into the far post. Friberg did very well to position himself for a shot on goal and all he had to do was try to curl it, which he did. And a minute later, another set play, and another goal for the Men in Rave Green...

Rosales took the corner again and again it was headed into a bad spot again and Osvaldo Alonso stepped up and volleyed a short clearance which appeared to deflect off a foot of Roy Miller and into the net for Alonso's second goal in 3 matches. Alonso has started to push forward on the attack more than what we've seen his first two season's here in Seattle.

In the 31st minute the Red Bulls pulled one back. Dane Richards had about 5 yards between him and Zach Scott. After receiving a pass from Joel Lindpere, Richards took about 2-3 touches to beat Scott and send a floater to the far post off the hand of Keller and into the goal to cut the Sounders lead down to 2-1. Zach Scott had a terrible game, giving the ball away in his own area too many times, poor defending, and also scoring an own-goal.

In the 58th minute, this was the own-goal. Right back Jan Gunnar Solli made an excellent run down the right hand side and was fed beautifully by Dwayne De Rosario. Solli sent in a low driven cross that deflected off Scott and into the net to tie the match at 2-2.

Both teams threatened with the score tied but in the 67th minute, it was Seattle scoring on a set play for the 3rd time in the match. Leonardo Gonzalez, who was playing with a heavy heart, took the corner this time, and I thought it was weak, but he found Roger Levesque lurking at the near post and Levesque knocked a glancing header over his shoulder and inside Sutton's far post. He would get another one 11 minutes later. In the 78th minute, Greg Sutton misplayed a simple back pass from Jan Gunnar Solli, allowing Levesque to pick-pocket him and tap the ball into an empty net to put the match beyond reach.

The Sounders will look to close out the month of June unbeaten as they host the New England Revolution on Sunday while the Red Bulls travel to Toyota Park in Bridgeview and take on Chicago Fire the same day.

Scoring summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Erik Friberg 1 (unassisted) 11'

Seattle Sounders FC - Osvaldo Alonso 2 (unassisted) 12'

New York Red Bulls - Dane Richards 3 (Joel Lindpere 3) 31'

New York Red Bulls - Own Goal (Zach Scott) 58'

Seattle Sounders FC - Roger Levesque 1 (Leonardo Gonzalez 1) 67'

Seattle Sounders FC - Roger Levesque 2 (unassisted) 78'

Misconduct summary:

New York Red Bulls - Teemu Tainio (caution; Reckless foul) 28'

New York Red Bulls - Austin da Luz (caution; Reckless tackle) 50'

Seattle Sounders FC - James Riley (caution; Reckless foul) 52'

Seattle Sounders FC - Osvaldo Alonso (caution; Reckless tackle) 60'

Seattle Sounders FC - Leonardo Gonzalez (caution; Delaying a Restart) 90'

New York Red Bulls - Dwayne De Rosario (caution; Reckless tackle) 93+'

Lineups:

New York Red Bulls - Greg Sutton; Jan Gunnar Solli, Carlos Mendes, Stephen Keel, Roy Miller; Mehdi Ballouchy, Teemu Tainio (Corey Hertzog 89'), Joel Lindpere, Austin da Luz (John Rooney 79'); Dane Richards, Dwayne De Rosario

Seattle Sounders FC - Kasey Keller; James Riley, Jeff Parke, Zach Scott, Leonardo Gonzalez; Mauro Rosales, Osvaldo Alonso, Erik Friberg, Alvaro Fernandez (Servando Carrasco 72'); Fredy Montero (Nate Jaqua 81'), Mike Fucito (Roger Levesque 58')

The Atmosphere at the Stadium:

I've been asking myself the exact same question over and over and over again. "When will they increase the capacity?" Now I don't know if it's gonna stay this way from now on. But 46,000+ in attendance for an MLS soccer match is pretty legit. Well have a bigger crowd like this when Manchester United come to town for a friendly match next month. Seeing a huge crowd like this for a league match itself? Man, 36,000 fans isn't enough anymore. Will they open up the entire stadium? Not at this point, unless we host the Conference final match in the MLS Cup playoffs or maybe even the CONCACAF Champions League, if we make it that far of course.

