We can't imagine Fredy Montero will be left exposed, who will join him in the protected list? (Getty Images)

Only a couple more clubs left to preview here for the expansion draft. Now we turn our attention to a previous expansion club, one that has set the standard for all expansion clubs to come, the Seattle Sounders FC.

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The Galaxy weathered two power outages, a disallowed goal by Andrew Hainault, and a dominant Dynamo display in the second half to score two extra time goals.

Landon Donovan becomes the MLS all time leader in goals scored as he converted the penalty after Alan Gordon was brought down by Ricardo Clark in the box.

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Having a full day off I thought I would share the links that are out there of interest to Sounders fans and those that read the site, as well as a recap of the Sounders FC weekly radio show on 710 ESPN.

First TOA v NuRock is getting to a boiling point. Yep, hints of legal issues as well. Oh, and the Timbers?

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Well, we didn't win. Houston took our best shot and is still standing. A couple thoughts on last night's game.
1) Houston is *way* more talented than we are, up and down the field. Brad Evans played out of his mind last night, Ljungberg had a good game, our defense was ok, Keller earned his paycheck, that was for sure. Click to continue reading...

Will Fredy Montero deliver?

Seattle Sounders vs Houston Dynamo, Thursday, 29th October (10 p.m. ET; ESPN2, Deportes)

Who is rooting for Seattle in the playoffs? C'mon Seattle! Today, Qwest Field sold out with 35,700 in attendance to watch the Sounders play the Houston Dynamo in the MLS playoffs.

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After a second half of the season that was a tad weird to say the least, Dynamo get a chance to put on their Tri-umph faces and Lay It on the Line for that third title.
I think this video above truly expresses my feeling about Seattle tonight. And while the truth is I have never once flipped the toggle on an XBox, or done a 360 on top of one, I know for a fact that an Orange Ring of Death exists on those consoles, and that's what I am expecting to see over these two legs, starting tonight. Click to continue reading...

On a night that the Sounders FC organization honored their record-breaking fans, the team on the field gave the crowd something to appreciate.
The Sounders beat FC Dallas 2-1 on second-half goals by Nate Jaqua and Brad Evans Saturday night, terminating the playoff dreams of the Texas team in the last match of the regular season. Click to continue reading...

That line is from Sigi Schmid, but I think it relates to so many of us after this first season. I know it personally feels that way. Last night, with all of the pomp, with the win, it was one of my favorite days of my young life that didn't involve family (yes, [...] Click to continue reading...

Everyone that reads this site knows how important this match is for the Sounders and their ability to make the MLS Cup Playoffs. It is even more important for Kansas City, would be eliminated with a loss. KC was so poor early in the season that they fired their coach, and it hasn't [...] Click to continue reading...

Sounders have another off-week. A week in which they will be watching scoreboards and working on tactics. Probably the biggest decision will be who to start as the other Forward with Montero, who to put on the Right Wing and followed by how to use the Central Midfielders. These decisions have really [. Click to continue reading...

New England represents so many of the problems with MLS 1.0. They are treated like step-brother by their NFL partners, a minor tenant in a stadium that should be beautiful. This game though will feature a team that on the pitch has scraped together through adversity and managed to teeter on the edge [. Click to continue reading...

Sigi Schmid has created a tremendous culture within the Seattle Sounders FC, and his players buy into what he is preaching.
A great example of this is Brad Evans - after returning from a stint with the US National team at the CONCACAF Gold Cup, he found himself out of the lineup after Peter Vagenas had stepped into his role. Click to continue reading...

While many of you are waiting for today's UEFA Champions League action to kick off, here are some more answers to questions submitted in the most recent Q&A.

It's a small batch, eleven answers to be exact. The topics range from the Columbus Crew, to future U.S. national team managers what's on my TIVO, to Chris Rolfe's impending departure from Chicago.

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DC United proudly display the word "tradition" on their back collars. There isn't another MLS club that could do so. They have earned it. There was an idea that they carry 12 trophies means that they deserve the 13th and that expansion franchises will never deserve respect propagated on the net, somewhat [. Click to continue reading...

Creepy Jose, on finally realizing we were giving Terry Cooke a tryout:

Some of you alerted me to this the last couple of days, and to be honest I just dropped the ball and never even noticed Cooke was out there until today.

Honestly, it's a lot worse than that. Click to continue reading...

Fredy Montero leads Seattle tonight against New England. (Getty Images)

As mentioned yesterday, this week is loaded with MLS action. Tonight we get another primetime clash on ESPN2 as the Seattle Sounders FC host the New England Revolution.

This is a big match for both sides, New England is looking to prove to the rest of the eastern conference and the league for the matter that they are a playoff worthy club.

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The day's top Western Conference clash pits the red-hot Los Angeles Galaxy against the struggling Seattle Sounders.

The Galaxy will be without the services of Landon Donovan, who is being held out as he battles the H1N1 flu virus (and the fatigue of having played in the USA's World Cup qualifying loss vs.

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I have to say that as the summer is winding down and the kids are almost back in school, I am getting a bit late and lazy with these previews. Last weekend I was sick as a dog, but this weekend I have no excuse. I promise to do better in the future! And much love to my co-blogger Nathan for writing entertaining and thorough post game analyses.

