Sounders make a suprise move: Acquire Eddie Johnson from Montreal for Mike Fucito and Lamar Neagle

By Money Mike

Well I don't think this was in anybodys mind. We already knew this guy signed with MLS, but none of us tought that he would end up here in Seattle, but it turns out to be the case. Earlier this afternoon, the Seattle Sounders have acquired U.S. veteran Eddie Johnson from the Montreal Impact. In exchange, the Sounders have traded Mike Fucito and Lamar Neagle to the Expansion Side. This move was made about an hour after Johnson was acquired by the Montreal Impact through the Allocation process. Johnson joins the Rave Green shortly after his contract with Mexican club Puebla was cancelled due to his low fitness levels.

Johnson began his professional career with the Dallas Burn (now FC Dallas) in 2001 and he was inconsistant at the start of his career, scoring only seven goals in 43 matches. In 2004, he had a breakout year making 26 appearances for Dallas, scoring 12 goals and setting up three others. In 2005 however, Eddie Johnson suffered a foot injury and he didn't make much of an impact with Dallas since then. In 2006, Johnson was traded to the Kansas City Wizards and it didn't start out the way he would've wanted to, scoring only twice in 19 appearances. In 2007, Johnson returned to form and had a career year, scoring 15 goals in 24 appearances with the Wizards. In 2008, Johnson left Kansas City to join Premier League club Fulham and since then, this guy has basically disappeared. His time with Fulham has been unsuccessful, he was loaned out to three clubs and had unsuccessful stints with them. In order, 18 appearances and no goals with Fulham, 30 appearances and two goals with Cardiff City, 16 appearances and five goals with Aris Thessaloniki and 16 appearances and no goals for Preston North End. On December 22, 2011, Johnson agreed to join fellow American teammate DaMarcus Beasley at Puebla F.C. However, Johnson was released just days after signing with the club.

Going into the 2011 season, Fucito was recovering from a foot injury and Neagle, who didn't make a single appearances during his first stint with the Sounders in 2009, re-joined the club on trial after spending 2010 with USL club Charleston Battery and IFK Mariehamm in Finland. These two weren't expected to do much during the 2011 season, but after Steve Zakuani and O'Brian White suffered injuries that kept them out for the rest of the season, both Neagle and Fucito stepped up and made a huge impact. Fucito made 19 appearances and scored two goals and Lamar Neagle finished with 23 appearances and five goals including a hat-trick in a 6-2 beatdown of the Columbus Crew.

Thoughts on this move:

I'm really shocked about this move. I'm not going to tell you guys whether or not I think this is a good trade. Eddie Johnson's had his ups and downs during his career. Lately his fitness levels have been down. Adrian Hanauer and Chris Henderson must have a reason that we don't know about for acquiring Eddie Johnson. If Johnson stays healthy, I think he'll have a pretty good season. Right now, I'm just going to keep my opinion to myself and wait and see what happens.

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 put on a late show in front of a record crowd. Defeat Earthquakes 2-1.

By Money Mike

Last night, a record crowd of 64,140 fans came to CenturyLink Field to pay tribute to one of the greatest goalkeepers in the game, Kasey Keller. The Sounders played their final regular season home match of the 2011 season, taking on the San Jose Earthquakes who were playing for pride after already being eliminated from the playoffs. The fans were treated with yet another come-from-behind win for the Men in Rave Green as they scored two goals in the last eight minutes of the game to defeat the Quakes by a score of 2-1. The Sounders still have another home match on Tuesday as Mexican side Monterrey in the final CONCACAF Champions League group stage match for 2011-2012. Following that match the Sounders will head to the Home Depot Center in Carson, California to close out the regular season against Chivas USA.

10 minutes into the game, the Quakes nearly caught the Sounders ball watching. Simon Dawkins took the corner kick from the far hash mark and the initial cross looked like it was for Chris Wondolowski at the near post, but he mistimed his jump. Khari Stephenson's follow up was blocked by Jhon Kennedy Hurtado and the ball rolled past Ozzie Alonso who just stood there instead of trying to clear it away and Wondolowski ended up shooting it just wide.

In the 13th minute, Ozzie Alonso may have scuffed what looked like a volley towards goal. The ball fell in the box to Fredy Montero who made a nice cut inside on Jason Hernandez before being clipped near the thighs by Hernandez, but referee Michael Kennedy decided not to point to the penalty spot. I've looked at the replay a few times and seriously, this is why FOX Soccer will give up their rights to NBC following the end of the 2011 season. They said Kennedy got the decision right. Give me a break. I looked at the replay over and over again and Hernandez definitely caught Montero, so unless he got the ball first, that should've been a foul and that should've been a penalty.

In the 19th, Khari Stephenson, who scored a wonder goal against the Sounders in the first meeting back on April 2nd, decided to test Keller from about 29-yards out (Once again, it's from my point of view, in which case I may be wrong). Kasey Keller dived to his right to parry it away. Stephenson this year has put together the best season of his MLS career, making 30 appearances, scoring 5 goals and assisting in 3 other goals. The Earthquakes have been switching things around in the second half of the season because of key players being injured and making trades and stuff. They traded Brandon McDonald to D.C. United in late June. Ryan Johnson was traded to Toronto FC for Nana Attakora, Alan Gordon and Jacob Peterson. Edmundo Zura was acquired on loan from El Nacional, but his loan deal was terminated after one match because of his lack of fitness. Alan Gordon only made two appearances since his move from Toronto before undergoing season ending surgery. Scott Sealy has been missing. Steven Lenhart took a family leave of absence, which was a huge blow for their attacking game. Everything just backfired for this team. I think the San Jose Earthquakes are a better team than this and despite being a Sounders fan and all, I think it's a little disappointing to see them miss out on the playoffs because there's a lot of talent on that team.

