After signing three huge names in the past few weeks, the Sounders Women announced their season ticket package. The package includes three friendlies and seven league games. Due to national team demands the US Women's National team players "will be available for 6-7 of the 10 home matches between April and July.

The international and domestic soccer calendars kick off in earnest this week. The local focus is on the Community Shield match this Wednesday between the Sounders and Jaguares (it's free! bring your friends) as a tune-up to next week's CCL opener against Santos Laguna. But the various US national teams are also in action.

With the addition of some new players to the Sounders Women's team, the UW women's soccer team has announced a schedule change for the spring season and will now play the Sounders on May 4 at 7:30 p.m. at the Starfire Complex in Tukwila, Wash.

Huskies To Play Solo, Sounders - University of Washington Official Athletic Site

That's one of the three friendlies that feature Solo, Morgan and Leroux.

While well short of embarrassing, it's looking more and more like the crowd for the March 7 CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal -- easily one of the five most important matches the Sounders have played at home -- will be a bit underwhelming in size. As of Tuesday morning, the Seattle Sounders have sold about 16,500 tickets for their match against Santos Laguna, according to team officials (they also said about 32,000 season tickets have been sold).

OK, maybe calling this the David Estrada -era is a bit strong, but it's sure looking like the former first-round pick is going to be getting a lot more playing time this year. To celebrate his ascendency, we convinced Estrada to be our guest on the show this week. We also preview the upcoming game against Jaguares, as well as take a look ahead to the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal against Santos Laguna.

As you may have heard, Dynamo supporters have been banned from bringing banners, drums and flags to at least eight away matches. The ban does not apply for home games as best as we can tell. The letter detailing the punishment highlights three incidents, the most egregious of which was fans throwing smoke bombs and other items onto the field during MLS Cup.

Today's first practice at CenturyLink Field on the latest installation of FieldTurf saw Seattle Sounders FC focused on primarily on short passes and dribbling to learn how it plays. While the in-fill still sits rather high, there will be some noticeable rooster tails. This is the latest and greatest of the technologies from FieldTurf and the vibe around the team was generally positive.

It is rumor no more: Alex Morgan has officially signed with the Sounders Women. Like Hope Solo and Sydney Leroux before her, Morgan comes to the Sounders with a significant national team resume and ties to the region. Morgan, 22, has already scored 16 goals in 32 United States women's national team appearances.

Seattle Sounders coach Sigi Schmid ruled out Eddie Johnson for Wednesday's Community Shield match against Jaguares. Johnson has been nursing a hamstring injury ever since he came out early from his preseason debut on Feb. 22. On Monday, he did not fully participate in practice and trained off to the side.

I am so ready for the season to start it's not even funny.

Due to injuries and illness to three members of the USMNT, Coach Jurgen Klinsmann has called up Brek Shea and Sacha Kljestan to replace Timmy Chandler (Hamstring), Jose Fransico Torres (Hamstring) and Landon Donovan (Bronchitis). Dovovan missed his last match of his loan stint with Everton and has been back in the states for a week and has yet to train with the LA Galaxy.

Just in case you needed another reminder of some of the people who have left this offseason. Apparently, friend of the site Arlo White caught up with former Seattle Sounders Miguel Montano, Lamar Neagle and Mike Fucito. (Photo via @arlowhite)

The new FieldTurf has been installed at CenturyLink Field and, while it may not be the grass many are hoping for, it does look pretty awesome (via @FieldTurf). Let's hope this stuff holds up better than the old version.

With a website with depth like SoundersFC.com sometimes changes can get lost. One of those changes (timing unknown) is that Seattle Sounders FC is now selling two separate 9-game partial season ticket packages. For those that want cheaper options to see a large amount of regular season matches rather than CONCACAF Champions League (still on sale as well) the partial packages offer a price point starting at $22 per match.

Not a surprise to those following the team through pre-season, but it is now official that Mrisho Ngassa will not be joining Seattle Sounders FC in the winter window. There are other indications that he will remain a player they like and willl continue to track his (and other Tanzanian players) this Spring.

Ever since the Seattle Sounders opted to select David Estrada with their first-round pick of the 2010 MLS SuperDraft, the move has been questioned. Estrada was a solid performer during his four seasons at UCLA, but his counting stats seemed to fall off each year after his standout freshman season.

Alex Morgan is rumored to be the next big-name signing by the Seattle Sounders Women, sources close to the situation have indicated to Sounder at Heart. Her signing could be announced next week.

Morgan was arguably the breakout star of the most recent Women's World Cup, scoring goals in both the semifinal and final for the United States women's national team.

Don't forget we're about two weeks out from Sounder At Hearts official Scarf Release party, and the away leg vs Santos Laguna! For all the details just click here.

Former Columbus Crew winger Robbie Rogers had his debut with Leeds United -- though I don't think it went exactly as he would have planned it out.

"In the long run, this is better for my career," Neagle told MLSsoccer.com on Thursday from the Impact's team hotel. "The more minutes I get on the field, the better I'm going to be and the more money I can eventually make."

Former Sounder Lamar Neagle talks to MLSoccer.

Inspired by the recent story at The Sporting News regarding Eric Wynalda, his engagements over Twitter and some small parallels between Kasey Keller and Wynalda as vocal players, Sounder at Heart conducted a 30-odd-minute conversation with the US Player of the Decade for the 1990s. It quickly became apparent that the topics would be far reaching, circling back and then shooting off in another direction.