Win or Go Home

The deciding game of a two leg aggregate when the first leg ended in a tie of nil-nil. An important reminder. There is no away goal rule, so if the 90 ends in a tie we go to extra time of two 15 minute halves. From there it goes to PKs in the 5 and 5 format to start.

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I finally got to this. There shouldn't be any surprises, but the depth chart is obviously switched right now. Forward: Montero, Ljungberg, Jaqua, Levesque, Le Toux Left Wing: Zakuani, Ljungberg, Levesque, Le Toux Right Wing: Jaqua, Ljungberg, Levesque, Le Toux Center Mid: Evans, Vagenas, Alonso Defensive Mid: Alonso, Vagenas, Ianni Left Wingback: Gonzalez, Scott, Wahl Right Wingback: Riley, Evans, Ianni Centerbacks: Hurtado, [. Click to continue reading...

I finally got to this. There shouldn't be any surprises, but the depth chart is obviously switched right now.

Forward: Montero, Ljungberg, Jaqua, Levesque, Le Toux
Left Wing: Zakuani, Ljungberg, Levesque, Le Toux
Right Wing: Jaqua, Ljungberg, Levesque, Le Toux
Center Mid: Evans, Vagenas, Alonso
Defensive Mid: Alonso, Vagenas, Ianni
Left Wingback: Gonzalez, Scott, Wahl
Right Wingback: Riley, Evans, Ianni
Centerbacks: Hurtado, Marshall, Ianni, Wahl

Rotationals are the following four in order of likely appearance: Levesque, Vagenas, Le Toux and Ianni

The coaches likely see the team as 15 deep at this time.

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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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The Major League Soccer playoffs began on Thursday, October 29, 2009 with the Seattle Sounders FC hosting the Houston Dynamo. It was a sold-out and very loud crowd of 36,000 at Qwest Field in Seattle for the match. Here's a full recap of the match along with video highlights.

Seattle Sounders FC draw with the Houston Dynamo 0-0 Video Highlights (will be added later)

1st Half

Houston had the first great chance of the match as Stuart Holden sent a corner into the box and Andrew Hainault headed the ball just wide of goal.

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The Seattle Sounders will make their MLS playoff debut tonight against the two-time MLS Cup champion Houston Dynamo in the opening match of their Western Conference playoff series (10pm, ESPN2).

The Sounders are new to the playoffs as a club, but have plenty of experience across the board, from two-time MLS Cup-winning coach Sigi Schmid, to European soccer veterans Kasey Keller and Freddie Ljungberg.

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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...

The third edition of the Superliga has come and gone, and I was interested in determining the top scorer across the history of the competition. Without further ado, here is everyone that has scored more than one goal:
Landon Donovan Los Angeles 4
Alan Gordon Los Angeles 3
Ante Razov Chivas USA 3
Armando Pulido Tigres 3
Arturo Alvarez FC Dallas 3
Kheli Dube New England 3
Shalrie Joseph New England 3
Stuart Holden Houston 3
Abdoulie Mansally New England 2
Bobby Boswell Houston 2
Brian McBride Chicago 2
Carlos Ruíz FC Dallas 2
Chris Klein Los Angeles 2
Corey Ashe Houston 2
Cuauhtémoc Blanco Chicago 2
Dwayne De Rosario Houston 2
Francis Doe DC United 2
Itamar Da Silva Tigres 2
Jose Rodolfo Reyes San Luis 2
Juan Pablo Rodríguez Santos Laguna 2
Luciano Emilio DC United 2
Luis Gabriel Rey Atlante 2
Matías Vuoso Santos Laguna 2
Nate Jaqua Houston 2
Omar Arellano Chivas 2
Rafael Márquez Lugo Pachuca 2
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Another Loss for Seattle
by: Dan Doucette
Well it's another disappointing game for the Sounders. The start was again but, it's seams that the sounders have to score within the first 15 minutes to worth anything at all for the rest of the match.They seem to get too frustrated too easily. Click to continue reading...

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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The latest Major League Soccer Power Rankings for this week are out and the Columbus Crew have climbed to the top after a rough start while the New York Red Bulls continue to be the worst team. Overall the playoff races in both conferences are getting very close and almost every team still has a chance at earning a spot.

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Heading into tomorrow's Dynamo v. Sounders match in the Emerald Rain Forest, let's take a look at this team and you tell me what you notice (aside from the fact that's it's a nine-person side with six defenders)
Ching-Weaver
Holden-Cameron-Barrett
Hainault-Robinson-Boswell-Waibel
What I am seeing is, if you were to plug another midfielder there and a relatively stout keeper, you'd have a side that could challenge just about any MLS team on any day. Click to continue reading...

Ok, you probably aren't yet, but you should be. Listen NOW Unless you are one of the 5,000 or so that are there. Seattle with Keller, Wahl, Hurtado, Ianni, Riley, Zakuani, Sturgis, King, Nyassi, Montero, Jaqua (that's only 1 non-rotational). Kansas city with three non-rotationals, no Lopez, no Arnaud, no Conrad. Click to continue reading...

Make your official vote for MLS Goal of the Week on MLSnet.com.

I voted for Jaqua because I think he did a lot of hard work to create his goal and it was a nice 1-2 on top of the box.

Who did you vote for?

JM

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OK, I don't feel much about this 3-0 loss. Needless to say the team was tired after 2 games in the previous 8 days and just didn't have enough in the tank for the second half. Cummings hit the woodwork a PK early, Keller stoned Clark very early, and the Sounders managed to get out to a 1-0 lead, forcing Colorado to push the game. Click to continue reading...