In the 24th minute, San Jose capitalises on a costly mistake by defender Jhon Kennedy Hurtado. Brad Ring tried to flick the ball on for Chris Wondolowski, but Jhon Kennedy Hurtado gives it right back and Rafael Baca sent Wondolowski away. Wondolowski takes two big touches, slows down a bit in the process, and calmly slides the ball into the corner past Keller for his 15th goal of the season. The Sounders, pretty much the entire first half, made a bunch of sloppy and unnecessary passes like last week in their 2-0 loss to the Philadelphia Union.

In the 65th minute, a horrible pass by Patrick Ianni nearly resulted in a second goal for the Earthquakes. Ianni tried to pass the ball back to Kasey Keller with Khari Stephenson in his face he completely made a mess of it. Keller came off his line to deny Stephenson. The ball then fell to Chris Wondolowski who made a move, then had a go on his left foot and Keller made another save. Simon Dawkins then had a try and was also denied before the Sounders could finally clear the ball away. Both the center backs for Seattle had a terrible game, mainly because of the crappy passing. Hurtado's giveaway leading to the opening goal by Wondolowski and a giveaway by Ianni which nearly resulted in a second goal.

The Sounders made two big substitutions in the 64th minute, bringing on Mauro Rosales, who made his return after suffering an MCL sprain a few weeks ago, and four minutes later, they brought in Sammy Ochoa and both of them nearly combined for an equalizer in the 75th minute....

With 15 minutes to go, Rosales whipped in a very good cross to the top of the area for Sammy Ochoa whose header sailed well over the bar. Three minutes later, Rosales found Fredy Montero who was able to head the ball down, but wide of Jon Busch's right hand side.

In the 82nd minute, Mauro Rosales and Sammy Ochoa hooked up again. This time, a long through ball did the trick. Rosales sent Ochoa behind the San Jose defense with a good long ball. Ochoa waited for the ball to bounce in front of him before slotting the ball past Jon Busch and in off the left post for his first Sounders goal. Remember, Ochoa spent 5 years at Esdudiantes Tecos and scored only two goals in 27 appearances for them. I think the more playing time he gets, the more goals he'll score for this club. This guy has the potential. He is still working to get to the level where he can start a game and go a full 90 minutes because of the fact he didn't get much playing time with Tecos and hopefully by the final game of the regular season, if not the playoffs, he could make his way into the starting 11, but at the same time, he may continue to come off the bench and continue to improve on his form during the offseason.

Five minutes later, in the 87th minute, the Sounders capped off another dramatic comeback. Sammy Ochoa knocked Bobby Burling off the ball before he could clear. Brad Evans found Lamar Neagle, who quickly slotted the ball in the penalty area to Fredy Montero. Montero did very well to turn and quickly fire the ball off the outside of his right foot into the far corner of the net for his 12th goal in MLS and his 17th goal in all competitions this season. That goal also turned out to be the match winner as Kasey Keller's home finale ends in another Sounders come-from-behind win.

OK, so looking at this photo, you would think I was there, just like April 9th when the Sounders got their first win of the season and October 4 when the Sounders won the U.S. Open Cup. But no, I wasn't at this game. I had no luck on the tickets so I ended up watching this game on TV. But looking at the entire stadium full of fans to watch an American soccer game is always huge, and of course I'm talking about non-soccer specific stadiums like CenturyLink Field. And by the way, not only was the stadium built for the Seattle Seahawks, it was built with a hope of bringing an MLS team to Seattle, and all the talks about that started somewhere around the year of 2006. And I remember very well, comissioner Don Garber was interviewed on ESPN when one of the midseason matches in 07', and he talked about possibly the league expanding somewhere in the Northwest. And the fact that the Sounders when they were in the USL First Division, won the Championship that year which I believe was the reason they were awarded an MLS team. We've had a crowd like this for friendly's and international matches (with the Hawks Nest opened as well), but for an MLS game, not until last night. It's something you always want to see.

Scoring summary:

San Jose Earthquakes - Chris Wondolowski 15 (Rafael Baca 3) 24'

Seattle Sounders FC - Sammy Ochoa 1 (Mauro Rosales 13) 82'

Seattle Sounders FC - Fredy Montero 12 (Lamar Neagle 2, Brad Evans 4) 87'

Misconduct summary:

San Jose Earthquakes - Justin Morrow (caution; Reckless tackle) 6'

San Jose Earthquakes - Brad Ring (caution; Reckless foul) 40'

Seattle Sounders FC - Patrick Ianni (caution; Unsporting behavior) 48'

San Jose Earthquakes - Jason Hernandez (caution; Unsporting behavior) 57'

Lineups:

San Jose Earthquakes - Jon Busch; Steven Beitashour, Jason Hernandez, Bobby Burling, Justin Morrow; Rafael Baca, Brad Ring, Sam Cronin, Simon Dawkins; Chris Wondolowski, Khari Stephenson

