The Seattle Sounders' preseason roster got just a little bit lighter as they got ready to take off for Florida and Mexico. Although the Sounders didn't officially release an updated roster, Joshua Mayers of the Seattle Times has managed to piece one together:

Goalkeepers (5): Chris Blais*, Josh Ford, Michael Gspurning, Bryan Meredith, Andrew Weber*

Defenders (10): Marc Burch, Andrew Duran#, Leo Gonzalez, Harlinton Gutierres*, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Patrick Ianni, Adam Johansson, Jeff Parke, Zach Scott, Michael Tetteh

Midfielders (13): Osvaldo Alonso, Servando Carrasco, Alex Caskey*, Cordell Cato, Brad Evans, Alvaro Fernandez, Lamar Neagle, Mauro Rosales, Andy Rose^, Amadou Sanyang, Michael Seamon, Christian Sivebaek, Steve Zakuani

Forwards (7): David Estrada, Mike Fucito, Roger Levesque, Fredy Montero, Sammy Ochoa, Babayele Soldade#, O'Brian White

* -- trialist/invitee, # -- unsigned draft pick, ^ -- acquired on draft day trade, underline -- recovering from injury with uncertain timeline

Still not a whole lot of surprises at this point.

Sigi Schmid's Seattle Sounders FC took the pitch in anger for the first time. While it may only be preseason anger, the number of cards (10 yellow, 1 red) and the puncture wound on Mike Fucito indicate that emotions were high and form was off. While the game ended with both the Vancouver Whitecaps and Sounders netting just one goal apiece, the point of these matches is not to win, but to prepare to win meaningful games.

One of the issues with depth charts and roster math is how to place players who can fill many roles. With Adam Johansson in Qatar for the opening of training camp, Seattle Sounders coach Sigi Schmid gets to test a bunch of different options at the right back role. One thing quickly clear when asked was who the leader in that role is:

Obviously Zach Scott is somebody who can play there.

The storm is over, but the need to dig my car out meant I missed session one. If you want a report on that group you will have to go to the Seattle Times or The News Tribune as they were the only print media there today. Most notably was the arrival of Supplemental Draft pick Jason Banton. Banton was still on a London schedule so he did not participate fully.

Everyone loves to know the trialists, so let's start off with the fact that Jonathan Prieto and Alex Caskey make their return to Seattle Sounders FC. Joining them are Academy Alumni Darwin Jones and two keepers in Andrew Weber (formerly of the San Jose Earthquakes) and Tyrel Lacey. The first session consisted of the draftees (except for Banton and Feighner who aren't in town yet) and a handful of returning players.

Well, at least the timing was appropriate this time ... MLSSoccer.com awarded Roger Levesque their "Celebration of the Year" for his scuba-diving maneuver against the New York Red Bulls. Former Sounder Sebastien Le Toux was given the runner-up prize for his AT&T Flash Mob dance.

That link is to Mike Fucito's page on the team. He's currently at 25$, why not help him raise money for men's health? Or just click on it so you can see Levesque, B-Rad, sParkles and the man on who we founded a church all with mustaches.

When the NCAA Men's D1 bracket was announced there was a somewhat surprising team left out of the tournament. Despite a 12-4-2 record, winning 7 of their last 8 and being 18th in the Coaches Poll the University of Washington Huskies season did not continue. First year head coach Jamie Clark did see six Huskies make all-PAC12 honors.

Seattle stands to lose an important player in the expansion draft. (Getty Images)

I don't think many folks expected to see this list so soon. With the Seattle Sounders exiting the playoffs last night after there 3-2 (on aggregate) loss to Real Salt Lake, the list had to be made. Boy, Montreal has to make the most of this too as the Sounders stand to lose one quality player.

When a perfect game was needed, the Seattle Sounders merely put forth a great game. Saturday's first leg carried over only one element, the physicality. For the most part it was matched, but in the end Real Salt Lake advanced from the two leg aggregate series. Two goals were not enough, two goals were enough for a win and honor.

It really doesn't get much worse than that folks. And, yet, as Seattle Sounders coach Sigi Schmid said in postgame comments, they were lucky they didn't lost 6-0. The Sounders were outplayed every bit as bad as their 3-0 scoreline suggests, and probably even worse than that.