Sounders draw 1-1 at Columbus

By Money Mike


After watching their six game unbeaten streak slip away in D.C. on Wednesday, the Seattle Sounders had to make a lot of changes in their lineup on Saturday against Columbus and they leave Columbus Crew stadium with a point after finishing level with the Columbus Crew, 1-1.

Sigi Schmid said before the game that Fredy Montero really had to step his game up, and that's what he did in the seventh minute...........

In the seventh minute, Erik Friberg sent in a cross from 35-yards to the center of the box, and Fredy Montero slipped between Crew defenders Chad Marshall and Julius James and flicked the pass into the back of the goal as Will Hesmer was coming off his line to try to clear it. Not a smart move in Hesmer's part. It was Montero's 2nd goal of the season and his 24th of his Sounders career.

Columbus had a great chance to equalize in the 32nd minute. Dilly Duka's header sent Robbie Rodgers on the break, Kasey Keller came off his line and stopped Rodgers as he tried to slide it past the goalkeeper, but Keller used to right foot to deny him.

In the 67th minute, the Crew were awarded a penalty when Chad Marshall was pulled down by Patrick Ianni on a corner kick which was taken by Eddie Gaven. Emilio Renteria stepped up to the spot and placed the shot right down the middle as Keller dived to his left. It was Keller's 2nd penalty he's faced this season. The first PK he faced was in the 2nd match of the season against the Red Bulls when he denied Thierry Henry from the spot.

Columbus had some chances to pull off a victory. In the first minute of stoppage time, Kasey Keller came up with another huge stop, denying Andres Mendoza's free-kick from 23-yards out.

The Sounders (now 3-3-4) return home for a stretch of three straight home matches, starting next Saturday against the Portland Timbers, that match kicks off at 8pm.

Scoring summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Fredy Montero (Erik Friberg) 7'

Columbus Crew - Emilio Renteria (penalty kick) 67'

Misconduct summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Servando Carrasco (caution; Retaliation) 38'

Seattle Sounders FC - Fredy Montero (caution; Reckless tackle) 44'

Seattle Sounders FC - Leonardo Gonzalez (caution; Reckless tackle) 53'

Seattle Sounders FC - Alvaro Fernandez (caution; Reckless tackle) 64'

Columbus Crew - Sebastian Miranda (caution; Reckless foul) 75'

Seattle Sounders FC - Roger Levesque (caution; Reckless tackle) 90'

Lineups:

Seattle Sounders FC - Kasey Keller; James Riley, Jeff Parke, Patrick Ianni, Leonardo Gonzalez; Erik Friberg (Nate Jaqua 66'), Osvaldo Alonso, Servando Carrasco, Alvaro Fernandez (Lamar Neagle 89'); Roger Levesque, Fredy Montero (Michael Fucito 84')

Columbus Crew - William Hesmer; Sebastian Miranda, Chad Marshall, Julius James, Rich Balchan, Rich Balchan; Dilly Duka (Andres Mendoza 61'), Kevin Burns (Emmanuel Ekpo 73'), Dejan Rusmir, Robbie Rodgers, Eddie Gaven; Emilio Renteria

Sounders finally get their first win of the season, 2-1 over the Chicago Fire

By Money Mike

The Seattle Sounders, after a rough first 4 games with the season with 2 losses and 2 draws, find an answer to all critics and defeat the Chicago Fire 2-1 in front 36,233 at Qwest Field. With Fredy Montero missing the second straight match after having surgery on his right wrist, Sigi Schmid went with a 4-3-3 formation with O'Brian White partnering up with Steve Zakuani and Mauro Rosales.