Seattle Sounders FC - Kasey Keller; James Riley, Patrick Ianni, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Tyson Wahl; Alvaro Fernandez (Sammy Ochoa 68'), Osvaldo Alonso, Brad Evans, Lamar Neagle (Zach Scott 90'); Mike Fucito (Mauro Rosales 64'), Fredy Montero

Sounders fall 2-0 to Philadelphia

By Money Mike



The Seattle Sounders needed a win last night to keep any hope of winning the Supporters Shield alive, or at least a point to officially secure 2nd place in the West. Neither of that happened. The Philadelphia Union who were unbeaten in their last 6 matches have come to Seattle and shut out the Sounders 2-0 at CenturyLink Field. With the Win, the Union have taken over the top spot in a very tight Eastern Conference. For Seattle, the loss means that they'll have no chance of taking over first place in the West and that LA has clinched their second straight Supporters Shield. But here's the problem though, in 14 MLS seasons, only four teams that have won the Supporters Shield have gone on and won the MLS Cup. Only four teams. Seattle still looks like the stronger side heading into the playoffs despite the loss last night.

The game started off slow, with sloppy passing from both sides of the midfield. The best chance in the first half from either side came in the 35th minute from Brad Evans when he latched onto a pull-back from Lamar Neagle, but he got under the ball and skied it over the top of the goal. The Sounders were without their leading goalscorer Fredy Montero who was serving a one game suspension after Yellow Card accumulations. Mauro Rosales was also out with a Sprained MCL that he suffered about three weeks ago in a 3-0 win over D.C. United, there's a chance however the Sounders will get him back next Saturday when the San Jose Earthquakes come to town. Alvaro Fernandez was on the bench after passing a late fitness test after suffering a concussion Tuesday night in the U.S. Open Cup final, but he didn't see any action at all in this one. Pat Noonan and Nate Jaqua both played like crap yet again. Sammy Ochoa barely even had possession of the ball since coming in as a sub in the

The Sounders were forced to make a change defensively. Jeff Parke was taken out at halftime after picking up a head injury and was replaced by Patrick Ianni.

In the 60th minute, the Union broke the deadlock. Gabriel Farfan somehow beat James Riley to the ball before it even crossed the endline. Farfan pulled it back to Freddy Adu who buried it into the top corner.

The Union doubled their lead in the 72nd minute. After the Sounders started to put pressure on the Union back line, they end up getting caught on a counter attack. Brian Carroll sent former Sounder Sebastien Le Toux loose and off to the races. Carroll got the return pass from Le Toux off the outside of his boot, through the retreating Seattle defense. Carroll made a good run toward the endline and tucked the ball away beautifully into the far corner. And that was just about the last highlight of this one.

Next Saturday, the Sounders will host the San Jose Earthquakes at 7:30pm. This will also be Kasey Keller's final regular season home match of his career. Over 55,000 tickets have been sold for the home finale in the 2011 regular season and there are still more available. So if you want to catch him in person at least one last time, I would suggest you get your tickets.

Following this match, the Sounders will close out Champions League group play at home on October 18 against Monterrey as they look to clinch the top spot in the Group which would assure them home field advantage in the second leg of the Champions League Quarterfinal.


Scoring summary:

Philadelphia Union - Freddy Adu 2 (Gabriel Farfan 2) 60'

Philadelphia Union - Brian Carroll 1 (Sebastien Le Toux 9) 72'


Misconduct summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Lamar Neagle (caution; Reckless foul) 63'


Lineups:

Philadelphia Union - Zac MacMath; Sheanon Williams, Carlos Valdes, Danny Califf, Gabriel Farfan; Michael Farfan, Brian Carroll, Justin Mapp (Jack McInerney 86'); Freddy Adu (Amobi Okugo 75'), Sebastien Le Toux, Veljko Paunovic (Stefani Miglioranzi 89')

Seattle Sounders FC - Kasey Keller; James Riley, Jeff Parke (Patrick Ianni 46'), Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Tyson Wahl; Brad Evans, Osvaldo Alonso, Erik Friberg, Lamar Neagle; Mike Fucito (Nate Jaqua 68'), Pat Noonan (Sammy Ochoa 62')

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

Fredy Montero weaves his magic with two second half goals. Sounders win 3-1.

By Money Mike

The Seattle Sounders sent their 1,500 traveling fans home happy after deafeating the Vancouver Whitecaps 3-1 in the final game at Empire Field. The final game drew 21,000 people total for the game, and if my memory isn't screwed up with this one, the first goal at Empire Field was scored by Eric Hassli and the last goal was scored by one of our own, Fredy Montero who came away with his second brace of the season and is now sitting at 9 goals to go with his 8 assists. With the win, Seattle re-takes second place in the Western Conference over Real Salt Lake who still have another game in hand between them and the Sounders.

Vancouver got off to a good start in the first half. In the 12th minute, Camilo sent in a low left foot ball into the middle of the area and found Mustapha Jarju making a run into the area. Jarju got a touch on it with the outside of his right boot, but just wide of Kasey Kellers goal. Jarju was signed during the midseason point as Vancouver's second Designated Player. He has still yet to score his first goal for the club, and he came close about 3 or 4 times on my count, but he's looked dangerous all game.

In the 18th minute, Kasey Keller came off his line and punched the ball out of the penalty area off a corner kick and collided with Michael Boxall in the process. The attack wasn't over though, Davide Chiumiento got the ball back into the box and ball somehow fell to Boxall, but he was denied on a one on one opportunity as Keller got down very well and made a huge stop on what was a sure goal.

