Editor's Note: With this piece, we welcome Connor Walsh to the Yanks Are Coming family. We're excited to have him on board, and think you'll like what he has to say...or at least want to discuss it if you don't! By Connor Walsh Ask even the most pessimistic American soccer fan, and they'll [...

Here is our most recent attempt at the Match Day Quick Reference Card (now powered by Tableau). I'm still working through how to list both last name and number without taking up too much space. I understand that this is our most requested tweak. I have slightly increased the size of the player dots, and changed the team data.

The CONCACAF Champions League does not have the fame of its European counter-part. Part of that is because at this time the CCL has a single significant league. The Seattle Sounders could help rewrite that second sentence with a win in Wednesday night's match in Costa Rica against CS Herediano. Nine points in just three matches with two of the remaining at home changes the way Sigi Schmid can manage his roster for the rest of Group D and MLS Regular Season play.

Neither the Seattle Sounders nor DC United will be going into the Saturday 6PM match will have their preferred XI. DC lost DP Branko Boscovic early in the year and Chris Pontius just last week. For the Sounders Sigi Schmid isn't used to picking his first choice. With significant injuries marring most of the year, intermittent injuries popping up and the packed schedule the lineup shifts are so frequent they aren't surprising.

Score three goals and shut out a likely playoff team and you should feel pretty good. Unfortunately for the Seattle Sounders, their 3-0 win over DC United was just about ruined when Mauro Rosales went down with an injury late. After the game, it was revealed Rosales sprained MCL and that he would at least miss Tuesday's CONCACAF Champions League match against Herediano.

One of the best things about a highlight package after a 3-nil win is that the rare down moments don't exist. The beauty of the Seattle Sounders attack is featured. The passing, off-ball movement and penchant to threaten the keeper in Saturday's game was the team working at near perfection. Mauro Rosales and Fredy Montero were able to pick apart the DC United defense.

Mauro Rosales won't be getting an MRI until Monday, so how long he won't be in the lineup is still up in the air. But what we do know is that he will not be playing Tuesday night against CS Herediano. Doing a bit of research though, he was unlikely to start anyway. He had only started in one of the previous CONCACAF Champions League matches.

After watching Darlington Nagbe and the Portland Timbers show how high the quality of play in the MLS can be, some of the other matches this weekend served as reminders of how lousy the play sometimes is.

The weekend featured more than its fair share of uninspired play, cynical dives in the penalty area, off-target shots that should have been no-doubters, and one keeper who decided to throw up his hands instead of attempt a save.

For the second straight week, the SBI MLS Player of the Week isn't a player with a multi-goal game on the resume, but rather a player responsible for setting up the goals.

This time around it is Seattle Sounders playmaker Mauro Rosales who takes SBI's MLS Player of the Week for his outstanding performance driving Seattle's potent attack during its 3-0 victory against D.

The well-oiled machine that is the Seattle Sounders keeps on rolling.

Facing a D.C. United team that had just come off gigantic victory and was looking to capitalize on that momentum with the season winding down, the Sounders -- led by Alvaro Fernandez, Mauro Rosales and Mike Fucito -- put together a complete effort to stymie United's attack, coast to a 3-0 result and earn SBI's MLS Team of the Week Honors.

There's no two ways about it: Mauro Rosales' injury sucks. Whether it's two or four weeks or somewhere in between, every game the Seattle Sounders have to play without their MVP candidate they are a worse team. It's no coincidence that the Sounders have gone 12-3-6 in games Rosales has started and just 2-3-3 in their other matches.

When CS Herediano beat the Seattle Sounders on Tuesday night it was not because they dominated play. It was because the team in Electricity acted more like a car battery that was low on charge and couldn't push the starter over. There were only a handful of opportunities for either side and the Costa Rican team's keeper had a brilliant save or two that took a game from a possible draw to a 1-nil win.

While most of the attention has been on the loss of Mauro Rosales due to the MCL tear, this round of the Cascadia Cup is likely to be missing to other wide players for the Seattle Sounders. The Vancouver Whitecaps will be without a key central defender as well. Estimating who Tom Soehn will start where has driven Massey insane as well, so their side is more of an estimate than typical.

Any day when the Captain of the Seattle Sounders can raise a cup is a good day. When Kasey Keller can raise a Supporters Cup on the grounds of the opposition it seems even sweeter. That he was handed it by a member of the Emerald City Supporters after it was handed over from the Timbers Army increases in power.

As one of the lucky ones who happened to travel to Vancouver for Saturday's Cascadia Cup game, I won't pretend to have the most nuanced view of the game. Soon enough, I'll have a full recounting of my experience, but for now I'll try to let the highlights and stats do the talking for the Seattle Sounders' 3-1 win over the Vancouver Whitecaps.

Make no mistake, a lot was riding on Tuesday's result. If the Seattle Sounders had failed to pull out a point, that would have meant they needed a result against Monterrey. No matter how weakened Monterrey may or may not be, there's just no way you want to go into a match with a Mexican team absolutely needing a result.