In the 7th minute, the Sounders get on the board first. Mauro Rosales sends in a bender into the top of the area and O'Brian White's thumping header from 16-yard beats goalkeeper Sean Johnson who had a terrible jump on that play, thinking that it was gonna be an easy save. It was White's second goal in as many matches. Did I mention earlier this season he was gonna have a breakout year? He came from Toronto where he scored 2 goals in 9 appearances in 2009 and 2 goals in 24 appearances in 2010. He's played in all 5 matches so far and already has 2 goals.

A minute later, Chicago would pick one back. Leo Gonzalez got caught on a give-and-go between Patrick Nyarko and Gaston Puerari. After received the pass from Nyarko, Puerari sent Nyarko away down the right hand side, and the Ghanaian used his speed to get around Gonzalez and send a driven cross into the penalty area for Diego Chaves for an easy tap in to quickly tie the match up at a goal a piece. With that goal, Chaves also became the first Chicago Fire player to score in his first three games.

In the 23rd minute, Sounders had what I believe is their biggest opportunity by far this season. Leo Gonzalez sent in a chip into the penalty area aiming for Rosales, Sean Johnson came out to try to clear, but Rosales got a head on it and Johnson was dead meat but Erik Friberg failed to take advantage of the opportunity as his touch sailed over the bar. He couldn't get a better chance to score his first Sounders goal. But the Sounders would continue to dominate and this time they got a goal two minutes later.

In minute 25, Osvaldo Alonso started the attack by intercepting a pass and playing it out wide to Steve Zakuani who took on Jalil Anibaba. After a give-and-go with O'Brian White, Zakuani got around Anibaba and instead of squaring it to Erik Friberg, he went for goal alone and slotted it past Johnson for his second goal of the season.

Seattle had another opportunity to go up 3-1 from the corner when Mauro Rosales's out swinger found Jeff Parke at the near post, but his header fell straight to the hands of Sean Johnson.

In the Second half, Kasey Keller came up huge on a couple of Chicago Fire opportunities. In the 59th minute, Marco Pappa's free kick hit the wall, James Riley's attempted clearance failed and Diego Chaves had a golden opportunity to take advantage of it but Keller went down and denied a potential equalizing goal. Two minutes later, Chaves's through ball found Gaston Puarari who beat Jhon Kennedy Hurtado but couldn't beat Keller as he made a kick-save to stop Chicago yet again.

In the 75th minute the Chicago Fire got caught on a counter attack, Nate Jaqua's long ball sent Steve Zakuani off to the races, took on Logan Pause. He cut to his left foot and ripped a shot wide as he was aiming for the far corner. With about 5 minutes to go, Nate Jaqua found Servando Carrasco overlapping on the right. Carrasco had a chance to put the game out of reach, but again, no luck. That was just about the last opportunity of the game. With those opportunities the Fire had in the second half, the Sounders could've ended up with a draw or maybe even a loss if Kasey Keller hadn't made those saves, but good or bad, the only thing that counts is the Sounders winning their first match of the year 2-1.

It was really fun catching this match in person, I had pretty good seats, the atmosphere was fantastic, everyone standing for 90 minutes. I mean, ever since November 2007 when they announced that Seattle was going to join MLS, the fan base has just kept on rising. Before then, soccer wasn't really as big in Seattle as it is now, and I hope that doesn't change at all and that the fans continue to attend these matches and Give their full 90'. This is the 2nd match I've seen since they joined MLS. I didn't go to a game in 2009. I went to one last season when Colorado came to town, that one also resulted in a 2-1 win, but I think I enjoyed this match more than the Colorado one. This one was an early season game, the Colorado match was late in the season.