Just going through the stats, there are signs of Real Salt Lake domination everywhere.

mad?Yes. Sad?Yes. angry?Yes. The thing is we need to believe we can do it , @soundersfc can score 3 or more goals at home !

Fredy Montero on Twitter

He isn't taking the loss well. He isn't giving up. Neither should you. btw - Roger Levesque was on an MLS squad that was down 2 goals going into the 2nd leg and then scored 5 to advance.

Two leg aggregate series in the MLS Playoffs favor the team with fewer games played. This has become known around MLS media circles as the "Curse of the CCL." But Real Salt Lake shouldn't take any solace in the fact that they've played fewer games. Their First XI has played in 313 more minutes than the likely lineup put forward by the Seattle Sounders.

People don't like Kenny Cooper. He is probably used to it by now. They didn't always like him in Dallas where he racked up forty goals in ninety games. They didn't always like him in England or Germany where he he was busy with a broken ankle. They didn't always like him here in Portland where he was the Timbers leading scorer.

The Seattle Sounders have been Major League Soccer's best team in the final 15 minutes. They have outscored their opponents 15-4 over that time, with no other team score more often nor allowing so few goals. The 11-goal difference is four better than any other team. But we already knew that, thanks to the reporting of Matt Gaschk.

The Major League Soccer playoffs begin tomorrow without the Portland Timbers, but that does not mean Timbers fans should lose interest. With just over half the league qualified the choices to root for are plentiful.

Reasons to root for or against each team in the playoffs (plus a poll!) after the jump.

It's a very Pacific Northwest kind of day here in Carson with fog billowing therough the stadium and several hundred Sounders fans in the stands outcheering the home crowd.

Seattle has started pretty much a full strength lineup: Kasey Keller-James Riley, Jeff Parke (who has returned from concussion) Jhon kennedy Hurtado, Leo Gonzalez-Alvaro Fernandez, Brad Evans, Osvaldo Alonso, Mauro Rosales-Mike Fucito, Fredy Montero.

Since not many were able to go to the Seattle Sounders Reserves win over the San Jose Earthquakes I thought to expand a bit on the live blog and collate some comments made there and other thoughts I had on the lesser seen players. Now, since Sigi Schmid uses a lot of player rotation there were two subsets of players - the seen and unseen.

The MLS Reserve League is petering to a close. Tonight's match against the San Jose Earthquakes doesn't mean anything in any standings (Seattle has already won the MLS Western Reserve Division), but it does give Sigi Schmid an opportunity to see a few of his players on the deep bench. The Seattle Sounders have 6 available outfield players who have played in 4 or fewer MLS matches.

Hey there Union fans. I normally do these at Sounder at Heart and offered to throw it up there for your use. You can hover over or click on many of the data points and learn even more. The lineups are the best guess of the SaH crew and Scott. Sorry about the time and station being for Seattle fans, but you should know when/where to watch.

Sigi Schmid is going to have to find offense from different spots with Fredy Montero out due to his last Yellow. Mauro Rosales and Alvaro Fernandez both have injury issues that could see them with spot time, but it would be surprising if either start. Unlike the last injury wave (Herediano here) there are more healthy options in the midfield.

What: Philadelphia Union at Seattle Sounders

Where: CenturyLink Field, Seattle, WA, USA

When: 10:00pm ET

TV: CSN

Radio: Call me and I'll do it over the phone

Tuesday did not go well for the Union.

Peter Nowak may be rooting for the Chicago Fire to get their fifth US Open Cup title (10pm, Fox Soccer), but the rest of the Union might want to pull for Seattle.

"I've been through the scenario where they tried to position it a week after MLS Cup and one year we lost in the final at Columbus, we played the MLS final on a Sunday in New England and we had to play the Open Cup final on a Thursday in Columbus.

Seattle's offense has continued to churn out quality despite missing Mauro Rosales since September 17th. However, Seattle has conceded at least one goal every game since James Riley went down at right back.

The seven-year veteran [Riley], who appeared chipper at Sunday's practice session, is also one of the few Sounders without an established backup.

With an expected attendance right about even with MLS league play of 35,000 for the US Open Cup Final against the Chicago Fire on Tuesday night, it is apparent that Seattle and the team have a connection to this tournament that most teams in MLS do not have. It isn't just about the ticket sales, but in the types of lineups that Sigi Schmid has field in the MLS era.