D.C. United came back from a second-half 3-1 defecit to draw 3-3 in front of 29,104 at Qwest Field in Seattle, Washington. It was the fifth come from behind result for United this season. Click to continue reading...

Assuming that many of the USA players who are on the World Cup qualifying and Confederations Cup rosters will not be on the Gold Cup team, here is my pool of players that I see the 23 Gold Cup players coming from.
There are 78 here in total.
Who should or should not be in my list, and who would be your first 11? Click to continue reading...

(Posting this video is horrifying to my son, to which I say, if you can't embarass your kids, then as a parent, you're just not trying hard enough!)
After a nice weekend of soccer, here are seven random thoughts heading into the week:
1. It's looking increasingly as if only an injury to someone else will get Wade Barrett back on the field. Click to continue reading...

What a goal by Jaqua!! He made that look easy, but it's not easy to make it look easy!

What did you think of the games? Who is getting your vote for MLS Goal of the Week? Feel free to share your thoughts and comments in the comments section below.

JM

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Americans Abroad / USMNT
Americans Abroad: Weekend Rewind - Soccer By Ives
Bradley Invites 24 To USMNT Camp - No Short Corners
Seven MLSers To Join MNT Camp - MLS Daily
US Squad Revealed: Talking Points - MLS Talk
Edu's Rangers Win Scottish Championship - Soccer By Ives
Whitbread The Thoroughbred Falls At The Last - No Short Corners
Onyewu's Standard Liege Repeats As Belgian Champion - Soccer By Ives
Chicago Fire
Fire 1, NY Red Bulls 0 - SlideTackles. Click to continue reading...

Well, simply it is one point on the table. My guest ratings are up at Prost Amerika. They may cause a little controversy for a 2-2 draw. My recommendations for Man of the Match would be Riley, Jaqua, Montero and Keller. All four were key to getting the road point. Sounders currently with an [...] Click to continue reading...

What's up Sounders Junkies,
Time for a little ranting about this weekend in Colorado where hopefully we can pull the three points.
No Ljunberg, Evans, or Scott means we are shuffling a little bit. Not that losing Scott bothers me, he is a huge liability right now. I think he can be a good player but right now Alonso totally covered him to the extreme when Sturgis was hurt. Click to continue reading...

Well after Jose's latest report , using the injury reports and bit more searching I am 95% certain that this is the traveling 18. Keepers - Keller, Dragovan Defenders - Marshall, Hurtado, Ianni, Wahl, Graham, Scott Midfielders - Zakuani, Alonso, Evans, Ljungberg, Le Toux, King, Nyassi Forwards - Montero, Jaqua, Levesque What is certain is that there will be at [. Click to continue reading...

The Seattle Sounders and their perfect record are on the line tonight against the visiting Kansas City Wizards. Not many folks outside of KC give the Wizards much of a chance, but you never know.

SBI readers voted to have the Chivas USA-LA match be tonight's SBI Match Commentary, but the voting was extremely close and given the circumstances of tonight's match, I have decided to switch.

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Kansas City continues their season this weekend in Seattle, where they take on the surprisingly impressive Seattle Sounders. The expansion side is 3-0 on the young season having scored 7 goals and allowed 0 in those three games. Their offense has looked powerful and their defense has looked surprisingly good in front of Kasey Keller in goal. Click to continue reading...

Edson Buddle (LA) - 13Guillermo Barros Schelotto (CLB) - 6
Arturo Alvarez (SJ) - 6
Ante Razov (CHV) - 5
Davy Arnaud (KC) - 4
Darren Huckerby (SJ) - 4
Santino Quaranta (DCU) - 4
Nate Jaqua (HOU) - 3, 4
Brad Davis (HOU) - 3
Jason Garey (CLB) - 2, 3
Stephen King (CHI) - 2
Yura Movsisyan (RSL) - 2
Mike Petke (COL) - 1
Tyler Rosenlund (TFC) - 1
Daniel Paladini (CHV) - 1
Jonathan Bornstein (CHV) - 1
Andy Iro (CLB) - 1
Bryan Jordan (LA) - 1
Will Johnson (RSL) - 1 Click to continue reading...

This according to the Soccer y Futbol blog:

"I thought we were going to get it done on Wednesday but there
have been a few lingering issues that we are trying to work out," Dynamo COO Chris Canetti wrote in an e-mail today. "The
latest proposal was shared with Nate's people this morning, and I'm
optimistic that it will come together.

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Rating: 4 (Good)
Has his European experiment scoring goals for Cashpoint SC Rheindorf Altach ended? It would appear so. According to this report he may be coming home to the Dynamo. A Dynamo team which could use another proven goal scorer. According to this report....

• On Jaqua: Canetti labeled as "serious" the talks the team and Jaqua's agent have had regarding the forward's possible return to MLS.

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Back from a (very) short vacation, Soccer y Futbol is ready to roll. Thanks to all who posted and/or updated the blog throughout the week. I will try to have all your questions - stadium news, Borgetti and Jaqua rumors... Click to continue reading...

Looks like a deal that I missed over the weekend. But better late than never to discuss it. The LA Galaxy have dealt yet another young player but this time they receive a young player. The Galaxy send struggling forward Nate Jaqua to the Houston Dynamo in exchange for defender Kelly Gray and a second [...] Click to continue reading...