Well, with a little time separating us from the season I thought I would take a little time to
recount some of my favorite moments from the season, you know the ones that really stuck with me as
a relatively new soccer fan. These are sequenced in order of my preference, and are subject to my
personal memory at the time.
Sometimes I get these weird feelings, like something meaningful is about to happen.
It may be intuition. It may be linked to something that someone told me in confidence. Or, in
all honestly, these "feelings" may just be the product of too much spicy food. You never know.
Either way, I'm getting a "feeling" these days related to MLS .
If the Seattle Sounders have an East Coast rival it would be DC United. The origins are from the
strong words that the two front offices made leading up to the 2009 US Open Cup Final. The
interaction between the two blogs on the network have been nearly as vicious as the games on the
pitch. Although the crew at Black and Red United have never stomped on my stomach.
Are you familiar enough with FC Dallas yet? If not, here's some more info about who they are and
how they will play as they enter Fortress Starfire and attempt to make history. These two sides
have met in the US Open Cup before with the USL Seattle Sounders being the team that came up short,
but that match was at then Qwest Field.
The Columbus Crew as a franchise has been historically kind to the Seattle Sounders in their
short MLS history. They've never beaten the Sounders, either at home or away, and their losses have
been some of Seattle's most memorable wins. Last season, a 4-0 win over the Crew in Columbus was
the most emphatic of the season.
When FC Dallas made history last week by beating UNAM Pumas in CONCACAF Champions League play,
becoming the first MLS team to win an official match in Mexico in the process, the question
immediately became how long would it take for another MLS to pull off the feat.
It took less than a week.
Full slate of games in Major League Soccer and WPS. Before we get our regular look at
attendance, here are a couple of other business stories from the weekend. One quick note. Special
thanks to the folks at World Football Daily and American Soccer Show for having me on in the last
couple of days to talk about some of the big business issues in American soccer.
Sure, the Colorado Rapids hold the MLS Cup and got to meet President Barack Obama at the White
House, but let's not fool ourselves into thinking they are a good team. They come to this match
merely average, much as they were last year. Yes, they've had some injuries that have reduced their
effectiveness, as well as having them count on Tyrone Marshall for 14 starts and Sanna Nyassi for 5
starts.
Having allowed the Portland Timbers to walk into Qwest Field (now CenturyLink Field) and come
away with a 1-1 draw on May 14, Sunday's 3 p.m. (CT) rivalry rematch at Jeld-Wen Field is even more
significant for the Seattle. Timbers Insiders calls it Love Fest '11
The All-Star First XI, as determined by the fans, will be announced during the ESPN broadcast of
of the game Sunday.
The Seattle Sounders enjoyed a 4-2 win over the New York Red Bulls last night
at Qwest Park.
While most of the soccer world or at least the soccer region around here will be fixated on the
US-Mexico game in the Gold Cup this weekend, others will be watching the 10 Major League Soccer
games schedule between today and Sunday. Yes, there are 10 matches left on the slate this week.
With so many games there will be plenty to talk about so let's not waste another moment
here.
Seriously. While the majority of the story in the Kitsap Sun was concerned about how this game
could move the needle on the other side of the Puget Sound, Waite said:
"Realistically for the good of soccer in the Puget Sound, this game should be played here,"
Pumas owner Robin Waite said.
Welcome to the New England Revolution vs. Chicago Fire live game thread! Tonight will be the
Revs' third match in seven days and their second straight at home before a cross-country trip to
Qwest Field next weekend. The Revolution targeted six points from this home stand but will need a
win here to salvage four over that two-game span.
It looks like there will be a new playing surface on Qwest Field in 2012, although the chances
of it being grass are almost nil, according to comments Seattle Sounders GM Adrian Hanauer made to
Don Ruiz of the News Tribune:
In the meantime, I think it's highly likely that we will speed up the process and regularity
with which we would change the synthetic.
Attendance for 11 games in Week 13 exceeded the season average as Kansas City weclomed an overflow
crowd for its first game at its new stadium and six other teams drew more 18,000 fans. For MLS
attendance rankings ...
* After playing its first 10 games on the road, Kansas City moved into its brand-new Livestrong
Sporting Park and drew 19,925 for a scoreless tie in a stadium whose capacity is listed as 18,467.
Vancouver has plenty to cheer about as the Canucks could beat the Bruins this Wednesday to take
the Stanley Cup. And Eric Hassli gave the city's soccer fans a delicious treat over the weekend
scoring without doubt MLS's goal of the year. The stunned look of disbelief sweeping across Qwest
Field says it all.
