We can't imagine Fredy Montero will be left exposed, who will join him in the protected list? (Getty Images)

Only a couple more clubs left to preview here for the expansion draft. Now we turn our attention to a previous expansion club, one that has set the standard for all expansion clubs to come, the Seattle Sounders FC.

Click to continue reading...

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.

Click to continue reading...

The regular season is over and the playoffs are the order of the day in Major League Soccer. Surprise qualifiers Real Salt Lake made themselves known in the first leg of their tie with Supporters Shield winners Columbus Crew, while all four conference semi-finals were even matches with little to separate the sides. Click to continue reading...

Major League Soccer's playoff hopefuls went into the season finale with a whole host of possibilities ahead of them. And without wishing to put too fine a point on it, they all crapped the bed. Here's what happened in a spectacular, surprising and decisive Week 32, the final week of the MLS regular season for 2009. Click to continue reading...

STARTERS
What does Dan Loney thing of the LA v Chivas playoff series: "Ideally, this would be a Loser Leaves Town match. If the Galaxy wins, Chivas moves. If CUSA wins, Beckham never returns. I could handle that." Read the whole thing here. Pure genius.
MLS PLAYOFF NEWS
I cocked this one up pretty bad - I woke up this morning and realized that I had forgot to link to the only MLS Playoff Preview you need to read - from Paul Demko at Bunky County. Click to continue reading...

There was plenty of huffing and puffing in Seattle Thursday - here former Galaxy striker Nate Jaqua and Houston's Geoff Cameron challenge for the ball - but no-one blew anyone's house down in the scoreless draw. (AP Photo) The first game of the MLS playoffs are over and neither Chivas USA nor the Galaxy are any closer to knowing who the winner of their semifinal will face in the Western Conference Championship.

Click to continue reading...

 Â

Photo by ISIphotos.com

With apologies to the LA SuperClasico series, there is perhaps no MLS playoff series this year more intriguing and more tough to call than the Houston Dynamo-Seattle Sounders series.

The two-time MLS Cup champion Dynamo take on the expansion Sounders in a young rivalry that showed plenty of promise during the season.

Click to continue reading...

 Â

Photo by ISIphotos.com

With apologies to the LA SuperClasico series, there is perhaps no MLS playoff series this year more intriguing and more tough to call than the Houston Dynamo-Seattle Sounders series.

The two-time MLS Cup champion Dynamo take on the expansion Sounders in a young rivalry that showed plenty of promise during the season.

Click to continue reading...

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.

Click to continue reading...

Thursday night the Sounders launch the league's second season as the Playoffs in many sports are called, but in this case it might be particularly important. Though Houston and Seattle faced off twice in League play and once in the late rounds of the US Open Cup, the teams have changed quite a bit from where they were in previous meetings.

Click to continue reading...

STARTERS
Don Garber will take calls on Fox Football Fone-In show on Mon Oct 26 from 6-8pm Central. Jesse Marsch of Chivas USA is also scheduled to appear.
dN
Minnesota Thunder GM Djorn Buchholz has left the team to become CEO of the Austin Aztex. On a personal note Buchholz has been a fantastic person to deal with at the team and will be greatly missed by me as a fan of the team. Click to continue reading...

On a night that the Sounders FC organization honored their record-breaking fans, the team on the field gave the crowd something to appreciate.
The Sounders beat FC Dallas 2-1 on second-half goals by Nate Jaqua and Brad Evans Saturday night, terminating the playoff dreams of the Texas team in the last match of the regular season. Click to continue reading...

That line is from Sigi Schmid, but I think it relates to so many of us after this first season. I know it personally feels that way. Last night, with all of the pomp, with the win, it was one of my favorite days of my young life that didn't involve family (yes, [...] Click to continue reading...

One of the final weeks of the regular season has come and gone but the goals were definitely spot on for week 31 in Major League Soccer. Below are some of the best.

Order: George John, Maykel Galindo, Brandon McDonald, Justin Braun, Josh Wolff, Nate Jaqua, Luciano Emilio, Jim Brennen, and Fabian Espindola.

Click to continue reading...

It took a lot longer than I think many people expected it to, but the Wizards are now officially eliminated from the playoff race. The Wizards were eliminated before they even took the field against Seattle after Toronto's win over Salt Lake yesterday. Still it wouldn't have mattered, as the Wizards blew another lead and once again lost at home, this time to Seattle, 3-2 last night. Click to continue reading...

MARSHALL 27´ HERCEFALVI 51´ WOLFF 53´ LEVESQUE 69´ JAQUA 76´ ¡Play-Offs! Fue casi predecible. Mas de un fanático de Los Sounders FC debió alzar los brazos y gritar el gol que nació de los pies de Freddie LJUNGBERG. Freddie se desbordó por la banda derecha tan rápido que al entrar al área de Kanas City y girar hacia su izquierda para acercarse [. Click to continue reading...

Chivas USA 1 San Jose Earthquakes

Chivas USA really should be firmly ahead by this stage of the game after a typical Maykel Galindo breakaway goal gave them an early advantage they failed to build upon. Giving up a relatively soft equalizer was not what Preki envisioned.

Chivas USA saw a Justin Braun header cleared off the line in the 36th minute and a lashing Michael Lahoud shot from the top of the penalty box arc well saved by a leaping Andrew Weber a minute earlier.