Four minutes later, the home side broke through. Eric Hassli's no look ball found Davide Chiumiento, who just dodged the offside trap by about an inch before cutting the ball back for Camilo to tap the ball past Keller for the opening goal. There were a couple appeals for offside when the ball was played through to Chiumiento, but he looked even. I think either Jeff Parke or Jhon Kennedy Hurtado who played him onside. Camilo was offside when the ball was played to his teammate and when Chiumiento played the ball back to him, he was still offside. I think I need to look at the FIFA laws of the game because I don't know how Camilo wasn't offside on this part of the play.

Vancouver nearly doubled their advantage in the 25th minute. Former Sounder Peter Vagenas showed his guide by hitting a penetrating ball to send Jarju through on goal but the angle prooved to be too acute for the Gambian striker as he dragged his shot wide of the far post.

That's around the time when the Sounders woke up, and it wasn't long until they came back and equalized. In the 32nd minute, the Sounders launched a counterattack. Fredy Montero, after receiving a pass from Nate Jaqua, took the initial shot on goal that was parried away by Joe Cannon. The ball fell to Alvaro Fernandez who found himself with a clear shot on goal in the 18-yard box. Jay DeMerit slid in to block the shot, but the ball his hands and referee Jair Marrufo pointed to the penalty spot. I was expecting DeMerit to be sent off as well, but he was only shown a yellow card. None the less, Brad Evans who was 2 for 2 on PK's this season and just as he did the first two times, he sent the goalkeeper the wrong way and converted with ease.

In the second half, the Sounders got off to a fast start. Ozzie Alonso hit a low drive that forced a save from Joe Cannon. A minute later, Lamar Neagle hit a thunderus shot from outside the box that cannoned off the crossbar.

Mustapha Jarju came close to opening up his account a couple of times, first getting the ball caught in his feet after finding himself through on goal, then about a minute later he could only manage a weak shot on Keller after a nice piece of buildup play.

In the 63rd minute, it was Fredy Montero stealing the show. The Colombian took advantage of a poor cross from Jay DeMerit before taking a clever touch to fool his marker and floating one into the top left corner. That was one of the best goals I've seen from him in his Sounders career. It was surely the best goal I've seen from him this season. He was not done yet, four minutes later he made the captain look like an idiot again. Montero had a go from well out of the area which took a slight deflection off Jay DeMerit, and the Jabulani ball dipped over Joe Cannon and into the back of the net.

It was nice to see this guy finally make his MLS debut. Sammy Ochoa came on as a substitute for Nate Jaqua and I thought he did very well out there. He nearly got his first for the Rave Green after his header was denied by the post. The Sounders have been denied about 3 or 4 times by the post in this game. He's right now at the point where he's not 100% just yet, but at a point where he can come off the bench for the last 20-30 minutes of the match like he did last night. The fact is, Estudiantes Tecos didn't even give him a chance to show what he could do. And with the poor depth we have up front, with O'Brian White injured and both Nate Jaqua and Pat Noonan sucking ass again, I hope that he is 100% by the start of the playoffs, and the Sounders for sure will have a bye week in the playoffs, which would give them plenty of time.

The Sounders will once again step out of MLS play and into the Champions League. Tuesday night, they head to Guatemala to face Comunicaciones where they can book their place in the Quarterfinal with at least a draw.

Scoring summary:

Vancouver Whitecaps - Camilo 9 (Davide Chiumiento 9, Eric Hassli 2) 22'

Seattle Sounders FC - Brad Evans 5 (penalty kick) 32'

Seattle Sounders FC - Fredy Montero 8 (unassisted) 64'

Seattle Sounders FC - Fredy Montero 9 (Brad Evans 3, Leonardo Gonzalez 2) 67'

Misconduct summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Brad Evans (caution; Dissent) 31'

Vancouver Whitecaps - Jay DeMerit (caution; Handball) 32'

Vancouver Whitecaps - Eric Hassli (caution; Unsporting behavior) 70'

Vancouver Whitecaps - Jeff Parke (caution; Unsporting behavior) 77'

Lineups:

Seattle Sounders FC - Kasey Keller; Zach Scott, Jeff Parke, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Leonardo Gonzalez; Alvaro Fernandez (David Estrada 79'), Osvaldo Alonso, Brad Evans, Lamar Neagle; Fredy Montero, Nate Jaqua (Sammy Ochoa 66')

Vancouver Whitecaps - Joe Cannon; Jonothan Leathers (Jeb Brovsky 46'), Jay DeMerit, Michael Boxall, Jordan Harvey; Davide Chiumiento, Peter Vagenas, Gershon Koffie, Camilo; Eric Hassli (Long Tan 81'), Mustapha Jarju (Shea Salinas 58')

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.

Local hero Lamar Neagle breaks out with three as the Sounders stomp Columbus 6-2

By Money Mike

The Seattle Sounders returned home to Seattle looking to pull within three points of the Los Angeles Galaxy, and it turned out to be easy for them. Lamar Neagle, a Federal Way native, scored a hat trick for the Seattle Sounders as they stomped the Columbus Crew by a final score of 6-2. A history making day for the Seattle Sounders and also for one player on the Columbus Crew side. The Sounders scored three goals in the first 20 minutes of the game, they scored four first half goals (a club record) and they scored a total of six goals in the match (another club record). Not only that, so far, they lead the entire league in goals scored this season with 42 goals. So all you fools who say, "they can't score", put a cork in that.