Another busy soccer weekend here in the States, with MLS, WPS and Gold Cup action. Before we
take a look at attendance, there are a couple of other stories worth noting. We'll start in
Portland, where the Timbers have cut a great pair of commercials with their presenting sponsor
Alaska Airlines.
Mais um jogo amistoso, foi disputado no dia 28/05/2011, na cidade de Seattle-USA, no Qwest Field,
onde jogaram as seleções do México (28º no ranking da FIFA) e a seleção do Equador (64º no
ranking da FIFA).
Antes desse jogo, as 2 seleções jogaram:
Copa do Mundo2002Miyagi 09/06/2002 MEX2:1 (1:1)ECU Group matches
Copa América2007Maturin 01/07/2007 MEX2:1 (1:0)ECU First stage2004Piura 13/07/2004 MEX2:1 (2:0)ECU First
stage1997Cochabamba 22/06/1997 ECU1:1 (1:1) 3:4 PSOMEX Quarter-finals1993Quito 30/06/1993 ECU0:2
(0:1)MEX Semi-finals
AmistososGuadalajara 04/09/2010 MEX1:2 (1:1)ECU
New York/New Jersey 07/05/2010 MEX0:0ECU 2008Phoenix 12/11/2008 ECU1:2 (1:0)MEX 2007Oakland
28/03/2007 ECU2:4 (1:1)MEX 2004New York/New Jersey 27/10/2004 MEX2:1 (1:0)ECU 2004Tuxtla Gutierrez
10/03/2004 MEX2:1 (2:1)ECU 2000San Diego 20/09/2000 MEX2:0 (1:0)ECU 1999Houston 27/10/1999
MEX0:0ECU 1999Monterrey 14/04/1999 MEX0:0ECU 1997Mexico City 05/02/1997 MEX3:1 (2:0)ECU 1996Oakland
23/10/1996 ECU1:0 (0:0)MEX
O árbitro desse jogo, foi: Edwin Jurisevic-EUA
O primeiro gol do jogo, foi de Jorge Torres Nilo, aos 7 minutos do primeiro tempo, ele que é
jogador do UANL-MEX, seu primeiro gol pela seleção nacional.
HASSLI 29´p. (0-1), ROSALES 81´(1-1), ALONSO 84´(2-1), HASSLI 85´(2-2). El Derbi del Noroeste
produjo noche drámatica en el Qwest Field de Seattle con un gol espectácular del delantero Eric
HASSLI dos minutos después que Osvaldo ALONSO le había dado la ventaja a Los Sounders FC sobre
Vancouver Whitecaps.
By CALEB SONNELAND
What started out as a tight match with only a handful of goal-scoring opportunities turned into
a goal fest as the Seattle Sounders and Vancouver Whitecaps slugged out a 2-2 draw.
In the second installment of the Cascadia derby, the Vancouver Whitecaps made the trip down to
Seattle to take on its nearest MLS rival at the Sounders' Qwest Field.
The other team in the Cascadia Cup rivalry is often overlooked. The Vancouver Whitecaps fans are
just hard to hate. The Southsiders in their brief MLS history have conflicted with their
front-office over seemingly small things, like who gets to travel here this weekend. In the
USL/A-League era they, like Seattle, had a small but dedicated group.
By CALEB SONNELAND
After having its home unbeaten run ended the week before by Seattle, Real Salt Lake recorded a
comfortable 2-0 win over the Vancouver Whitecaps after goals Jean Alexandre and Fabian Espindola
claimed all three points for the home side.
Alexandre put in a Man of the Match performance after turning from goal-scorer to provider for
both goals on either side of the halftime whistle.
Steve's first blog about the injury
Steve, all around great guy that he is, has written a long and heartfelt blog about his road to
recovery. I believe he will continue to update us, but this gives us a look behind the scenes at a
few things that we would not have otherwise known. The thing that jumped out at me the most is this
quote:
"One of the people I always look to for advice concerning football issues is my former
teammate and friend, Pete Vagenas.
On a busy soccer Saturday (Champions League Final, Mexico v Ecuador at Qwest, Sounders v Real
Salt Lake) the University of Washington released its soccer schedule for the coming fall. It is a
schedule that should help their RPI come tournament selection time with Dawgs playing 2010's #4
(Cal), #6 (SMU), #8 (UCLA), #21 (Tulsa) and #34 (Florida Gulf Coast) all ranked higher than they
were.
Some of the luster is off of Real Salt Lake. They lost the CONCACAF Champions League 2nd Leg at
home, they lost their MVP candidate and have drawn their last two matches. None of these mean that
they are even just an average team. They are still quite good, but the Seattle Sounders have a few
things going for them in that RSL has been hit by the Gold Cup already.
