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 close out the regular season on a winning note, 3-1 over Chivas USA.

By Money Mike


The Seattle Sounders on the last day of the 2011 regular season crush Chivas USA 3-1 at the Home Depot Center. The Sounders finish the regular season with an 18-7-9 record which gives them 63 points and also become the 10th team in history to win 9 road games in a season. Chivas USA ends their season with a record of 8-14-12 which is good for 36 points. The Sounders next week will head to Rio Tinto Stadium to face Real Salt Lake in the 1st Leg of the MLS Cup Quarterfinals. The match will either be played on Saturday or Sunday. The return leg will be on either November 5th or 6th at CenturyLink Field.

Now this is was a scary moment for the Sounders. In the 5th minute, Mauro Rosales, who made his first start since the D.C. United match when he sprained his MCL, looked to have sprained it yet again. 2nd year man, Ben Zemanski came in hard and late on the tackle and picked up a yellow card for the Challenge. Rosales taken off the field on a stretcher and was replaced in the 10th minute by Roger Levesque. A couple minutes later, Rosales got up off the stretcher and walked to the bench under his own power. As far as we know, the injury doesn't look as bad as it first looked on the screen.

Now onto the 53rd minute when the Sounders took the lead after an own goal. After some nice build up by the Men in Rave Green with James Riley and Fredy Montero, Andrew Boyens tried to clear the ball away, however, he accidentally backheeled it into his own net to give the Sounders a 1-0 advantage.

15 minutes later, El Flacco doubled the Sounders lead. Brad Evans, after seeing that both Roger Levesque and Fredy Montero were in an offside position chipped the ball over the defense for Alvaro Fernandez who curled it past Dan Kennedy and into the far corner for his 9th goal in MLS this season and his 11th in all compitions. Five minutes later, it would be Sammy Ochoa's turn to get on the scoresheet with a terrific diving header off a Fredy Montero cross to make it 3-0 Sounders.

Chivas would get a consulation goal in the 83rd minute off a header by Victor Estupinan for his first MLS goal, but that wasn't enough for the goats as the Sounders come away with a 3-1 win.


Scoring summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Own Goal (Andrew Boyens) 53'

Seattle Sounders FC - Alvaro Fernandez 9 (Brad Evans 5) 68'

Seattle Sounders FC - Sammy Ochoa 2 (Fredy Montero 9, Roger Levesque 3) 73'

Chivas USA - Victor Estupinan 1 (Andrew Boyens 1, Mariano Trujillo 2) 83'


Misconduct summary:

Chivas USA - Ben Zemanski (caution; Reckless tackle) 5'

Seattle Sounders FC - Roger Levesque (caution; Reckless foul) 40'

Seattle Sounders FC - Brad Evans (caution; Dissent) 79'

Seattle Sounders FC - Fredy Montero (caution; Lack of Respect for Game) 80'


Lineups:

Seattle Sounders FC - Kasey Keller; James Riley, Jeff Parke, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Leonardo Gonzalez (Tyson Wahl 81'); Mauro Rosales (Roger Levesque 10'), Osvaldo Alonso, Brad Evans, Alvaro Fernandez; Fredy Montero, Mike Fucito (Sammy Ochoa 64')

Chivas USA - Dan Kennedy; Zarek Valentin, Heath Pearce (Andrew Boyens 46'), David Junior Lopes, Ante Jazic (Mariano Trujillo 56'); Alejandro Moreno, Blair Gaven, Nick LaBrocca, Ben Zemanski; Juan Pablo Angel (Victor Estupinan 75'), Marcos Mondaini

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')

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')

Sounders swap Allocation spots with Chicago, pick up forward Sammy Ochoa

By Money Mike



Ever since Blaise Nkufo was released, the Sounders have pretty much had their struggles up front. GM Adrian Hanauer said that the Sounders will pick up a striker during the international transfer period for MLS. We had Cilian Sheridan on trial in the hope of acquiring him on loan, but he didn't like the offer and then he went to Portland and he was close to signing with them on loan, but the deal fell through at the last second so he's now in Scotland with St. Johnstone F.C. We were in talks with Djibril Cisse, but he ended up joining Italian side Lazio. I don't know what happened that resulted in a failure to sign Prince Tagoue. When the transfer period closed a couple weeks ago, the Sounders came away with nothing. Now today, all prayers have finally been answered, the Seattle Sounders swapped Allocation ranking spots and also traded their Third-round pick of next years MLS SuperDraft to the Chicago Fire to pick up former U.S. U-20 forward Sammy Ochoa. After Chivas USA, the Houston Dynamo and Toronto FC said no to the 24-year old striker, the Chicago Fire were next in line at no. 4, so had the Sounders, who were no. 6 in the Allocation ranking, not swapped positions, Ochoa possibly would've ended up in Chicago (or maybe they would've passed). With this pick-up, Seattle now drops to the bottom of the Allocation ranking, which is no big deal, it's not like they'll go bankrupt for that. This is probably the third time this year that Chivas USA were first in line to picked up a player via Allocation. They said no to Benny Feilhaber, who was later picked up by the New England Revolution, and they said no to Freddy Adu, who is now with the Philadelphia Union.

Ochoa began his career in Mexico with Estudiantes Tecos in 2006 and played for them until the end of last season. So he was there for five years, and you have to question why he only played 27 matches and scored only two goals for the club. You can see they barely gave him a chance. Ochoa trained with the Sounders a couple months ago and he scored in a reserve match against the Los Angeles Galaxy. He was a member of the U.S. U-20 national team at the 2005 FIFA U-20 World Cup, who were coached by the current leader of the Sounders, Sigi Schmid.

Born in Mexico, Ochoa moved to Riverside, California and attended Riverside Poly High School. He is the younger brother of Jesus Ochoa who plays for USL club LA Blues and was part of LA Galaxy's MLS Cup Championship team in 2002.


My thoughts on this move:

When Ochoa signed with Major League Soccer back on Wednesday, the first comment came from a Sounders fan via Facebook. This person said, "3 goals in 5 years? No thank you." I disagreed with that statement. This guy has full potential that he has still yet to show. Sigi knows about this kid because he coached him at the FIFA U-20 World Cup. Considering the fact that we have failed to acquire a forward during the transfer period, Ochoa was probably our best option. If it involved losing a draft pick or maybe even a player, so be it. This is a good pick up, I think he's gonna fit in very well with this team and score a lot of goals.

Right now, we currently have 30 players on our roster plus Miguel Montano who is currently on loan with the Montreal Impact in the North American Soccer League. I'm pretty sure Montano isn't expected to return until the end of the NASL season which is late September-early October, bottom line is, add him, that makes 31 players in total, which is one over the limit, so there's a chance that one of our players could be on their way out. Will it be Montero? No. Rosales? NADA. Fernandez? No way. I don't know who will be packing when Miguel Montano returns, but I'm pretty sure it could be Taylor Graham or Mike Seamon. I got a pretty bad feeling that David Estrada might be sent packing. But again, a good pick up for the Seattle Sounders.