Scoring summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - O'Brian White (Mauro Rosales) 7'

Chicago Fire - Diego Chaves (Patrick Nyarko, Gaston Puarari) 8'

Seattle Sounders FC - Steve Zakuani (O'Brian White) 25'

Misconduct summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - James Riley (caution; Reckless tackle) 32'

Seattle Sounders FC - Jhon Kennedy Hurtado (caution; Reckless tackle) 47+'

Chicago Fire - Dasan Robinson (caution; Reckless foul) 71'

Starting lineups:

Chicago Fire - Sean Johnson; Jalil Anibaba, Dasan Robinson, Cory Gibbs, Gonzalo Segares (Dominic Oduro 83'); Logan Pause, Marco Pappa, Michael Videira, Patrick Nyarko (Orr Barouch 90'); Gaston Puarari, Diego Chaves

Seattle Sounders FC - Kasey Keller; James Riley, Jeff Parke, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Leonardo Gonzalez; Brad Evans, Osvaldo Alonso, Mauro Rosales (Nate Jaqua 64'); Erik Friberg, O'Brian White (Servando Carrasco 81'), Steve Zakuani

Sounders strike twice in a 2-2 draw at San Jose

The Sounders are still due for a win after finishing level at San Jose. Brad Evans and O'Brian White were the goal scorers for the Seattle Sounders in a 2-2 draw with the San Jose Earthquakes. Nothing changed in the standings with all the draws we had this week. Only the LA Galaxy and the Columbus Crew won their matches. The Sounders were without their designated player Fredy Montero, who didn't travel with the team after having a minor wrist surgery.

Seattle nearly broke through in the 3rd minute when Osvaldo Alonso found Steve Zakuani but goalkeeper Jon Busch came out to deflect his attempt wide of the goal.

The Sounders continued to dominate in the early stages and they got on the board first in the 17th minute. Mauro Rosales, who took Montero's place, shook free of Sam Cronin and delivered a good ball at the near post to Brad Evans who beat Chris Leitch to the ball and smashed it home from point-blank range and the Sounders took their first lead of the 2011 season, leading 1-0. San Jose had a great early chance to take the lead earlier in the match when Ramiro Corrales's lead pass found last seasons Golden Boot winner Chris Wondolowski who redirected the ball and broke free for a shot from 16-yards out, dead center, but Kasey Keller made a huge reaction stop with his left hand to deflect it wide. However, Keller had nothing to do in the 32nd minute.

Former Reading F.C. midfielder Bobby Convey threaded a great pass through three defenders and found Simon Dawkins, and the man on loan from Tottenham Hotspur won the race to the ball and placed it neatly past Kasey Keller inside the far post to tie the match up at 1. It was also San Jose's first non-Wondolowski goal in regular season play since September 5.

The Sounders came right back to re-take the lead. Steve Zakuani sent in a high lofted ball into the six-yeard box for O'Brian White, and the third year man out of the University of Connecticut fended off Jason Hernandez for a diving header that left Jon Busch helpless. It was O'Brian White's first goal with the Rave Green. He previously made 33 appearances and scored only 4 goals during his time with Toronto FC.

Keller came up huge again on the stroke of halftime when Tacoma native Joey Gjertsen who sent free from Chris Leitch and his effort was stoned by the veteran goalkeeper.

In the 52th minute, San Jose would level it up again. Khari Stephenson intercepted a pass from Alonso and ripped a shot from 35-yards out that beat Kasey Keller, into the upper 90. And that was how it ended, Sounders-2 San Jose Earthquakes-2.