Full power tonight after some downed wires made posting impossible yesterday. Every so often,
we take a look at how various media are covering soccer in the United States. We thought now was a
good time to take a look at some mainstream sports outlets.
We'll start with Sports Illustrated, where the most recent edition of the magazine to hit the
newstands included a four page spread on the Cascadia rivalary.
The Seattle Sounders are at home at Qwest Field once again, and this time they'll be taking on
one of the hottest teams in MLS in FC Dallas i a key Western Conference showdown.
Despite the loss of MLS MVP David Ferreira, Dallas has been riding a stingy defense and the
goalkeeping of Kevin Hartman to a six match unbeaten streak.
It's a busy week in Sounders land with FC Dallas coming to town before the boys in rave green
head off to Rio Tinto to face Real Salt Lake. Today's guest is Drew Epperley of WV Hooligan, SB
Nation Soccer and (most applicable to today's episode) Big D Soccer, SB Nation's FC Dallas blog.
Drew will talk about how FC Dallas has managed to keep rolling right along in the wake of losing
reigning MLS MVP David Ferreria for at least the majority of the season and give some insight into
what Dallas might be looking for out of this game.
El defensor de Los Sounders FC Jeff PARKE fue elegido como el Mejor Jugador de la Semana de la MLS
se anunció esta mañana. PARKE anotó de cabeza el único gol del partido entre Sounders y
Sporting Kansas City el Sábado pasado en el Qwest Field. A un minuto de sellar el 0-0, el Sporting
[...]
Seattle Sounders FC defender Jeff Parke was voted Major League Soccer Player of the Week by the
North American Soccer Reporters for Week 10 of the 2011 MLS season.
Parke headed home the game-winning goal in stoppage time to lift his team over Sporting Kansas
City 1-0.
Parke is the first defender to win this award since Chad Marshall in Week 22 of the 2009 season,
and he narrowly edged out Philadelphia striker Carlos Ruiz for this week's honor.
PARKE 93´ (1-0). Se repitió la historia de hace una temporada. Empate a cero con el mismo rival,
tiempo de descuento, Qwest Field, pelota detenida desde la banda derecha. Tyson WAHL envió un tiro
de esquina hacie el centro del area grande, cerca del punto de penal. Ahi estaba Jeff PARKE el
central que recuperaba [.
The promised rapture came and went on Saturday with no appreciable of impending doom. Of course,
there are probably some Sporting Kansas City fans who see it a little differently after Jeff Parke
scored a stoppage-time goal to give the Seattle Sounders a 1-0 win. It was the second straight time
that SKC had lost at Qwest on a late score.
By CALEB SONNELAND
SEATTLE - After a week filled by the war of words between Seattle Sounders coach Sigi Schmid and
Portland Timbers coach John Spencer, both managers were finally able to step out of the spotlight
and focus on the MLS preparations for the weekend against Sporting Kansas City and the Columbus
Crew, respectively.
According to Kerith Gabriel of Philly.com, and the Daily News, the friendly between the
Philadelphia Union and Real Madrid has been finalized.
The Union will play Madrid on July 23 at Lincoln Financial Field, three days after the Union
play English Premier League side Everton in a friendly at PPL Park.
There's a line of thinking that developed out of the Seattle Sounders community called "trophies
not friendlies" and has been trumpeted by the fine folks at Sounder At Heart for a long time now.
The thought is that MLS needs to focus on enhancing its reputation and significance in order to
gain media coverage, prominence and popularity.
Philadelphia and Seattle could battle at a later date if the Union get their way. (Getty
Images)
It is that time of year again, the summer of friendlies here in America. Major League Soccer is
doing things bigger and better this year by scrapping the worthless SuperLiga tournament in place
of the World Football Challenge.
I hope everyone is dried out from the storms drenching Qwest field this weekend. The 1-1 tie
against the Portland Timbers was a bit of a let-down for sure, but it was a decent result
considering the huge hit injuries have had on the Seattle Sounders. One thing that certainly wasn't
a let down was the massive tifo put together by the ECS for the match.
Mike Woitalla of Soccer America writes of the large crowds in Major League Soccer this past
week.
Week 9 games averaged nearly 2,000 more fans than the previous week as Seattle's Qwest Field
filled for the "Cascadia Cup" against Northwest rival Portland and set a season record.
The Cascadia rivalry gets most of the attention in MLS, but Dallas and Houston are doing their
best to promote the matches between the two teams. The Dynamo recently purchased a billboard
mocking Dallas' lack of championships and prominently showcasing the two Dynamo trophies. Houston
is not the first MLS franchise to purchase an ad in opposing territory, but this represents the
first battle in what promises to be a season long PR war between the teams.