Lamar Neagle got the party going in the fourth minute of the game. After a nice give and go with Mike Fucito, Neagle cut inside his defender and directed a low shot on goal. Columbus Crew goalkeeper Will Hesmer failed to corral the ball, letting it slip behind him and in the goal.

In the 16th minute, the Sounders added another. After a nice turn in the box by Mike Fucito, the ball struck the hands of defender Rich Balchan in the penalty area and referee Baldomero Toledo pointed to the spot. Mauro Rosales, who also played a fantastic game, stepped up to take the penalty and he burried it inside the right post to make it 2-0. Rosales then ran over to the fans with their banner that says "VIVA ROSALES" as you can see on this picture.

They need to re-sign this guy to a long term deal. I mean $42,000 this year? He's playing like he deserves a lot more than that. He's got 5 goals and 9 assists now and I think he should be a candidate for the MLS MVP. I don't know how Sounder fans would react if he wasn't MVP.

Seattle weren't done though. In the 21st minute, James Riley made an overlaping run from right back position and put in a touchline cross. The ball fell to Lamar Neagle who volleyed the ball into the goal for his second of the match.

In the 40th minute, things just got better and better for the Men in Rave Green. Mauro Rosales sent in a short cross and Mike Fucito made the Columbus defense pay for standing around as he rounded the goalkeeper and put away the forth goal for the Sounders. It was Fucito's fifth goal in all compitions this season and his first in MLS since April 17, 2010 when he scored a late winner over Sporting Kansas City. This guy's been in and out of the starting lineup with Sigi Schmid trying to find a replacement for O'Brian White, who by the way just underwent a second blood clot surgery. My guess is Fucito will be dropped to the bench again after the Sounders acquired forward Samuel Ochoa yesterday.

The only major highlight for the Columbus Crew, came in the 59th minute of the match. After a miscue, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado took down Emilio Renteria in the box and the referee pointed to the spot. Hurtado was lucky not to be shown a straight red card for the challenge. Jeff Cunningham, who coming into the game was sittin' on 133 career MLS goals, tied with Jamie Moreno, was given the green light by head coach Robert Warzycha to try and break the All-time MLS goalscoring record. Cunningham stepped up and calmly converted the PK into the left corner of Kasey Keller for his 134th career MLS goal which makes him the all-time leading goalscorer in Major League Soccer history.

In the 70th minute, Lamar Neagle struck for a third time. A brilliant effort hit the underside of the crossbar and just barely crossed the goal line. This made Neagle the second player in Sounders history to record a hat trick in a game and the first to do it at home. Columbus made it 5-2 after a brilliant free-kick by the former USL Sounder Josh Gardner in the 73rd minute, but a minute later, Gardner got credited with an own goal to make it 6-2 Sounders.

Seattle has another match on Tuesday, the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup semifinal against FC Dallas at Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila. Kickoff time is at 7pm and will be streamed live on soundersfc.com. They don't return to MLS play until September 10th when they host Real Salt Lake.

Scoring summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Lamar Neagle 3 (Mike Fucito 2) 4'

Seattle Sounders FC - Mauro Rosales 5 (penalty kick) 16'

Seattle Sounders FC - Lamar Neagle 4 (James Riley 2, Mauro Rosales 8) 21'

Seattle Sounders FC - Mike Fucito 1 (Mauro Rosales 9, Fredy Montero 7) 40'

Columbus Crew - Jeff Cunningham 2 (penalty kick) 59'

Seattle Sounders FC - Lamar Neagle 5 (Osvaldo Alonso 3) 70'

Columbus Crew - Josh Gardner 2 (unassisted) 73'

Seattle Sounders FC - Own goal (Josh Gardner) 74'

Misconduct summary:

Columbus Crew - Kevin Burns (caution; Tactical foul) 64'

Seattle Sounders FC - Jeff Parke (caution; Reckless foul) 73'

Seattle Sounders FC - Zach Scott (caution; Reckless tackle) 81'

Lineups:

Columbus Crew - Will Hesmer; Sebastian Miranda, Rich Balchan, Chad Marshall, Josh Gardner; Dilly Duka (Jeff Cunningham 56'), Kevin Burns, Emmanuel Ekpo, Robbie Rodgers; Emilio Renteria (Tom Heinemann 56'), Andres Mendoza (Justin Meram 76')

Seattle Sounders FC - Kasey Keller; James Riley, Jeff Parke (Zach Scott 75'), Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Tyson Wahl; Mauro Rosales (Alvaro Fernandez 71'), Osvaldo Alonso, Erik Friberg, Lamar Neagle; Mike Fucito (Nate Jaqua 78'), Fredy Montero

Mike Fucito leads Seattle to a 4-1 rout over Comunicaciones

By Money Mike







In the Champions League Group stage opener at CenturyLink Field, the Sounders gave up an early goal, but bounced back with four unanswered goals to beat Comunicaciones 4-1. Michael Fucito scored two goals and assisted on another. The Sounders didn't seem to lose any focus, even after going down a man when Lamar Neagle was shown a Red Card. You could tell by this teams performance last night, they could play anybody in this region.



