Recent Stories with tag sounders fc

Q: The Sounders are playing some team from El Salvador tonight? What's that about?

A: Tonight's game against Metapan F.C. is the first leg of the preliminary round of the CONCACAF Champions League.

Q: What the poo is CONCACAF Champions League?

A: Well, first off, CONCACAF is the governing body of all the soccer leagues in countries in North and Central America. Most countries have their own league. The best teams in each countries' league qualify for the Champions League. (It's a much bigger deal in Europe, where you're talking about the top teams in the world.)

Q: So the Sounders are the best team in the U.S.? Horse hockey! Last I checked they were getting waxed.

A: Qualification is based on 2009 results. The Sounders are in because they won the 2009 U.S. Open Cup. Three other MLS teams also make the tourney.

Q: Ah. And tonight's game is what?

A: Part of a two-game preliminary round. The Sounders play Metapan here tonight, and will play at Metapan on Tuesday. The combined score of the two games will decide who advances.

Q: Where the heck is Metapan?

A: It's a town of less than 20,000 people in northwest El Salvador that has a really pretty church. Their team has won a share of their league title each of the past four years. ...

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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.

Sounders 3, Boca Juniors 0 [box]
Turns out the Sounders do have players who can score--they've just been sitting on the bench. Reserves Roger Levesque, Pat Noonan, and Charlie Michael Seamon provided the offense in a surprising romp over Argentina's top team. It was nice to finally see some offense at Qwest, exhibition or no, and the place was a madhouse once the Sounders finally started scoring. Seamon's goal proved a fount of innuendo-based comedy, which in retrospect was probably only funny because I'd drank a quart of Bud Light. Highlights (of the game, not the "comedy") below. Next game Saturday @ Colorado.

Mariners 5, Detroit 4 [box]
Maybe the best win of the year for the M's, who scored four eighth-inning runs to steal this one from the Tigers. Mike Sweeney started the comeback with a two-run homer (his 6th, all in May) and Josh Wilson finished it with a two-run bloop single. M's 18-28, 4th place, 7.5 GB. Next game Fri. @ Anaheim.

U.S. World Cup team announced, Ching not on it [P-I story]
In a controversial...

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Hanauer: A modern-day John Nordstrom?

The founders of Nordstrom, famous for their customer service, were also the founders of the Seattle Seahawks. Yet despite their propensity for offering retail exchanges, I don't recall those successful Swedes ever doing for Seahawks fans what the Sounders did for theirs yesterday: promise a full refund after the team lost.

The Sounders uglied up a gorgeous afternoon at Qwest on Saturday, losing 4-0 to the L.A. Galaxy and falling into last place in the MLS Western Conference. The pain started when the normally reliable Kasey Keller let a shot go through his hands for a goal, and continued in the second half with some invisible defense.

"That wasn't Sounders soccer and it was quite frankly embarrassing, humiliating and the fans don't deserve that," said Sounders FC owner and general manager Adrian Hanauer in announcing the refund to season ticket holders, which will come as a credit toward next year's tickets.

"We want our fans committed for the long haul and we think this is the right thing to do for our fans," said Hanauer. It's no minor hit for the team's financials--with 36,000 season ticket holders paying an average of around $20 per seat, the Sounders are giving back around three-quarters of a million smackers....

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Although it sort-of looks like they've already been peed on. Sorry to go all old-angry-middle-aged-sports-writer on you, but looks like the Oregon-Ducksification of sports jerseys is spreading. Okay, I'm done now. It's for the kids!

Don't touch me, 'cause I'm electric. And if you touch me, you'll get shocked!

 

   If you so desire, you can fork over $90 for one of these at the Sounders Pro Shop.

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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I'm reposting this one because it's Thursday and extremely topical. If you saw Game 1 of the World Series last night, you'll know what a freaking dilemma tonight's offerings create.--MvB

Thursday is shaping up to be one of those nights that I wish there were three of me. To wit:

At 5 p.m., Game 2 of the World Series will be extra special as the Phillies have chosen 38-year-old future Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez to start at Yankee Stadium against his longtime rivals. Martinez was 8-4 in his career at Old Yankee Stadium, including the finest game I have ever seen pitched, a 17-K performance against the Yanks in September 1999. (Wow! I'm getting old!) Game's on FOX.

At 7 p.m., the Sounders play the franchise's first MLS playoff game, against the Houston Dynamo at Qwest Field. The game is the first leg of a home-and-home series, the teams will play again on Sunday the 8th in Houston and whoever's ahead in the combined score of the two games advances. If you don't have tickets, buy some (there are scads on StubHub<...

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The Roanoke Park Place. Wednesday. Dollar taco night. On one TV, a scoreless Mariner game. On the other, a scoreless Sounders game. Who would score first?

"I'll take Seattle over the field," childhood friend Jason said.

We didn't lay odds, but he was right. The Mariners did score first, on a seventh-inning Bill Hall double. Two more runs in that inning gave them a 3-0 lead, enough for Felix Hernandez' 14th win.

Meanwhile the Sounders, who'd squandered chance after chance in their U.S. Open Cup final by aiming shots directly at D.C. United goalie Josh Wicks, finally broke through when Fredy Montero sent a rebound home in the 67th minute.

The goal was not as memorable as its aftermath: Goalie Wicks expressed his frustration by stomping Montero's chest. When the ref ejected Wicks, he had the audacity to aggressively argue the call.

"Goalies are psychopaths," Jason said. Right again. The Sounders soon scored another goal, with former USL Sounder Roger Levesque finishing a gorgeous Seba Le Toux cross. 2-0.

We began discussing...

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