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K+S Word
Wednesday, September 12, 7:30pm
Bazi Bierbrassiere, 1522 SE 32nd Ave
Free to the public (21+)
(Attendees are encouraged to make a $5.00 donation at the door to OPI or bring a pair of new or slightly used men's, women's, or kids soccer cleats.)

There will also be an OPI raffle with amazing items from:
Collins Lake Resort, Ski Bowl, Rack Attack, Portland Timbers, Bazi, TA No Pity Van, Green Flag, The BeerMongers, Snowrider PDX, Underdog Sports Leagues, Rise and Shine: The Jay Demerit Story, XI Quarterly, Dave Knows Portland, New Deal Distillery, Gigantic Brewing Company, Steven Lenhart Photography, Disklandia Poster Art, Douglas Zimmerman Photography, Author Alon Rabb, Green Drop Garage, Pele Sports, The Garden Spout.

Teams around MLS at the first third of the season were worried about the forward pairing of Thiery Henry and Kenny Cooper. They were as good as can be. It was a big-small style of pairing with Henry playing behind Cooper and doing it as well as couple be done. Then emerged Chris Wondolowski and his duel pairings.

I've got nothing this week. Cascadian win? Zakuani's return? Mario Martinez? I covered all of that last weekend. So this opener is a little lackluster. Sorry. I'll be better next time.

Top Drawer Soccer has some excellent coverage on the college players looking to enter MLS over the next few years.

It sure didn't take long for the San Jose Earthquakes to climb back atop the ladder.

More late heroics gave San Jose a 2-1 win over the Seattle Sounders on Saturday, pushing the Earthquakes back to the No. 1 spot in this week's SBI MLS Power Rankings after they had been dethroned the week prior by the Houston Dynamo.

Saturday night's 7:30 PM KONG televised game between the Seattle Sounders FC and the San Jose Earthquakes could be Seattle's last chance at the top of the Western Conference. With the one game in hand, two games against the 'Quakes and only seven points difference, this is the chance that any team asks for within their season.

I was ready to let Saturday go. I really was. The breaks are the breaks. Head referee Chris Penso called for 5 minutes of extra time in this past weekend's Chicago Fire vs. San Jose Earthquakes game but Chris Lenhart was able to score a goal in the 98th minute of play anyway. I'm sure somewhere down the line the Chicago Fire will benefit from a time keeping error (perhaps this was even cosmic payback for a mistake in the past).

Coming in to last night's game against the San Jose Earthquakes, nobody was really sure which Timbers team would show up. Would it be the team that battled and earned wins against the likes of Sporting Kansas City and the Seattle Sounders or the confused group that was torched for three goals only three days before by the Colorado Rapids?

One of the more insignificant downsides of Saturday's draw, I was a mere seconds away from being able to make a Tony Robbins reference in the headline of this post. I actually saw them preparing the coals for this. They were burning them on a bridge downtown. That's what you get for being stupid enough to listen to Tony Robbins, San Jose.

Remember when I said this week was gonna be hectic? Well here's your proof. It's a few hours from game day and I'm just not putting up my preview interview form earlier this week. This also means that tonight we'll use an abbreviated match thread.

In any case, I was lucky enough to interview Robert Jonas of fellow SB Nation blog: Quake, Rattle and Goal to help us figure out exactly who this San Jose side is, and why they're so damn good right now.

Good morning and welcome to this Monday edition of Musket Rounds. We have kind of a meager lineup for you today, but that doesn't mean the quality of the news has dropped; far from it. It's just Monday, and it's right after yet another ugly New England Revolution loss, so perhaps our hearts just aren't in it today.

With the whirlwind that was yesterday and the close of the transfer window behind us, it's time to look forward to tonight's game. Unfortunately I didn't hear back from the Quakes blog editor for a 3 questions exchange. Instead, I am here this morning to bring you a preview with a few things I will be looking for in tonight's match up.