Click to continue reading...

Thank you Jim Mora. He was right. No team wants to talk about the Playoffs. They just want to win more games. Now, for the Sounders that includes a Playoff game, preferably at least three. This match was another where the Sounders played well enough to double their goal scoring total, and also played maybe the [. Click to continue reading...

Everyone that reads this site knows how important this match is for the Sounders and their ability to make the MLS Cup Playoffs. It is even more important for Kansas City, would be eliminated with a loss. KC was so poor early in the season that they fired their coach, and it hasn't [...] Click to continue reading...

I'm still as certain as ever that while Sigi has been employing the Arrow formation with a defensive midfielder and a box-to-box man the offensive woes of the team are such that finding a way to get five offensive players on the pitch rather than the 4.5 to 6.5 ratio that exists now is vital. [...] Click to continue reading...

In all the drama around the USL mess (NuRock v the TOA - sounds WWE) much of the speculation is about how and sometimes why MLS is involved. Let's address the why first. Major League Soccer and Soccer United Marketing control 99% of all revenue generating soccer in the country. From the [...] Click to continue reading...

Sounders have another off-week. A week in which they will be watching scoreboards and working on tactics. Probably the biggest decision will be who to start as the other Forward with Montero, who to put on the Right Wing and followed by how to use the Central Midfielders. These decisions have really [. Click to continue reading...

GBS is returning to MVP form, that is dangerous for everyone else. (Getty Images)

A full weekend is upon us here as we head into the final month of the season. Once again we have a weekend that has a lot of playoff implications from top to bottom. Can the spoilers like KC and San Jose step up and bring down some clubs gunning for the playoffs?

Click to continue reading...

New England represents so many of the problems with MLS 1.0. They are treated like step-brother by their NFL partners, a minor tenant in a stadium that should be beautiful. This game though will feature a team that on the pitch has scraped together through adversity and managed to teeter on the edge [. Click to continue reading...

Many will like to look at this match and say the Sounders played better than Chivas and so deserved to win. I'm a results focused guy though, they tend to actually wind up in the standings and the trophies. Teams either earn results or they don't. In this case Zach Thorton earned the results. He [. Click to continue reading...

Seattle needs another big game out of Fredy Montero this weekend. (Getty Images)

There's not too many more weekends left in the 2009 regular season. Week 27 is a full one as we gear towards the playoffs in a few weeks. With so many clubs still in contention the action this weekend should promise to be very good.

Click to continue reading...

Seattle Sounders burst in through the saloon doors in March, chewing lazily on tobacco as they stood proud in front of the regulars and declared their intention to take Major League Soccer by storm.

The old boys weren't pleased, but had to respect the Sounders' testicular fortitude. Columbus Crew scowled from a bar stool with MLS Cup perched on the counter.

Click to continue reading...

Sure, it feels like we've all been here before, maybe because of that great US Open Cup Win! But it is not Groundhog Day. This is a league match against an opponent that is ahead of the Sounders on the current table and are now pacing for 5th and 45 points. A win would also [...] Click to continue reading...

Tonight's the night in Washington D.C. as the Seattle Sounders face D.C. United in the U.S. Open Cup final at RFK Stadium (7:30pm, Fox Soccer Channel).

Seattle will be severely short-handed defensively, with starting defenders Jhon Kennedy Hurtado (suspension) and Tyrone Marshall (injury) out.

Click to continue reading...

Tonight's the night in Washington D.C. as the Seattle Sounders face D.C. United in the U.S. Open Cup final at RFK Stadium (7:30pm, Fox Soccer Channel).

Seattle will be severely short-handed defensively, with starting defenders Jhon Kennedy Hurtado (suspension) and Tyrone Marshall (injury) out.

Click to continue reading...

Landon Donovan and Paulo Nagamura battle in the third and last SuperClasico of the year. (Getty Images)

We have another loaded week of soccer ahead of us. Week 24 got off to a bang earlier in the week in Salt Lake as Real Salt Lake got their playoff chances back on track with a resounding 4-0 blowout of expansion mates Chivas USA.

Click to continue reading...

Great, great blog stuff gathered by Jose over at The Times. Apparently the team had a bunch of little campers in training and revealed some fun facts.
Here are the highlights:

• Taylor Graham -- I think he said he likes giraffes and Sasquatches.
  
• Zach Scott -- is a world class bowler.

Click to continue reading...

Congrats to my boy Nate for breaking his 6 game goal scoring drought!

What did you think of the offside goal not allowed??

JM

Click to continue reading...

Plenty of good goals this past week in Major League Soccer. Some were better than others but that is for you all to decide. I've took out what I thought were some of the best from this past week including one hat trick.

Order of video: Geoff Cameron, Nate Jaqua, Kheli Dube (hat trick), Juan Pablo Angel, Dax McCarty, Dane Richards, Chris Wondonlowski, Sacha Kljestan, and Landon Donovan.

Click to continue reading...

El punto en Texas CAMERON 36´             JAQUA 70´ Pocos minutos antes que Los Sounders FC empataran el partido, Steve ZAKUANI se había perdido quizás el gol mas fácil de su carrera. Freddie LJUNGBERG, recuperado de sus problemas de salud y tomando las riendas del equipo, [. Click to continue reading...