In the second minute, Comunicaciones got on the board early. Brayan Ordonez tracked a long ball in the corner, sending in a hopeful cross. When Sounders goalkeeper Terry Boss was unable to cut down the service, Jairo Arreola beat defender James Riley to the far post for an early lead.



In the 35th minute, Seattle answered. Mike Fucito's corner found Brad Evans from point blank range, and Evans headed the ball off the crossbar and over the goal line for the equalizer.



In the 61st minute, Fucito would this time find the back of the net. Fucito ran onto a pass from Fredy Montero, cut the ball inside the penalty area and finished with his left foot to give the Sounders a 2-1 advantage. He wasn't done though. Six minutes later, he would tack on another one. After making another good run on the ball, this time from Alvaro Fernandez, Fucito took one touch the curled the ball around the goalkeeper and in for his second of the match. Seattle would tack on one more on an own goal and maximum points in the first match.





Scoring summary:



Comunicaciones - Jairo Arreola (Bryan Ordonez) 2'



Seattle Sounders FC - Brad Evans (Michael Fucito) 35'



Seattle Sounders FC - Michael Fucito (Fredy Montero, Alvaro Fernandez) 61'



Seattle Sounders FC - Michael Fucito (Alvaro Fernandez, Brad Evans) 67'



Seattle Sounders FC - Own Goal (Alvaro Fernandez) 87'





Misconduct summary:



Comunicaciones - Jairo Arreloa (caution; Dissent) 9'



Seattle Sounders FC - Patrick Ianni (caution; Tactical foul) 16'



Seattle Sounders FC - James Riley (caution; Reckless tackle) 47'+



Comunicaciones - Carlos Castrillo (caution; Reckless tackle) 50'



Seattle Sounders FC - Leonardo Gonzalez (caution; Tactical foul) 54'



Seattle Sounders FC - Lamar Neagle (ejection; Violent conduct) 55'



Comunicaciones - Adolfo Machado (caution; Reckless tackle) 60'



Comunicaciones - Carlos Ramirez (caution; Unsporting behavior) 69'



Seattle Sounders FC - Jhon Kennedy Hurtado (caution; Unsporting behavior) 69'



Comunicaciones - Edgard Martinez (ejection; Abusive Language) 80'



Comunicaciones - Fredy Thompson (caution; Reckless tackle) 91'+





Lineups:



Comunicaciones - Juan Jose Peredas; Adolfo Machado, Edgard Martinez, Carlos Castrillo, Erwin Morales; Carlos Ramirez, Juan Marquez (Rigoberto Gomez 77'), Fredy Thompson, Jairo Arreloa, Bryan Ordonez (Carlos Mejia 70'); Transito Montepeque (Hernan Sandoval 78')



Seattle Sounders FC - Terry Boss; James Riley, Patrick Ianni (Roger Levesque 84'), Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Leonardo Gonzalez (Zach Scott 75'); Lamar Neagle, Servando Carrasco, Brad Evans, Alvaro Fernandez; Fredy Montero (Mauro Rosales 63'), Michael Fucito

Sounders strike twice in the final minutes to defeat Sporting KC 2-1 and give Sigi Schmid his 150th career win.

By Money Mike

The Seattle Sounders played a terrible game against Sporting KC, but terrible as it was, the Sounders stormed back with a 90th minute equalizer by Mauro Rosales and a stoppage time goal by Lamar Neagle to steal all three points from Kansas City, snap their 14 game unbeaten streak and give head coach Sigi Schmid his 150th career win in Major League Soccer. What a big win it was for the Sounders, when it looked like they were gonna go down for the 2nd match in a row, they find a way to pull it off.

Sporting got on the board first in the 20th minute. Matt Besler just like he did on Wednesday whipped in another good long throw into the danger zone and found Kei Kamara unmarked and Kamara headed the ball into the net before Kasey Keller could claim the ball and Sporting KC prooving to be a different team now than it was earlier in the year took an early 1-0 lead over the Men in Rave Green.

In the 55th minute, Sigi made a double change, taking off Fredy Montero and Alvaro Fernandez and bringing on Mike Fucito and Pat Noonan for tactical reasons. Fernandez and Montero, both Designated Players, were ineffective in this match.

Four minutes later, this turned out to be the game changer. Omar Bravo came in with a two footed challenge on Pat Noonan with his studs showing and referee Jair Marrufo make no hesitation to reach into his back pocket and show the Mexican international a straight Red Card.

With Kansas City down to 10 men, coach Peter Vermes took out C.J. Sapong and replaced him with Canadian born-U.S. international Teal Bunbury. Bunbury had a couple scoring opportunities since coming on including a long range effort in the 88th minute that went wide of Kasey Keller.

The Sounders began to threaten in the last 20-25 minutes of the game. In the 69th minute, Mike Fucito created space for himself but his left footed area from 19-yards out was saved by Jimmy Nielsen. Lamar Neagle stepped to put in the rebound, but Nielsen made a huge kick save.

In the 90th minute, the Sounders finally came through. Servando Carrasco played in a good ball to Mauro Rosales who beat two KC defenders and slotted the ball past Jimmy Nielsen to steal a Victory from Sporting Kansas City. As a matter of fact, they would steal all 3 points. In the 2nd minute of stoppage time, Mike Fucito was able to push the ball to Lamar Neagle who quickly struck the ball first time off the hands of Nielsen and that was the match winner. With the win, Seattle now improves to 11-5-8 with adds up to 41 points so far. Kansas City now drops to 7-7-9 with the loss. Seattle returns home next Saturday to take on Chivas USA and then they open up Group play in the Champions League on August 16th at home.


