Freddie Ljungberg and Osvaldo Alonso were huge additions to Seattle and to MLS this year. (Getty Images)

Everyone knew going into the 2009 season that the new kids on the block would make a splash. Just the kind of splash the league needed in some folks eyes. The Seattle Sounders FC came into the year not as a typical expansion club.

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Fredy Montero leads the charge for the expansion Sounders. (Getty Images)

The playoffs are finally here and tonight they kickoff with a bang up in the Pacific Northwest as the Houston Dynamo travel to Qwest Field to face the Seattle Sounders FC in a big first leg western conference semi-final series.

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If form matters, then Dallas is the one team that the Sounders don't want to face. Since September 1st they earned 16 points, best in the league. Sounders though are tied for 3rd with 10 points over that same stretch. Much of their success has been credited to one Jeff Cunningham, who [...] Click to continue reading...

Its that time of the year, the season is nearly complete and the league has handed out it's ballots for voting for their season awards. Yes today I received an email with a link to my online ballot for voting this year. I have to admit I wasn't expecting it to come this week but since the season ends this weekend it makes sense.

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Good evening folks. It's been a rather slow day around the soccer world but there has been plenty of talk on one subject that has been pretty hot since late August, the possibility of a MLS-2. But more on that in a bit. And I have a link about SuperLiga below that is definitely worth a read.

I wanted to kickoff tonight's thoughts/links with another look at the season awards.

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Montero and Hurtado look to be staying put as a part of MLS for a little while longer.
According to Jose Romero at the Seattle Times (click here for his interpretation of the Enlajugada.com article with the original translated by Google here), Deportivo Cali has sold the remaining portion of Fredy Montero's rights to MLS. Click to continue reading...

Some good news perhaps this morning for Seattle Sounder FC fans. Reports out of Columbia say Deportivo Cali president Rodrigo Otoya came to the U.S. with VP Cesar Caicedo where they negotiated the transfer of Cali's portion of Montero's rights to Major League Soccer.

From what we already know, Montero wants to be in Europe and Cali nearly sold his rights to Europe this summer.

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I was going to pick out some interesting facts about the All-Star Game and make some lists out of them (three Colombian MLS All-Stars: Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Fredy Montero, Wilman Conde). But I thought it might be more valuable to readers just to have the rosters, especially Everton's. So here they are:

EVERTON FC
Carlo Nash, goalkeeper, Bolton, England
Tim Howard, goalkeeper, New Brunswick, N.

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MLS All Stars 3 1 Chivas (Mexic0)

MLS All Stars 4 1 Fulham (England)

MLS All Stars 1 0 Chelsea (England)

MLS All Stars 2 0 Celtic (Scotland)

MLS All Stars 3 2 West Ham United (England)

MLS All Stars ? ? Everton FC (England)

Wednesday night the MLS All Stars look to continue their perfect record when they've faced off against other professional teams from around the world.

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Real Salt Lake midfielder Will Johnson and Chicago Fire defender Bakary Soumare have been added to the MLS All-Star roster as replacements for Houston Dynamo forward Brian Ching and New England Revolution midfielder Shalrie Joseph.

Johnson replaces Joseph, who has been diagnosed with bone bruising in his right knee.

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Dominic Kinnear named his five selections to the MLS All-Star Team this afternoon, adding a sixth pick as a replacement for Columbus Crew midfielder and reigning MVP Guillermo Barros Schelotto, who will not take part in the game after suffering a hamstring injury.
Not surprisingly, the Houston Dynamo head coach named three members of his own squad to the team: forward Brian Ching, midfielder Brad Davis and goalkeeper Pat Onstad. Click to continue reading...

Many MLS fans decry the All Star Game. They aren't used to it. Unlike the Playoffs, this is something without a parallel in world football. This is purely an Americanization. Frankly I like it. The voting is proper. No matter how much fans stuff the ballot the First XI are basically the top [...] Click to continue reading...

Something to read while you watch Jose Bosingwa learn not to hog the FA Cup celebrations... World Cup Qualifying LiveBlog on (USA WCB)* The 101 best goals of the season, according to (101GG) Cheats! (SoccerLens) Michael Owen will sue you if you say he's finished (WAAtP?) Interview with Jhon Kennedy Hurtado (Seattle Offside) Alan Shearer's £1 shop (The Spoiler) Players with more [. Click to continue reading...

Colorado Rapids striker Conor Casey is leading Major League Soccer's race for the Golden Boot, but Real Salt Lake midfielder Kyle Beckerman is making a run at the league's Golden Ankle award.

He is tied for the league lead with five yellow cards in 11 matches.

So as the Rapids prepare to travel to Utah to face RSL on Saturday, The Tuesday List looks at yellow cards and fouls.

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Though there's one motor gone We can still carry on Comin' in on a wing and a prayer That's not a Bon Jovi reference, but a WW II song. Ok, really its a mixed metaphor for both. In this case Sounders FC is doing some things very well, but in other areas they struggle. That's where [...] Click to continue reading...

After another US Open Cup Qualifier win on Tuesday Sounders look to end their league match draw streak at four and pick up three points with a win over Sigi's old club. Sounders fans can take solace in the fact that Columbus has an even rougher schedule as they played at home Wednesday and [...] Click to continue reading...

Fan voting is under way for this years MLS All Star Game. Just like with other all star games sometimes the fans of one team can dominate the voting. Luckily for everyone that is not on the Seattle Sounders FC roster the fans vote only count 25% of the final tally to determine the starting 11.

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That's the message right there. The team expects the game to be called a certain way, and clearly to this point it is not. Throughout the match on questionable fouls a Sounder would go down a little easily and then look up for help from the referee. Most often this was from [...] Click to continue reading...

If James Riley is a hothead I don't know. What I do know is that he was Red Carded, and earned two yellows and fines in the last two weeks for his violent conduct on the pitch. What I also know is that due to the tactics that Coach Schmid employs concerning Riley [...] Click to continue reading...

As I continue to look at the tactics and strategy of Major League soccer and specifically the techniques of Coach Sigi and Sounders FC. As I perused the Sounders roster, media guides and what-not I discovered that possibly the person outside of the Schmid family that knows the most, is someone who has just [. Click to continue reading...

Real Salt Lake defender Jamison Olave (MLSNet.com)

Jamison Olave, Fredy Montero, and Jhon Kennedy Hurtado are three players that have been able to bloom early in the MLS season. This is great news for those proponents of the approach to bring young Latin American players to the fray.

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To borrow from the impressive five section TIFO from the Emerald City Supporters, last night the latest chapter in the Seattle Sounders legend started. It started with a March on the Match, the pre-game celebration, an enormous crowd that Harkes considered on par with Europe, but most importantly a THREE - NIL victory over [. Click to continue reading...

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