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Earlier we opened up the pregame analysis with a look at the defensive five in Bruce Arena's current 4-1-3-2 system. Those five have been quite effective defensively, limiting their opposition to the second fewest shots and second best goals against average in the league. But this match is a marquee crusher because of the Galaxy [. Click to continue reading...

Over at the SSE, the author is not too happy with some of the Seattle players after the 4-0 drubbing in San Jose.
The pathetic result and embarrassing performance are one thing, but ignoring your fans that have traveled hundreds of miles to support you is inexcusable.
Sigi wasn't impressed with the players' cold shoulder either:

"They kept it going," Schmid said [of the fans].

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Seattle travels down to the Bay Area to face San Jose for the third match this season with the Heritage Cup on the line, while many would think this is a match made for victory it is not. What it is is an average home team hosting an average road team. While victory [...] Click to continue reading...

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The USA-Mexico rivalry is ready to resume today as the the U.S. national team takes on 'El Tri' in the CONCACAF Gold Cup final at Giants Stadium today (3pm, Fox Soccer Channel/Univision).

The Americans are looking to win a third straight Gold Cup while Mexico is looking to win its first match vs.

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Today, the game features the best road team visiting the 2nd best home team. Chicago is dealing with some extensive losses (McBride, Pause, Soumare, Segares) while Seattle only deals with the loss of Brad Evans. While Fire fans have confidence from their home draw against Seattle early in the season, let us remember that good [. Click to continue reading...

Continuing our coverage of the US Open Cup coverage tonight...
You can follow all the action at MLSR partner www.USOpenCup.com and follow them on Twitter.
The following match preview comes courtesy of ProstAmerika Soccer:
Houston Dynamo Arrive with More Hands on Deck

Cameron and in form Boswell Available for League Leaders June 21 - Prost Amerika

Brad Davis who was considered by many to be the best opponent Sounders have faced this season (not counting Chelsea), appears to have recovered from the bout of flu that kept him out of Houston's 1-1 draw in Toronto.

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The U.S. national team will be looking to take a step closer to a third straight CONCACAF Gold Cup title today when it takes on Panama in the quarterfinals.

These teams have met in the past two Gold Cups, with the Americans winning the 2005 final via penalty kicks, and the 2007 quarterfinals in a tight 2-1 match.

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The U.S. men's national team will face Panama for the third-straight CONCACAF Gold Cup on Saturday (8pm, Fox Soccer Channel) in Philadelphia, with a spot in Thursday's semifinals on the line. The Americans will field a very short-handed squad against a Panama team that has some talent but will still come in as the underdogs.

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The U.S. men's national team will face Panama for the third-straight CONCACAF Gold Cup on Saturday (8pm, Fox Soccer Channel) in Philadelphia, with a spot in Thursday's semifinals on the line. The Americans will field a very short-handed squad against a Panama team that has some talent but will still come in as the underdogs.

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There have been a lot of additions and departures with the current Gold Cup roster. It's all been pretty hard to follow. Here is the list of who is thought to be in camp for the next game (though there are more players who could be called in for the weekend):

Goalkeepers: Troy Perkins, Luis Robles, Jon Busch
Defenders: Heath Pearce, Clarence Goodson, Chad Marshall, Jimmy Conrad, Jay Heaps
Midfielders: Kyle Beckerman, Robbie Rogers, Logan Pause, Stuart Holden, Colin Clark, Brad Evans, Davy Arnaud, Sam Cronin
Forwards: Charlie Davies, Kenny Cooper, Brian Ching, Santino Quaranta

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President Obama welcomed the Columbus Crew to the White House on Monday to celebrate the team's 2008 MLS Cup title. The event was a reunion of sorts, as Ezra Hendrickson, Brad Evans, and Pat Noonan rejoined their former teammates. Also in attendance was current Sounders head coach Sigi Schmid, the architect behind the Crew's surprising turnaround and championship run. Click to continue reading...

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                                                   Photo by ISIphotos.com

Defenders Michael Parkhurst and Steve Cherundolo are the latest U.S. national team players to leave the Gold Cup squad to return to Europe, meaning U.

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                                                   Photo by ISIphotos.com

Defenders Michael Parkhurst and Steve Cherundolo are the latest U.S. national team players to leave the Gold Cup squad to return to Europe, meaning U.

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As you may have noticed, the experts weren't very consistent about supplying player ratings during the group stage. So while there was never enough data about a single match, I decided it was worthwhile to do group-stage reviews of all the ratings that players received. So, here are the group-stage ratings for each player organized by position.

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Today's training session featured smaller numbers, as a few players departed camp while Brad Evans, Chad Marshall and Robbie Rogers joined up with the Columbus Crew for a visit to the White House in Washington D.C. We went to the Philadelphia Eagles training complex, which as you can see from the above photo, is close to where we'll be playing Panama on Saturday night (you can see Lincoln Financial Field in the background above the trees). Click to continue reading...

It was a game that didn't have much meaning from a results standpoint (at least not for the Americans), but the U.S. national team's 2-2 tie vs. Haiti on Saturday certainly still had plenty of value for the United States.

Along with giving head coach Bob Bradley a chance to see every player he hadn't seen in the team's first two matches, it also helped provide the U.

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Three points against the league leaders. Destiny in the hands of the Rave Green. A match where the depth of each side was tested, and it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who has followed this league for more than a few months that the two clubs at the top of the table [...] Click to continue reading...