Scoring summary:
Seattle Sounders FC - Brad Evans (Mauro Rosales, Erik Friberg) 17'

San Jose Earthquakes - Simon Dawkins (Ryan Johnson, Bobby Convey) 32'

Seattle Sounders FC - O'Brian White (Steve Zakuani, Osvaldo Alonso) 42'

San Jose Earthquakes - Khari Stephenson (unassisted) 52'

Misconduct summary:

San Jose Earthquakes - Chris Leitch (caution; Reckless Takle) 6'

Seattle Sounders FC - Nate Jaqua (caution; Unsporting Behavior) 71'

Seattle Sounders FC - Leonardo Gonzalez (caution; Delaying a Restart) 80'

Lineups:

Seattle Sounders FC - Kasey Keller; James Riley, Jeff Parke, Patrick Ianni, Leonardo Gonzalez; Erik Friberg (Alvaro Fernandez 46'), Osvaldo Alonso, Brad Evans, Mauro Rosales (David Estrada 83'), Steve Zakuani; O'Brian White (Nate Jaqua 66')

San Jose Earthquakes - Jon Busch; Chris Leitch (Ike Opara 70'), Jason Hernandez, Brandon McDonald, Ramiro Corrales; Sam Cronin, Simon Dawkins (Scott Sealy 85'), Joey Gjertsen (Khari Stephenson 46'), Bobby Convey; Ryan Johnson, Chris Wondolowski

Zakuani's 80th minute goal ends the Sounders scoring drought in a 1-1 draw with Houston

By Money Mike

After a tough first two games of the season, the Sounders get their first goal and first point of 2011 in a 1-1 draw last night against the Houston Dynamo after an 80th minute goal by Steve Zakuani. It wasn't the result they were looking for, but it's a result they'll take.

Houston could've and should've been reduced to 10 men early in the game when defender Hunter Freeman gave the ball away to Erik Friberg and then pulled him down just outside the penalty area. Freeman was the last man on that play, but rather than sending him off, the referee only showed him a yellow card.

The Sounders continued to pressure the Houston Dynamo backline early in the game. In the 27th minute Erik Friberg's cross found O'Brian White for a header from point-blank range and goalkeeper Tally Hall came up huge for the Dynamo, making an excellent reaction save to stop what would've been the opening goal. Hall came up big again after Kofi Sarkodie's failed clearance sent Steve Zakuani away, but his left foot shot was again denied by the Houston goalkeeper.

Despite being the better side in the first half, the Sounders found themselves down a goal. In the 42nd minute, Lovel Palmer cracked one from 30-yards out which hit the crossbar. The ball fell to Andre Hainalt, who was unable to put a shot on frame, the Sounders failed the clear and the ball fell to Geoff Cameron who unleashed a low drive, which deflected off the foot of Jeff Parke and in the back of the net and Houston headed to their locker room at the break with 1-0 lead.

In the second half, the Sounders continued to throw everybody forward. In the 65th minute, Fredy Montero gave it a go from 36-yards out, but it was easily trapped by Tally Hall. About 8 minutes later, Montero was denied again from 11-yards out. In the 79th minute, Zakuani had another golden opportunity to equalize, but he was dispossesed by his former Akron teammate Kofi Sarkodie. Will that goal ever come for the Sounders? In the 80th minute, it came.

A corner kick from Erik Friberg deflected off the knee of Bobby Boswell to the back post and Steve Zakuani tapped it in to the back of the net to break Seattle's goal-scoring drought. Two minutes later, Seattle had a chance to take the lead but Fredy Montero's shot was again saved by Tally Hall. That was just about the last big chance of the game.

Leo Gonzalez booked for diving in the penalty area, did the referee get that right?:

NOT EVEN CLOSE!! Gonzalez and Zakuani combined very well on this play, it was Andre Hainalt with the challenge. The replay shows that Hainalt clipped Gonzalez and braught him down, that should've been a penalty. That was a horrible decision by the referee.

