Steve Ralston heads home to St. Louis

Earlier today, AC St. Louis of the new NASL announced the signing of Steve Ralston as a player and assistant coach for their upcoming inaugural season. The former New England Revolution and MLS original decided to leave the Revolution after a new contract could not be worked out.

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Still two months from their first match of the 2010 regular season, the Seattle Sounders FC has already set a new MLS record for average home attendance, based on the number of season tickets sold for the upcoming season. The club announced on Wednesday that they are setting the cap for number of season tickets available for purchase from 22,000 to 32,000 and that less than 1,000 of those remain. Click to continue reading...

Yes that is not a typo. The Seattle Sounders have announced that less than 1,000 season tickets remain for the 2010 season. The 18-match season-ticket package includes 15 regular season matches and three international friendlies to be played on the Xbox Pitch at Qwest Field.

"Our fans demonstrated their passion and commitment to the team by creating one of the best home field advantages in all the MLS," said Sounders FC owner Joe Roth.

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The Washington State Senate and State House of Representatives both passed resolutions this past Friday honoring the achievements of Seattle Sounders FC in their first year as a Major League Soccer club. Sounders general manager Adrian Hanauer and goalkeeper Kasey Keller were both on hand for the event. Click to continue reading...

(AP Photo)

Galaxy 2 Houston 0

Game story.

It was a weird ending to a weird season that started with a franchise in shambles, a new coach, 16 new players, seemingly interminable and in some cases lucky draws and a very public spat between the team's two superstars.

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If you've been anywhere near Major League Soccer this season you will have heard of the Seattle Sounders FC, the league's newest club. Not so much for what they've done on the field--this being MLS most clubs do pretty much the same thing--but for the attention they've attracted locally.
The team is a massive hit in the Pacific Northwest, where it has become a pop culture phenomenon. Click to continue reading...

Kansas City dropped a 3-2 result to Seattle Sounders FC tonight at CAB after falling behind early and surrendering a late lead. The Wizards had been eliminated from playoff contention earlier in the day by other results but could have put Seattle's playoff future in question with a win. As it turned out, Sounders FC clinched a playoff berth after a great performance from Designated Player and #10 Freddie Ljungberg. Click to continue reading...

The Wizards fell to Chivas USA 2-0 tonight, limiting our faint chances for the MLS Cup Playoffs. With Columbus beating NE earlier in the day, we had a chance to pull within three points of the final playoff spot but could not get three points at The Home Depot Center, something that is never easy for the road team. Click to continue reading...

Our boys came back from a 1-0 deficit to tie Houston today at Robertson Stadium, but three points were really needed to put us back into the picture for the MLS Cup Playoffs. We're six points behind New England with three games remaining, but there are four teams between us and the Revs. Zoltan scored a beautiful goal for his first in a KC uniform, and Lopez recorded his 8th assist of the season on the play. Click to continue reading...

Background: Diego Serna spent six years in MLS. When he first arrived here from Colombia, he did quite well and was even named to the 2001 MLS Best XI. But, his last few years were marred by injury and unproductive. In 2000, prior to the decline of his career, Serna did set one infamous MLS record though.

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An absent David Beckham. An invisible Landon Donovan. A Galaxy loss.

The Galaxy went meekly down 2-0 to the Columbus Crew Saturday even though the co-MLS leaders rested the likes of reigning MLS MVP Guillermo Barros Schelotto, former Galaxy striker Alejandro Moreno and Rolling Hills Estates' Robbie Rogers ahead of Tuesday's CONCACAF Champions League game against Costa Rica's Saprissa.

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After outshooting Colorado 18-12 and controlling most of the possession, the Wizards tied the Rapids tonight 0-0 at CommunityAmerica Ballpark. Mixed results around the League in terms of our playoff hopes, as the late NE win doesn't help, but the late Chicago tie does. Chivas has scored at the beginning of the second half at home to NY. Click to continue reading...

Background: It is fitting that this is the only picture of Daniel Peinado I could find because his career was pretty unremarkable. The fact that there is no picture of him on the field (just in training) is ironic. Peinado didn't play a ton in MLS, but he did take the field one day in late April 1997 against the Los Angeles Galaxy.

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FC Dallas striker Jeff Cunningham is Major League Soccer's Player of the Week for Week 26 after scoring twice and assisting on two of the other goals in Dallas's 6-3 win over the LA Galaxy. This is his third POTW Award in 2009 and his twelfth all-time. That's an MLS record. 2009 MLS Player of the Week Winners WEEK 1: Fredy Montero (Seattle Sounders FC) WEEK 2: Kasey Keller (Seattle Sounders FC) WEEK 3: Conor. Click to continue reading...

