SoccerBlogs

As the pursuit of Christian Tiffert continues on, the Seattle Sounders have another, potentially bigger, transfer on their minds: Espanyol's Joan Verdu. With several Spanish outlets already reporting they are "very interested," Sounders GM Adrian Hanauer confirmed that the 29-year-old is a player they have been tracking for some time.

Adrian Hanauer (left) will have his job voted on by the fans. (Getty Images)

One of the most talked about things surrounding the Seattle Sounders as an expansion team was the notion that every few years their fans would be able to vote on their General Manager's position.

It turns out that time has come.

On the heels of what could reasonably be called a breakout performance in the Olympics, interest has rightfully grown in presumed future Seattle Sounders midfielder Mario Martinez. I say "presumed" because some reports out of Honduras have surfaced that suggest Martinez has been weighing other options and that his deal with the Sounders is not entirely finalized.

Adrian Hanauer made one point crystal clear when discussing the series of events that resulted in the Seattle Sounders trading Alvaro Fernandez and signing Christian Tiffert: That wasn't exactly how they wanted it to play out.

If the transfer window had gone according to plan, the Sounders GM said he would have figured out a way to keep Fernandez under the team's control, while also adding their new German playmaker.

Ever since the Seattle Sounders started talking about being open to adding a Designated Player during this transfer window, speculation ran rampant about who might be moved in order to make room. If a report out of Colombia is to be believed, it appears that player is Alvaro Fernandez. The reports, which remain unconfirmed by official sources, suggest Fernandez would go to Colombia's Deportivo Cali on a one-year loan.

If the Seattle Sounders are to become the first team to win four straight U.S. Open Cups, there is a decent chance they'll need to do it on the road.

That doesn't sit well with GM Adrian Hanauer, who expressed a fair amount of frustration over the fact that the Sounders apparently lost a coin-flip to Sporting Kansas City because their blind bids were determined to be identical by the U.

The seven-game winless run has not gone unnoticed by Seattle Sounders leadership. I had a chance to catch up with Sounders GM Adrian Hanauer earlier this week and he made it very clear that something is going to have to change. That might be the Sounders simply playing better, but he's clearly not ready to just sit on his hands and hope that happens.

There's a tendency with home team highlights to overfeature their own team's success. Even in a five-nil win, some could claim that the Seattle Sounders highlight package ignores some of the great play of Cal FC. But that would assume that Cal FC produced highlights. When a team only completes one pass inside the opposition's 18 and only takes four shots on the game what should be featured?

This week's show is a little different than any of our past shows (well, they are all little unique snowflakes, but you get our larger point hopefully). Instead of a soccer-centric guest, we invited Warren Etheredge (@thewarrenreport) onto the show. You may remember Warren as the "annoying" guy who interviewed Seattle Sounders GM Adrian Hanauer on his show "The High Bar.

Could Nesta make an impact in MLS? (Getty Images)

I don't think the silly season (as they call it) ever really ends. Today the word around water cooler is that of Italian great Alessandro Nesta.

Nesta is set to finish up at AC Milan here in a few days, minutes, hours, whatever and now he has his sights set on America.

I traveled to Austin, TX, last week, as NFL invited me to speak on a panel to their digital teams about how we're using social media at MLS. I was excited and humbled to have been invited; the NFL is one of the organizations I'm constantly looking to for ideas and inspiration (did you see the social media command center for Superbowl?

Huge news coming out of MLS HQ today, just days before the kick off of the 2012 season.

As we all know, in the past, MLS has not had the best reputation with regards to refereeing. In fact, some would call it downright abysmal. I'm one of those people. More so than anything else in the sport, I hate losing due to a shitty referee call.

Pretty much everyone in this country would agree the system is broken.

And pretty much everyone is WRONG!

Wrong about precisely what it is that's broken. You see, everyone just parrots the reasons the status quo protectors sell them. But the real problem is the status quo protectors themselves.

With MLSSoccer.com reporting that the New England Revolution are planning on taking Juan Toja with their first pick in the current allocation order and that they are entertaining offers for the services of the Colombian play-maker, there has been talk around the Internet that the Timbers should make a play of their own.

On the way out of the main stand of Starfire tonight I caught a glimpse of Sounders Women GM Amy Carnell, and she looked delighted. It's easy to understand why. Though we never got official attendance numbers, the stadium was clearly at capacity, with the stands on both sides of the field full and more people spilling onto the surrounding grassy hills or watching from behind fences.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell suspended Sean Payton for the 2012 season due to a bounty system that paid players to injure opponents. However, the head coach of the New Orleans Saints has decided to appeal the suspension. While the appeal is being listened to, Payton will remain head coach.

That said, expect Goodell to expedite the appeal.