Scoring Summary:

Houston Dynamo - Geoff Cameron (unassisted) 42'

Seattle Sounders FC - Steve Zakuani (unassisted) 80'

Misconduct Summary:

Houston Dynamo - Hunter Freeman (caution; Tactical foul) 2'

Houston Dynamo - Lovel Palmer (caution; Reckless foul) 30'

Seattle Sounders FC - Patrick Ianni (caution; Reckless foul) 43'

Houston Dynamo - Geoff Cameron (caution; Reckless tackle) 46'

Seattle Sounders FC - Leonardo Gonzalez (caution; Simulation) 73'

Lineups:

Houston Dynamo - Tally Hall; Kofi Sarkodie, Bobby Boswell, Andre Hainalt, Hunter Freeman; Corey Ashe (Danny Cruz 85'), Lovel Palmer, Geoff Cameron, Brad Davis; Will Bruin (Brian Ching 75'), Jason Garey (Cam Weaver 45')

Seattle Sounders FC - Kasey Keller; Zach Scott, Patrick Ianni, Jeff Parke, Leonardo Gonzalez; Erik Friberg, Osvaldo Alonso, Brad Evans (Mauro Rosales 71'), Steve Zakuani; O'Brian White (Nate Jaqua 61'), Fredy Montero

Saunders too much for Sounders! Sounders drop opener to Galaxy 1-0

By Kshell

Well the MLS season has begun! In front of a record setting MLS crowd of 36,433 fans the L.A. Galaxy(1-0-0) led by goalie Josh Saunders defeated the Seattle Sounders(0-1-0) 1-0 to earn three points on the road. The game opened up the MLS season on national t.v. on ESPN. The Sounders for the third straight year mostly because of the great turnout by the fans were featured in the opening game. Unfortunetly for the Sounders they couldn't capitalize on few scoring opportunities on tough goaltender Josh Saunders. Saunders entering this game hadn't allowed a goal in his last 342 regular season minutes in MLS play. The Sounders last year were swept by the Galaxy 4-0 and were outscored 10-2 in those four games. The Sounders have a long season left but they must figure out how to defeat the mighty Galaxy which features players like Landon Donovan and David Beckham.

The atmosphere was quite electric at Qwest Field. You would have thought this was a World Cup game not the first game of a seven month grind. The Sounders average attendance is over 36,000 while the second place MLS team is the Los Angeles Galaxy who averages 21,000. The Sounders have created a nice buzz in Seattle. With the Portland Timbers coming into the league look for the Sounders-Timbers rivaly to carry the MLS. This game had a buzz to it like no other MLS game. Despite the terrible weather conditions the Sounders set an MLS record for attendance in a game(Note only MLS games count, Sounders have had larger crowds before). The game had quite the opening atmosphere that even the biggest soccer naysayers must admit was well done. After the opening night ceremony had finished the match had begun.

In the first half the Sounders had controlled the tempo of the game but had nothing to show for it. Early on the Galaxy were having more shots but thanks to Kasey Keller the Galaxy were denied. Early on Keller went up for a save and collided with team USA star Donovan knocking Donovan down for a while. Then the Sounders started to attack the Galaxy trying to end Saunders goal less streak. The Sounders despite seven shots and five shots on goal were held scoreless. The Galaxy didn't even have a single shot on goal and had just four shots total. The Sounders had dominated that first half in front of an electric crowd. Keller who is a northwest legend has stated this will be his last season. While the Galaxy Beckham had also announced this was his last year as well. Beckham was loudly booed throughout the contest. The Sounders were shocked to start the game as they had cut designated player Blaise Nkufo who played in last year's world cup for Switzerland. He was believed to carry the load on offense for the Sounders.

In the second half the Sounders wasted more opportunities to finally score. Unlike the first half it finally caught up to the Sounders. After dominating the first 45 minutes the Sounders finally let the Galaxy have life. A costly turnover by Sounders midfielder Erik Friberg was intercepted by the Galaxy Todd Durnivant. That set up in the 58th minute a 25 foot goal by Juninho to give the Galaxy a 1-0 lead. The goal had just got by stellar goal keeper Keller. The Sounders weren't dead quite yet as they kept attacking Saunders. Each time Saunders kept making one save after another. When Saunders wasn't making saves the Sounders were wasting their chances. Like when O'Brian White had a shot that bounced wide off the far post in the 72nd minute. Friberg missed an open net as well and fan favorite Freddy Montero also missed a short short. Saunders when all was said and done had six saves. The Galaxy had survived to win the game 1-0 to extend their streak to five games in a row over the Sounders.