That's right folks, we come away from a daunting three-game in eight-day trip to the East Coast with six points. PV, for one, was not satisfied with the haul. He told multiple reporters after the game that he felt we should have taken all nine. Check out the notables below, with plenty on Josh Wolff's latest tally and Kevin Hartman's exploits. Click to continue reading...

The Wizards dropped game 2 of the East Coach roadie 1-0 tonight to D.C. United at RFK. The guys generated multiple quality opportunities in the first half, but we couldn't put one away. Next up is New York on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. CT on Metro Sports.
· Kansas City is now 13-17-8 all-time against D. Click to continue reading...

Here's a little interview I did with Fire defender Brandon Prideaux after last Wednesday's training session. The 33-year-old Prideaux is retiring at the end of 2009 to become an assistant coach at his alma-mater, the University of Washington. Our conversation touched on a lot of topics; including his future plans, his infamous MLS record, and the 2009 Fire season.

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When a soccer player turns thirty-five, it is generally considered that his best days are behind him. There are exceptions to the rule and Steve Ralston [left] would be one of them. His goal in Saturday's match that helped the New England Revolution beat the San Jose Earthquakes 2-1 is his seventh of the MLS season. Click to continue reading...

We dropped another one 1-0 tonight, extending our goalless streak to 424 straight minutes. In the process, we outshot RSL 17-5, including an 8-3 advantage in shots on goal. Chris Seitz made seven saves, and Fabian Espindola cleared Zoltan's late header off the goal line to preserve a 1-0 victory in the 5th minute of second-half stoppage time. Click to continue reading...

Wizards backstop Kevin Hartman is up for the MLS Save of the Week after his two-stop effort during the first-half last Saturday against San Jose. Go vote! You can see the save here.
Saturday night, Kevin became the first goalkeeper in League history to reach 1200 saves. Hartman made five saves on the night, extending his MLS record for career saves. Click to continue reading...

Chris Wondolowski's late snap header earned San Jose all three points Saturday night in a game that had been dominated by the goalkeepers until that point. Hartman made five saves to reach 1200 career stops. He is the first goalkeeper in MLS history to reach that mark. Cannon made seven saves for the clean sheet. Click to continue reading...

Tonight the Chicago Fire will play the LA Galaxy in Chicago. Game is live on ESPN2 at 8pm central time. Unfortunately I won't be able to watch it... because I am going to the game!!

I haven't been to a live game in a long time and I am looking forward to seeing some of my old teammates and friends in the Fire's front office.

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The Wizards dropped a 2-0 result Sunday to the 2nd place Chicago Fire at CommunityAmerica Ballpark in Peter Vermes' first game as Technical Director/Interim Head Coach. Chris Rolfe opened the scoring in the 13th minute, with Mike Banner sealing victory in the 89th. Zoltan made his Wizards debut in the 63rd minute, showing some nice touch and high work rate before he was shown a red card in the 85th. Click to continue reading...

Forward Jeff Cunningham of FC Dallas had one of the finest performances of any single player in MLS history last weekend against Kansas City at Pizza Hut Park. The journeyman striker would score four goals in the match and double his total to eight on the year putting him in contention with the league's best.

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That one sure stings. Not the way we wanted post #999 at Hillcrest Road to go. Hopefully post #1000 will be a little more cheery. Well, you guys saw the result. It was 6-0 to FC Dallas. Take a look at the notables below, and feel free to use the comment section. That's what it's there for. Highlight of the night is that Kevin Hartman made his 100th consecutive MLS start. Click to continue reading...

Nick LaBrocca celebrates scoring in the second half of the Rapids' 4-0 victory over New York on Saturday night in Commerce City. (photo by Jonathan Ingraham/ColoradoSoccerNow.com)

Four players scored as the Colorado Rapids poured water on a drowning team, dousing the New York Red Bulls 4-0 on Saturday night at Dick's Sporting Goods Park.

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Chicago earns draw, nearly pulls off upset in closing minutes
The script would have been perfect for Chicago Fire defender Brandon Prideaux:
The Renton, Wash., native playing in Seattle, in his final Major League Soccer season, in his 241st game without having scored a goal (an MLS record), and getting a chance in the closing minutes to put an end to that string and give Chicago a late lead in front of a packed Qwest Field. Click to continue reading...

Turns out DC's streak of eight consecutive home games in the US Open Cup is an MLS record, but not a tournament record. The Rochester (Raging) Rhinos played 11 straight games at home from a quarterfinal loss to Charleston in 2004 to a 2nd-round win over Pittsburgh in 2008.