Scoring summary:

Sporting Kansas City - Kei Kamara 6 (Matt Besler 2) 20'

Seattle Sounders FC - Mauro Rosales 3 (unassisted) 90'

Seattle Sounders FC - Lamar Neagle 2 (Mike Fucito 1) 92+'


Misconduct summary:

Sporting Kansas City - Birahim Diop (caution; Reckless foul) 37'

Sporting Kansas City - Omar Bravo (ejection; Serious foul play) 59'


Lineups:

Seattle Sounders FC - Kasey Keller; James Riley, Jeff Parke, Zach Scott, Tyson Wahl; Mauro Rosales, Osvaldo Alonso, Servando Carassco, Alvaro Fernandez (Pat Noonan 55'); Roger Levesque (Lamar Neagle 67'), Fredy Montero (Mike Fucito 55')

Sporting Kansas City - Jimmy Nielsen; Michael Harrington, Julio Cesar, Matt Besler, Seth Sinovic; Jeferson (Luke Sassano 39'), Birahim Diop, Graham Zusi; Kei Kamara (Chance Myers 82'), C.J. Sapong (Teal Bunbury 65'), Omar Bravo


Omar Bravo's red card/dumbass behavior:

Now back to that red card on Omar Bravo. So look people, you may think was a bad call because Bravo got the ball first, but he came in two footed with his studs showing on Pat Noonan, so that is definitely a red card. The decision made by the referee was correct. But after the red card, Bravo, rather than getting off the pitch, decides to go after Pat Noonan. Noonan reacted and then Bravo just falls to the ground like he was headbutted. Arlo White was spot on, he let Sporting Kansas City down. He should not be allowed to antagonize a player after being sent off and as a veteran, he should know that. MLS has to take action for this bullshit.

Congratulations Omar Bravo, you're the new public enemy #1.

I mean look what this stupid fuck is doing.....

Sounders defeat LA 3-1 in the U.S. Open Cup Quarterfinal

By Money Mike

In front of 4,322 at the Starfire Sports Complex in Takwila, the Seattle Sounders faced off with the Los Angeles Galaxy in the U.S. Open Cup Quarterfinal and pretty much a replica of last years Quarterfinal matchup with LA, the Sounders come away with a win.

The Sounders, with the win, advance to the U.S. Open Cup semifinal against FC Dallas. That match will take place on August 30 at Starfire.

In the 4th minute, the Sounders struck early. After hitting the post a minute ago, Nate Jaqua was sent behind the defense off a Pat Noonan through ball and he calmly slotted it inside the far post. It was Jaqua's 8th career goal in Open Cup play (7 of them with the Sounders).

In the 25th minute, Jaqua was involved in the 2nd Sounders goal. I don't what the hell this guy was thinking. Defender A.J. DeLaGarza gave the ball right to Jaqua who quickly fed it to Fredy Montero who cut the ball to his left foot and put away his third goal in two matches to double Seattle's lead at 2-0. The Sounders could've been up 4-0 or 5-0 up to that point, but they just couldn't capitalize on their chances, most of them coming from Jaqua and in the 40th minute, LA pulled one back. Adam Cristman finished a cross from Chris Birchall at the front of the net.

On the stroke of halftime, Birchall almost came away with one for himself, but Terry Boss made the save.

In the 74th minute, the LA back line got caught off another through ball. After some work on the ball, Alvaro Fernandez sent one through for Lamar Neagle who made a diagonal run through the penalty area to score. That goal prooved to be the knock out punch for the Galaxy as the Sounders once again, win a U.S. Open Cup match.

The Sounders get back to work in MLS as they return home to face that fucker who broke Steve Zakuani's leg on purpose............ yes I'm talking about Brian Mullan. He's gonna be there along with the Colorado Rapids on Saturday. That match will be shown live on FOX Soccer Channel, if you don't have that channel, sucks for you.

Scoring summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Nate Jaqua (Pat Noonan) 4'

Seattle Sounders FC - Fredy Montero (Nate Jaqua) 25'

Los Angeles Galaxy - Adam Cristman (Chris Birchall) 40'

Seattle Sounders FC - Lamar Neagle (Alvaro Fernandez) 74'

Misconduct summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Osvaldo Alonso (caution; Tactical foul) 22'

Seattle Sounders FC - Fredy Montero (caution; Unsporting behavior) 54'

Seattle Sounders FC - Jeff Parke (caution; Tactical foul) 55'

Los Angeles Galaxy - Paolo Cardozo (caution; Reckless tackle) 59'

Seattle Sounders FC - Mike Fucito (caution; Delaying a restart) 90'

Lineups:

Los Angeles Galaxy - Josh Saunders; Bryan Jordan, A.J. DeLaGarza, Gregg Berhalter, Todd Dunivant; Chris Birchall, Michael Stephens, Juninho (Jovan Kirovski 78'), Landon Donovan (Hector Jimenez 75'); Paolo Cardozo (Miguel Lopez 64'), Adam Cristman

Seattle Sounders FC - Terry Boss; Zach Scott, Jeff Parke, Patrick Ianni, Leonardo Gonzalez; Pat Noonan (Erik Friberg 64'), Osvaldo Alonso, Alvaro Fernandez, Lamar Neagle; Nate Jaqua (Roger Levesque 71'), Fredy Montero (Mike Fucito 79')

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 New England 2-1. That's now 9 points in the last 8 days.

