Recent Stories with tag freddie ljungberg

Freddie Ljungberg, the most famous player ever to suit up for a Seattle soccer team, likely won't wear the rave green again. With the Sounders unwilling to commit to a 2011 contract for the former Arsenal star, Ljungberg is looking elsewhere, likely to hook up with a team in Europe, where the season starts next month.

Ljungberg's signing five months before the Sounders' inaugural season gave the team instant credibility with local soccer fans. His pedigree was unmatched in local soccer history: nine years at one of the world's top club teams, a Premier League player of the year award, participant in two World Cups. Short of David Beckham, he was the most accomplished player in all of U.S. pro soccer.

During season one Ljungberg's reported $2.5M contact appeared to be worth the investment. He made the MLS "Best XI," confounded opposing defenders with his skill, speed, and strength, and helped the Sounders to the best expansion season of any Seattle franchise.

Season two started off poorly, with Ljungberg skipping preseason training and pissing off teammate Kasey Keller. Didn't get better once the games started. The Sounders have flopped, as key players like midfielder Osvaldo Alonso, defender Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, and striker Nate Jaqua have missed most of the season with injuries. Ljungberg's presence hasn't done anything to make up for their loss. If anything, his presence through the Sounders' slow start suggests that he may have been less valuable than his far-less-heralded teammates.

Normally an offensive center midfielder, Ljungberg played a few games at forward this year as coach Sigi Schmid tried to squeeze more offense out of the team. Didn't work. Ljungberg will finish with as many goals this season as Ken Griffey Jr. had home runs. (Zippo.)

Taken as a whole, the Ljungberg signing was a success. His fame was a key ingredient of the hype soup that turned Seattle on to the Sounders. The franchise may never get a player of his caliber again.

It was a gorgeous day on Saturday, but it was gorgeous inside, too, at the sold-out Arctic Summer Fashion Show held at the Nordic Heritage Museum. Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden (this was Sweden Week, after all) was the guest of honor, the vice honorary consul of Finland, Kristiina Hiukka, was the honorary chair, and Denmark's Ole Henriksen, of the skin care line, emceed. Freddie Ljungberg rushed over from a Sounders game, arriving late but in a tuxedo, so it evened out. 

Designers from Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, and Norway were in the spotlight, including Moods of Norway, Nudie Jeans, 15x15, AOCO by Annika, Polarn O. Pyret, Molo Kids, Marimekko, Spaksmannsspjarir, Happysthlm, and Emami. Kids took the runway first--some reluctantly--but then it was all business.

A couple of friends are working on "Chicago Time" today--starting at 7 and leaving at 4, as mandated by a munificent employer who wants everyone to be able to catch today's Husky game. They may regret being given that chance, because from everything I'm reading about West Virginia, the Husky game could end up looking like a scene from Deliverance.

The Huskies struggled against taller teams this year, and West Virginia is the tallest they've played yet.The Mountaineers may start a lineup of players all above 6'7". That would make their shortest starter taller than all but one Husky. ("I'll bet you can squeal like a pig. Weeeeeee!")

At 5'8", Husky star Isaiah Thomas is used to guarding taller players. But a foot taller? ("What we, uh,  're-quire' is for you to get your asses away from the basket.")

The hope is that UW will outquick the Mountaineers. In an excellent game preview in today's P-I, Todd Dybas notes that against the all-forward lineup, Cleveland State's 6'2" Norris Cole scored 29 points. This being college basketball, anything can happen. But oddsmakers have West Virginia as a 4.5-point favorite for a reason. Still, I think the Huskies will keep it close, and the game will be quite the .... DUEL! Cue the music!...

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Ljungberg: "The longest ever." Preseason! We're talking about preseason!

In all the Olympics excitement, you may have missed that spring training is underway. Both the Sounders and the Mariners have been preparing for their upcoming seasons--the Sounders at a tournament in Spain, the Mariners at their spring training hub northwest of Phoenix.

Both training seasons are much longer than they need to be--something Freddie Ljungberg complained about in a blog post for ESPN.com titled "The longest preseason training ever."

"We have been running our asses off," according to Ljungberg, who expressed concern that the long training schedule could be detrimental to his fitness. Ljungberg points out when he played for Arsenal, one of the top clubs in the world, training was half as long than the Sounders' is. Well, Fred, the Sounders have a lot more work to do.

Big question is, will they get to do it? Major League Soccer and its players' union are overdue to sign a collective bargaining agreement, and negotiations are not going well. "They're not even humoring us," says Kansas City Wizard Jimmy Conrad, whose invocation of the Weaken Resolve spell at the last bargaining session had no appreciable effect. (D&D reference! Yes!) There's a Thursday deadline to get a deal done--and a work stoppage is looking like a possibility.

The Sounders split two games in Spain, losing 3-0 to defending Norwegian champs Rosenborg FC on Thursday, but beating Staebek IF, another top Norwegian team, 2-0 on Sunday. Fredy Montero and Roger Levesque scored the goals, both assisted by Ljungberg.

The Mariners aren't yet playing games, or really doing much of anything, to the eternal dismay of the reporters in town to cover them. Said reporters had a difficult enough time finding material for stories in the pre-blog days; now, with both column inches and pixels to fill, they are desperate. How desperate? Tacoma News-Tribune writer Larry LaRue (the best writer among our local baseball scribes, in my view) posted a story about a new hitting drill the Mariners are doing. The Times' Geoff Baker, who has the best nose for news, could only come up with "Jack Hannahan catches bullpen session." Yeah....

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Sounders star Freddie Ljungberg flew to London over the weekend try to convince Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger to take him back, the Daily Mirror reports.

Now he's back in Seattle, but he won't comment on who he spoke to, nor will he say what his plans are.

An Arsenal spokesperson also refused to comment.

Obviously Sounders fans would be a little wary of Ljungberg playing again for an top European club team--we saw what happened with David Beckham, who tipped his toe in and found he liked the water better. No he's just a part-time player for L.A.

Ljungberg did tell the Times' Jose Miguel Romero what he likes about playing in the U.S.--anonymity (or is it the lack of fashion sense?): "It's a totally different lifestyle for me ... I can walk in a track suit and look like [expletive] and I can walk my dog, and nobody minds."

Will the ability to walk in a track suit be enough to offset the thrill of playing European club soccer? (And the money that would come with it?) Stay tuned.

OTHER SOUNDERS NEWS:

Kasey Keller was...

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