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Osvaldo Alonso was a real difference-maker against DC United. The Sounders are hoping it's a
preview of things to come down the stretch.
Alvaro Fernandez joins Seattle after a solid World Cup run with Uruguay. (Getty Images)
We talked a week or so back about this move and how much it makes sense, now its official.The
Seattle Sounders FC have announced the signing of their third Designated Player, midfielder Alvaro
Fernandez, who played for Uruguay in the recent World Cup in South Africa.
The Seattle Sounders announced on Thursday that Switzerland National Team player and current FC
Twente captain Blaise N'Kufo will be joining the club after the World Cup. N'Kufo is a regular with
the Swiss National Team. He has seven goals in 29 appearances with Twente. In 2002-03 he was a
teammate of US National Team player Steve Cherundolo at Hannover 96.
Blaise N'Kufo, a rock solid forward previously with Eredivisie champs FC Twente, will join the
Seattle Sounders after he plays for Switzerland in South Africa. N'Kufo is the real deal, a strong
#9 and a leader on the pitch. Look for him 15 July when the Sounders are in Washington, DC playing
DC United.
Just got off a conference call with newest Sounder Blaise Nkufo and coach Sigi Schmid.
Not a whole lot to report of massive import, but it does sound like Nkufo will suit up against
DC United, although he probably won't start. Schmid made it sound like there's a decent chance he
could come off the bench if the circumstances are right.
By JOSE M. ROMERO
The team that Blaise N'kufo will suit up for, perhaps as soon as tonight, might not be the team
the Swiss international figured he'd line up with.
Injuries are a part of that, but N'kufo will be a veteran among plenty of youngsters when the
Seattle Sounders take the field against D.
By JOSE M. ROMERO
The team that Blaise N'kufo will suit up for, perhaps as soon as tonight, might not be the team
the Swiss international figured he'd line up with.
Injuries are a part of that, but N'kufo will be a veteran among plenty of youngsters when the
Seattle Sounders take the field against D.
Colorado is on the rise. (Brian Stevens)
I hate to say my thoughts and notes for this week will be kept rather brief. I honestly wasn't
able to view a lot of this past weekend's action other than highlights though I did jot a few notes
down that I did gather from what I did see.
Seattle's Hot Feet, Columbus Struggles
I don't know what is bigger, Blaise Nkufo going from near-bad DP status to solid all in one game
OR the fact that the Columbus Crew have been dominated in league play for two straight games giving
up seven goals in that time.
We are really heading into the playoff push here after week 25. There were plenty of games that
had playoff implications this past week and none of them seemed to disappoint. We had some changes
in the rankings as some teams moved up and a few others moved down.
The biggest fall continues to be the Columbus Crew who lost a bad 4-0 game at home to Seattle
this past week.
Blaise Nkufo and Seattle hope to end Toronto's playoff chances this weekend. (Getty Images)
The playoff picture could be a whole lot clearer after this weekend. Three teams have the chance
to clinch spots in the post season while we'll likely be able to see another couple be eliminated
from contention.
Last night's action featured the mother of all competitions in American soccer the U.S. Open Cup
Final. The Cup, which has crowned the best soccer clubs in the country since 1914, has been one of
the great constants in American sports.
And yesterday evening, a record-breaking crowd of 31,311 at Qwest Field, witnessed history, as
the Seattle Sounders became the first repeat champions since New York Pancyprian Freedoms you
remember them won it back-to-back in 1982 and 1983.
The Seattle Sounders have completed the signing of Swiss national team striker Blaise Nkufo, the
club announced on its team website on Thursday.
Nkufo is currently the captain of Dutch champions FC Twente and will join the Sounders after
this summer's World Cup. The deal had been in the works for six months as the Sounders and Nkufo's
agent, Oliver Wyss of W3 Sports Management finalized the deal this week.
The Sounders have officially signed Swiss international forward Blaise Nkufo, and his addition is
the final piece to Seattle's roster puzzle. Nkufo's skillset matches up perfectly with what Seattle
was lacking last season. The Sounders didn't really have a target man on the squad, and were forced
to at times play Freddy Montero up top in a role he really isn't suited for.
Major League Soccer's 16th team will take the field for the first time tonight when the
Philadelphia Union makes its debut in the MLS season opener vs. the Seattle Sounders (9:30pm,
ESPN2).
The Sounders head into their second year looking to build on a very successful inaugural season,
and are considered by many (including SBI) as an MLS Cup title contender.
While the transfer window is far from open, the fact is that play is done in many European
leagues and contracts are coming to an end. With the new DP rules that allow up to 3 on a given MLS
side, and the impending arrival of Blaise nKufo the Sounders are obviously going to be looking to
improve on their side on July 15th.
In our discussions with Blaise we encouraged him to take a full two weeks off once he returned
from the World Cup. His first training date is scheduled for July 13 and he is eligible to be added
to the roster on July 15.
From Team Press Release
Adrian Hanauer on the impending arrival of Blaise Nkufo.
Boskovic should make all the difference tonight for D.C. (Getty Images)
Oh the Thursday night clash on ESPN2. This week's game is a pretty interesting one too with
Seattle Sounders FC travelling to RFK Stadium to face D.C. United.
Both clubs sit in 7th place in their respective conferences and each will be getting some new
faces on their rosters tonight now that the summer transfer window is open.
More photos » Otto Greule Jr - Getty Images
How to feed the Blaise? GGet him the ball!
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Blaise Nkufo was expected to dominate MLS play.
Most weeks, picking the MLS Player of the Week is easy.
Not this week.
Seattle's Blaise Nkufo, Toronto FC's Dwayne DeRosario and Los Angeles' Landon Donovan all
enjoyed stellar multi-goal performances to help lead their teams to victories, and they each would
easily win player of the week most other weeks.