Overall the biggest winner in this game was Major League Soccer. This game showed that people in America do care about soccer. The crowd was intense and it was a well played game. The game could have featured more scoring but it was well played. There was plenty of shots on goal and this game featured some players that the average fan has heard of. The Galaxy earned a very important three points in a tough road game. Prior to this game the Sounders had never lost an opener before. For the Sounders the season is still young and anyone giving up on them after this loss is crazy. The Sounders do need to figure out a way to beat the Galaxy or at least earn points. The Sounders will have better days and this was a good showcase for soccer. Just remember when the NCAA tournament was going on the city of Seattle had over 36,000 fans in attendance. Soccer is slowly growing in America which can only be a good thing. The Galaxy earned the victory but the game of soccer was the big winner.

Observations:

- This game featured probably the most popular and well known American player in Landon Donovan. As we all remember in World Cup 2010 Donovan was the one who scored the winning goal in stoppage time to advance USA out of pool play. Donovan for a short time in July was the most popular person in the country. He was just one of many stars in this game and shares the star treatment on his own team.

Donovan early on hurt his ribs on a collision with goal keeper Kasey Keller. Donovan didn't flop as he got up and remained playing. The Sounders did a good job on Donovan as he didn't have any shots on goal. Donovan as we all saw in the World Cup can be an explosive scorer but the Sounders did a good job defending Donovan.

- The biggest star in this game was David Beckham. Beckham at this point in his career is more of a celebrity than a good soccer player. Beckham announced this will be his last year in the MLS. Showing how serious the Seattle fans were in this rivalry everytime he had the ball he was booed loudly. Beckham also received a yellow crowd which the crowd reacted pretty emphatically to the call.

I felt Beckham at least this game showed he still has game. He was quite active and had a few shots. He obviously isn't the Beckham of the 1990's who was making movies but he showed he still has game. Beckham if this is truly his last year is at least showing he won't go out like many stars have had in the past. Most importantly for Beckham he is still on one of the best teams in MLS. The Galaxy won the regular season title last year and are on the short list of favorites to win it this year.

- Tough loss for the all-time MLS wins leader Sigi Schmid. Schmid is in his third year with the Sounders. The Sounders in his first season made the playoffs before losing to Houston Dynamo. Then last year the Sounders won the U.S. Open Cup. Schmid has this team going in the right direction. Fans in Seattle better start paying attention to the Sounders as they are closest mens professional team to winning a championship.

For all Schmid has done well for the Sounders beating the Galaxy seems to be a problem. This is the fifth consecutive loss to the Galaxy in MLS play. The season is young and a veteran coach like Schmid I'm sure isn't too worried. The Sounders will fix their scoring problems and should be one of the top tier teams of the MLS season. The Sounders feature one of the better goal keepers in Kasey Keller which should always keep them in games.

All in all, tough loss for the Sounders as they were hoping to make a statement to the rest of MLS. The city of Seattle made a statement to the rest of the nation that they are still the #1 soccer city in America. The 1-5 rivalry with Portland should be quite fun. I was never a soccer fan but the 2010 world cup sucked me in. I also kept hearing how the Sounders games were a fun atmosphere and even though they lost 1-0 I can see myself enjoying a game at Qwest. When the summer rolls around and most likely the Seattle Mariners are 20 games out of first place don't forget about the Sounders. The Sounders will be playing games from now until November and should feature a pretty good squad. The Sounders may have lost this game but you don't see NBA fans freaking out after losing the first of 82 games. Well fans don't give up on the Sounders after one loss. The Sounders will eventually figure out how to defeat the Galaxy. For now the Galaxy proved once again why they are one of the best teams in MLS.