The Rhinos went 7-2-2 in those 11 games, but never made a final.

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Do you remember the game last year where Juan Pablo Angel and Danleigh Borman scored their first goals of the season? Well, it was against Los Angeles in the city of Angels, and it resulted in a 2-1 win over the Galaxy.

That was the teams very last win on the road.

Here is a look back at the 20 games that have cemented their way into the MLS record books:

DYNAMO 1 - RED BULLS 0 - 5/31/08

This was the tame loss the Bulls endured at the hands of Houston last season, before they took it to the orange the rest of the way.

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Chicago defender's 2009 campaign is his last
On Tuesday, Chicago Fire defender Brandon Prideaux announced he is retiring following the team's 2009 Major League Soccer campaign.
Prideaux has played in 240 games and is 64 minutes away from reaching 20,000 minutes on the pitch, or nearly the equivalent of playing soccer for two weeks straight without a break. Click to continue reading...

Word out of Austria is that Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz is growing tired of Red Bull New Yorks struggles on the field and the significant decline in attendance that the team has experienced this year. Head Coach Juan Carlos Osorio was given free reigns this offseason to reconstruct the team but all it has produced is a 2-8-3 start the worst in franchise history. Click to continue reading...

The Fire go down to their perennial nemesis, Dallas and their loss ends an unbeaten 11 game streak, one shy of an MLS record.

Goals from Jeff Cunningham, an own goal by CJ Brown, and Kenny Cooper, gave Dallas an easy, 3-0 win over the Fire.

The second half turned scrappy with 6 yellow cards and Bakary Soumare's 79th minute ejection.

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Rolfe scores winner late in 1st half; Busch makes 10 saves
Chicago Fire midfielder Chris Rolfe scored the lone tally and goalkeeper Jon Busch came through with 10 saves as the Fire defeated the New York Red Bulls, 1-0, on Sunday afternoon at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. Click to continue reading...

Week 10 (05/20)

Last Week's Ranking in Parenthesis...

1. Chivas USA (1):Â A tie is a poor result for the Goats, but they are still sitting pretty on the top of the table.
2. Chicago (4): Still unbeaten, the Fire are the best squad, except the stingy Goats.

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Josh Wolff now has 36 goals in league play for KC, moving him past Davy Arnaud for 3rd on that list.
Wolff's 68th career goal in MLS play tying him with Edson Buddle for 15th all time.
Wolff's 94th start in league play for KC, moving him past Mark Chung into sole possession of 16th place. Click to continue reading...

It was a wild weekend in Major League Soccer. The Seattle Sounders got back to winning games, RSL hammered the Revolution 6-0 and DC United had an amazing comeback to beat the New York Red Bulls.

Sounders FC 2, San Jose Earthquakes 0
Kasey Keller returned from a one-game red-card suspension to post his fourth straight shutout and set an MLS record as the Sounders FC beat the Earthquakes.

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Seattle beat San Jose, 2-0 yesterday. Steve Zakuani scored a goal and assisted in the second, as the Sounders maintained the best start in MLS history for an expansion team. In that game, goalie Kasey Keller broke the MLS record for the most minutes played without conceding a goal.

The Congolese winger, a London transplant is turning out to be a key player for Sigi Schmid's aspirations and is justifying Seattle's faith in picking him first in the MLS draft as he decided to forgo the last two years at the Univ of Akron.

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Chivas USA took control of the Western Conference and the top of the MLS overall table, while the Chicago Fire and New England Revolution are both still unbeaten and at the top of the East, after Week 5 of the Major League Soccer season.
At The Home Depot Center, Chivas USA were leading the Western Conference and the overall table after three wins and a draw to open the season, just a point ahead of Sounders FC, who had started their history with three shutout victories before their first loss the weekend before.

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Briefly:

*Former Galaxy goalkeeper Kevin Hartman, a product of UCLA, has donated his game-worn jersey and gloves from the Kansas City Wizards' March 28 game against the Colorado Rapids that saw him set an MLS record mark of 1,137 saves to the National Soccer Hall of Fame.

"Every player dreams of being in the Hall of Fame," said Hartman, who attended high school on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

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Colorado Rapids forward Conor Casey was named Major League Soccer's Player of the Week after scoring the second quickest goal in League history and finding the net two more times in the 3-2 win over Los Angeles. Casey scored 16 seconds into the game. Dwayne De Rosario holds the MLS record when he scored in 11 seconds in 2003. Click to continue reading...