Soccer is a game of goals. Not necessarily pretty goals, not amazing feats of beating strong defense, just goals. Saturday night as the Seattle Sounders beat the New England Revolution 2:1 the goals made were all off of defensive errors. Diego Fagundez was unmarked on a corner leaving him with just Kasey Keller to beat.

Ha ha ha. There's no better way to put a skip in your step than to throw a bunch of second- and third-stringers into an away match and get a win anyway. We mostly got tonight's reserve heavy Sounders starting 11 right, but were off on some of the details. Roger Levesque was in the game, but as a right back.

Some managers in the world will tell you before a match exactly who is going to start and what shape they are going to use. Others don't have fixture congestion and so their first team minus injuries is going to get the play - say the New England Revolution. For the Seattle Sounders Coach Sigi Schmid has depth to make tactical moves (inserting Zach Scott as right back to shut down a winger) and play near split-squads as he competes in three concurrent tournaments.

On a muggy, warm and cloudy day in Tukwila the main interest at practice was Mr Alan Hinton. With the game against the Vancouver Whitecaps he, Brian Schmetzer and Roger Levesque represent the history across generations and represent the history of this rivalry that is represented by the Cascadia Cup.

There's no two ways about it: Mauro Rosales' injury sucks. Whether it's two or four weeks or somewhere in between, every game the Seattle Sounders have to play without their MVP candidate they are a worse team. It's no coincidence that the Sounders have gone 12-3-6 in games Rosales has started and just 2-3-3 in their other matches.

You know, Miss Monday, we really wouldn't object to you using one of your sick days in the near future. After all, that's why we offer them to you.

But don't even try rolling them over into 2012 because they're non-transferrable. You either use them or lose them, so let's make it count.

Mauro Rosales won't be getting an MRI until Monday, so how long he won't be in the lineup is still up in the air. But what we do know is that he will not be playing Tuesday night against CS Herediano. Doing a bit of research though, he was unlikely to start anyway. He had only started in one of the previous CONCACAF Champions League matches.

Tonight at 6pm PT the Seattle Sounders will play DC United, a team which, with a win, would jump back ahead of the Portland Timbers in the wild card standings, knocking our boys back below the playoff cut. This situation puts Timbers fans in an uncomfortable position, one that many of us saw coming but few of us would admit to being prepared for.

File this one under the section of things that the Seattle Sounders front office does well.

This clever set of videos are to help get fans in Seattle to renew their season tickets for another season. Seriously. All jokes aside with these videos but this is great. You don't see one other clubs in the league doing anything remotely close to this.

File this one under the section of things that the Seattle Sounders front office does well.

This clever set of videos are to help get fans in Seattle to renew their season tickets for another season. Seriously. All jokes aside with these videos but this is great. You don't see one other clubs in the league doing anything remotely close to this.

If you're a Seattle Sounders season-ticket holder, you've probably already seen this video: Roger Levesque asking you to renew your season tickets. It's basically a continuation of the "Date With a Sounder" ad campaign that they ran earlier this year (and, inadvertently spawned @Pain_Machine).

Not exactly the prettiest performance from just about any angle, but Wednesday's CONCACAF Champions League group stage win over Herediano was exactly the kind of game the Seattle Sounders couldn't win last year. In fact, this game unfolded very much like the loss at Marathon a year ago, but with dramatically different results.

By JASON MITCHELL

What a difference a year, and some experience, is making for the Seattle Sounders.

The Sounders scrounged a meager three points from six group-stage matches last summer and fall, their first foray into CONCACAF Champions League.

Some more involved coverage of both the Huskies men's and women's soccer teams is on the to-do list here at the Heart, but in the meantime I thought it was worth highlighting the fact that the men's team has entered the NSCAA national rankings at #23 after starting the season 2-0-1. The last time the Huskies were ranked was a brief period in October last season when the Huskies were also ranked #23rd after a big win over Portland.

The Seattle Sounders returned to practice for the first time since their US Open Cup Semifinal win over FC Dallas. Extraordinary weather welcomed them back to the packed Starfire Sports Complex (Labor Day Youth Cup, as well as Sounders pre-Academy game three). The primary concern of practice were 9 a side scrimmages of a 1st, 2nd and 3rd team with the one not playing doing finishing drills on the far field.