By Money Mike



The New England Revolution got on the score sheet early, but they failed to hold on as the Seattle Sounders(8-4-7) came back with two first half goals and held on in the second half to defeat New England(3-8-6) 2-1. After two disappointing draws against the Chicago Fire and the Vancouver Whitecaps to start the month of June, the Sounders have won 3 in a row in a string of 8 days against Toronto FC, Red Bull New York and now the New England Revolution and are inching closer to the top spot in the Western Conference, only four points behind the Los Angeles Galaxy. The Revolution are halfway through their 2011 season and have only picked up 15 points which puts them in a tie for last place in the Eastern Conference with Toronto FC. With the month of July approaching means that we'll be seeing more signings, trades and more players sold through the summer. The Sounders have 5 guys on trial including Sammy Ochoa and Myron Samuel. We've had rumors and speculation about Cillian Sheridan signing with the Sounders. He was on trial for a week and did very well, but now it looks like he's actually going to sign with the Portland Timbers which was absolutely uncalled for. The Sounders didn't want him at the price he was asking for. And that's just disappointing because I was excited to see him play for this team and help with our attack and ditching him just for the price tell's me that the staff are being a bunch of pussies. I mean, what? You think you'll go bankrupt for signing him at a huge price? Stupid. Just stupid. Anyway, let's talk about the match....

In the 3rd minute, it was the visitors who struck first. Benny Feilhaber, who missed the last four games do to injury which also knocked him off USA's Gold Cup squad, took the corner from the far hash mark and played a short ball to the top of the penalty area to Sainey Nyassi ripped a hard shot on frame. Kasey Keller got a hand to it but was unable to keep it out. It was the first set piece goal Seattle has conceded in 2011.

In the 23rd minute, the Sounders started to push after Pat Phelan nailed Servando Carrasco at midfield and only picked up a yellow card, but that could easily have been and should've been a straight Red Card. Three minutes later, Carrasco picked up a yellow for his tackle from behind on Benny Feilbaber.



In the 34th minute, the Sounders would pull level off another set play. Mauro Rosales collided with Ryan Cochrane just outside the New England penalty area. The referee gave the free kick to Seattle. Erik Friberg and Tyson Wahl we're behind the ball in an area where you would think Tyson Wahl's left foot would favor it. And I was Tyson Wahl who weaved his magic and curled the ball around the wall and into the far upper 90 as Matt Reis had no clue which direction he was going. It was the first Major League Soccer goal for Tyson Wahl who became the 13th different player to score for the Sounders this season. It was also the 8th set piece goal in the last 8 matches for the Sounders.

Six minutes later, the Sounders would pull ahead. New England defender Kevin Alston broke his shoe and rather than going to the bench to get a new shoe, he stayed on the ground and played everybody onside and the Sounders took advantage of it. Mauro Rosales fed a good ball into the penalty area for Roger Levesque who tapped it to Alvaro Fernandez who finished with the inside of his right foot to put the Sounders up 2-1. Fernandez is now tied for the team lead in Goals with Brad Evans with four goals.

Lamar Neagle had a good chance in the second half to make it 3-1. Drifting out to the right, Neagle took on left back Darrius Barnes. Took a couple of touches before having a go and he wasn't far away. Neagle has one of the greatest strikes on this team, and he managed to show that on the road at Real Salt Lake.

New England had some chances as well including Shalrie Joseph who forced a save by Kasey Keller from point blank range off the corner, while forward Rajko Lukic just missed the far post with a searing volley. In the 85th minute, A. J. Soares fed Zach Schilawski at midfield. Schilawski turned and ripped one from distance but the crossbar saved the Sounders the 3 points. In the end the match ended 2-1 Sounders.


Scoring summary:

New England Revolution - Sainey Nyassi 1 (Benny Feilhaber 2) 3'

Seattle Sounders FC - Tyson Wahl 1 (unassisted) 34'

Seattle Sounders FC - Alvaro Fernandez 4 (Roger Levesque 2, Mauro Rosales 4) 40'


Misconduct summary:

New England Revolution - Pat Phelan (caution; Reckless tackle) 23'

Seattle Sounders FC - Servando Carrasco (caution; Tactical foul) 26'

New England Revolution - Ryan Cochrane (caution; Reckless tackle) 72'

New England Revolution - Rajko Lekic (caution; Dissent) 78'

Seattle Sounders FC - Tyson Wahl (caution; Delaying a Restart) 87'

New England Revolution - A. J. Soares (caution; Dissent) 90'


Lineup:

New England Revolution - Matt Reis; Kevin Alston, Ryan Cochrane (Zach Schilawski 81'), A. J. Soares, Darrius Barnes; Sainey Nyassi (Zak Boggs 62'), Pat Phelan, Shalrie Joseph, Benny Feilhaber, Ryan Guy (Kenny Mansally 62'); Rajko Lekic

Seattle Sounders FC - Kasey Keller; James Riley, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Jeff Parke (Patrick Ianni 17'), Tyson Wahl; Lamar Neagle, Servando Carrasco, Erik Friberg, Alvaro Fernandez (Pat Noonan 69'); Mauro Rosales (Nate Jaqua 89'), Roger Levesque