Welcome to first Espresso of October, the final month of the regular season. As we all know, the
month of October can be especially cruel, as the wannabes are weeded out, leaving the only the
legit alive at the end.
One of those wannabes was Toronto, who were given a 3-2 shellacking from Seattle last night.
View full size photo »
We are definitely guilty of some wishful thinking this week. No offense to Nate Jaqua, but we
are really hoping to be surprised and see Michael Fucito starting alongside Blaise Nkufo this
week.
Victor Decolongon - Getty Images
As the season started with set-play failures, so it ends.
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I'm probably going to look at both legs, because this game was really the second half of a 180
minute match.
Just a few things of note to consider before the expansion draft today.
1. Expansion teams have right to negotiate player contracts. Yes some players
up for grabs today are out of contract and were unprotected for a reason by their clubs. Portland
and Vancouver can still pick them and will have the first right to negotiate contracts (up, down,
or the same) with the player.
Blaise Nkufo, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado Receive Green Cards
Apparently, Steve Zakuani wasn't the only Sounders player to receive his green card this month.
The Sounders website just reported that Blaise Nkufo, who has only been in the country since July,
and Jhon Kennedy Hurtado have also been given green cards.
First, Blaise mentioned that one of the things he and Kasey talked about back in December was
that the team went through a scoring drought. The Sounders know this, and as of today, they are
addressing it. This summer in the secondary window they will add a player with over 200 goals in
his long career.
Philadelphia was not quite ready for prime time last night as they dropped a 2-0 result to Seattle.
Toni Stahl's red card before halftime definitely didn't help, but Seattle was in complete control
of the match from the opening whistle. The Sounders' counterattack was in fine form, especially
through Steve Zakuani down the left side.
Just something to get you a little more pumped for World Cup. Hey, and Blaise N'kufo even makes
a cameo.
Practice went a little longer than usual Tuesday, a not-so-subtle message from coach Sigi Schmid
that performances like Saturday's 4-0 loss are not acceptable.
Another not-so-subtle message from the training session: The presence of Nate Jaqua and Blaise
N'Kufo, and what those two players can do to help the Sounders resurrect their season.
Abelimages - Getty Images
Sanna Nyassi had his best game yet for the Rave Green, creating several scoring opportunities
and playing strong on the defensive end.
View full size photo »
Fredy Montero got the biggest highlight in Saturday's game.
Switzerland just finished up co-hosting a lovely European Championships, one won by Spain, and
they were rewarded for their efforts with...Spain.
Certain teams were going to get the luck of the draw, and Switzerland wasn't on that list.
They'll open up their World Cup festivities with the tournament favorites, a game where even a
close loss will have to be considered a success, before meeting the high-flying Chileans, their
biggest competition for that second spot and a team generating an awful lot of hype at the
tournament.
Can the World Cup break and Swiss striker Blaise Nkufo come fast enough the struggling
Sounders?
TP
1
Diego BENAGLIO 08/09/1983 P Wolfsburgo (GER)2
Stephan LICHTSTEINER 16/01/1984 DF
Lazio (ITA)3
Ludovic MAGNIN 20/04/1979 DF FC Zurich (SUI)4
Philippe SENDEROS
14/02/1985 DF Everton (ENG)5
Steve VON BERGEN 10/06/1983 DF Hertha Berlin (GER)6
Benjamin
HUGGEL 07/07/1977 MC Basilea (SUI)7
Tranquillo BARNETTA 22/05/1985 MC Bayer Leverkusen
(GER)8
Gokhan INLER 27/06/1984 MC Udinese (ITA)9
Alexander FREI 15/07/1979 DL Basilea
(SUI)
(foto)10
Blaise NKUFO 25/05/1975 DL Twente Enschede (NED)11
Valon
BEHRAMI 19/04/1985 MC West Ham Utd.
My most loyal readers know that I rarely get emotional. They know that I look at games in terms
of match-ups, in terms of tactics, strategy and formations. Today, I can not, and will not do this.
The match between the USA and the England is just too important, and too emotional.
Thankfully Richard Farley wrote this kick ass preview here.
By now you have probably seen the list of salaries for every player in the league. In at least
one case a player was discovered to have been signed through the release (this year a Dallas
HomeGrown Player, two years ago Le Toux). But we can also start to discover some patterns in the
data on a league wide basis, as well as how the Sounders manage their roster.
By TRAVIS CLARK
The World Cup has been starved for goals. With the last two teams set to kick off, can Spain --
touted by many as favorites to hoist the Cup -- reverse this trend when they take on Switzerland
(ESPN, ESPN3, 10:00am)?
World Cup success has eluded La Furia Roja, and today will be their first test of how they live
up to the hype.
Spain 0-1 Switzerland Shock defeat for World Cup favourites is a post from: Just Football
A great team performance by the Swiss and a shock result nobody had imagined. Ottmar Hitzfeld
got his tactics spot on, keeping it narrow, and making sure his team stayed organised and
disciplined throughout a style being employed by many teams so far as they look to avoid defeat in
their opening games.
I plan to join the team as soon as possible. I am really excited to wear the Sounders
jersey.
Blaise Nkufo sits down with SoundersFC.com
El delantero Blaise NKUFO se unirá a Los Sounders FC a partir del próximo martes 13 de Julio y
estaría disponible para jugar contra el Celtic FC en partido de exhibición el domingo 18 de Julio
en el Qwest Field. Su primer partido oficial con el uniforme Sounders podría ser contra Colorado
Rapids, el 25 [.
FC Twente fans unveil statue of Blaise Nkufo. h/t Joshua Mayers of Seattle Times.
