Sounders v. Whitecaps Preseason Liveblog

Game will be three periods, with two 45 minute "halves" and a 30 minute additional period.

Reportedly Zak will be making an appearance, though he is not starting. Follow along with Matt Gaschk through the link. This is not really a gamethread, though feel free to discuss here.

When I started this site back in 2009, I had expected the site to devote a significant amount of ink to the transfer market and the finances involved in buying and selling players. Over time the focus has shifted to marketing, promotions, broadcast and other business issues facing soccer in the United States.

Philadelphia Union fans have been dealt heavy blows of late. Their veteran goalkeeper was sent away and within days, the face of their franchise was traded away and not to the glamour of the English Premier League. Rather, Sebastien Le Toux is finding his way up north, to Vancouver.
Officially, Le Toux was let go for allocation money.

Yes, Brucio is still away. Sources say he's exploring restaurant franchise opportunities in Newfoundland. Please be patient with me. I am an amateur.
So how did everybody fare in Thursday's MLS SuperDraft?
Over at No Short Corners, Will Parchman is apoplectic that Enzo Martinez fell all the way to 17th, where Salt Lake scooped him up.

Most surprising on the day of the MLS SuperDraft were the opening words spoken by Don Garber as he greeted the viewers and public... in French. His words were spoken in order to honor MLS newcomers and first to pick in the draft, the Montreal Impact. Beyond the initial surprise of that, the remainder of the draft left little in the way of talking points.

As we near the beginning of the second MLS campaign in Portland Timbers history, we find ourselves saying goodbye to one of the most unintentionally polarizing players from our first season in MLS: Kenny "F-ing" Cooper.

Please use this thread to share your memories, both positive and negative, of Coop's time in Portland.

Oh SuperDraft Eve. You have to love the excitement surrounding a draft.

So many things can happen though between now and tomorrow afternoon. Teams will be wheeling and dealing all night in hopes of either moving up in the draft, finding some decent talent outside the draft in a trade, or just hoping that the one special player you've had your eye on since December is still available.

The 19 blogs that individually cover each Major League Soccer team on the SB Nation network came together on Sunday to conduct the annual mock MLS Draft. It's a very imperfect science as no one has the long term plan of any front office at their disposal. We don't know if a big striker signing is in the works so a team will pass on a talented ready to start forward and go defense surprising everyone.

It is the week of the MLS Combine, which means it is time for one final mock draft before things get real interesting here.

I debated long and hard over the New Year weekend on whether or not to post this before the Combine or wait for the Combine to take place. What I decided to do was just to post this now and then have one final mock draft after the Combine.

When rumors of Carlos Ruiz's imminent arrival in Philadelphia surfaced, PSP's Mike Servedio wrote, "Ruiz is known as a mixed bag, a temperamental striker who has had some big seasons in terms of goals in the MLS, but is just as well known for his flagrant diving. The Union could definitely use an experienced goal-scoring striker, with only three out-and-out strikers on the roster, but with Ruiz' reputation he might have to work to win over the Union faithful (myself included).

By Shane Badger
For as long as man civilized man has existed the great terrible question has been asked: How do you stop a wall of water? The answer of course is deceptively simple; Build.
Build, is exactly what Coach Andracki has been doing in the two weeks since his Lancer squad was deluged by the Wave 25-9 in Milwaukee.

The Vancouver Whitecaps' first season in MLS ended as so many other "expansion" teams' season have ended in U.S. leagues throughout the years: basement and struggling to build for the future.* After the near immediate success of recent MLS additions ...
Visit http://www.majorleaguesoccertalk.

Just a quick press release announcing the national broadcast schedule for First Kick 2012 in MLS. The Dynamo will be a part of the festivites as their season opener against Chivas USA at the Home Depot Center will be on Galavision.

HOUSTON, TX (Tuesday, December 6, 2011) -- The Houston Dynamo will open the 2012 Major League Soccer season on Sunday, March 11, against Chivas USA at The Home Depot Center.

"We continue to discuss the pros and cons to running a PDL team," Hanauer says, "and whether it makes most sense to run an amateur version or a professional version. The reason for not running one, has simply been that we haven't calculated the benefits to be worthy of the expense.

Starrting: Juan Aguedelo, Brek Shea, Jeff Larentowicz, and Kyle BeckermanThe off-season ritual of heading to Europe for some extra training is no longer just the extra-curriculars of David Beckham and Thierry Henry. Now young Major League Soccer players and U.S. National Team players are getting time with clubs all across the continent.

photo courtesy Jarred Donalson
Sporting KC made 4 more roster moves today, waiving four players before today's waiver draft. KC waived Jeferson, Craig Rocastle, Milos Stojcev, and Scott Lorenz. Jeferson Rocastle, and Stojcev all three take up international spots that are now open to be used next year.

Pardon my French.

With less than a day until the Montreal Impact make their selections in the Major League Soccer Expansion Draft, the predictions on who will be packing their bags for Quebec are coming from all over so I thought I would toss my hat into the ring.

As the quality on MLS rosters continues to grow year after year, the league's new teams find themselves with a wealth of options from which to build their team.

Over the last few days there has been a number of reports coming from various media organizations (including us!) that has stated where technical director Gavin Wilkinson will be heading over the off season to scout for players. These locatins include: Colombia, Ghana, Togo, Europe and the less exotic locale of Los Angeles, CA.

Now that the Whitecaps have finished their season and were unable to reach the playoffs, it's time to follow the journey to the final of the MLS Cup. El Jimador has announced their "Your rules your shot" competition, in which 10 lucky winners will get a chance to win a VIP trip to the MLS Cup!
The competition consists in creating a creative rule which all MLS fans should follow.

After a first half completely bereft of ideas by either team (I commented at half that the best hope for either team to score was an own goal) the second half perked up and resulted in the Rapids clinching a home playoff game.
The half started on a bad note though as Vancouver scored 4 minutes in.

First week of the off season... well for Timbers fans anyway. Many of you might be dreading the weeks that come as they're considerably less packed with soccer and, as a result less news from yours truly. But fear not! We here at Stumptown Footy HQ have plenty of stuff to cover over the off season.

The wettest fixture in the league happens tomorrow as the Whitecaps and Rapids face off in the rainy Pacific Northwest. Its also the final game in what has been a somewhat soggy season for the Rapids. Colorado has clinched a playoff spot though, and with a win they will clinch home field for the wild-card round.

No KC didn't win their friendly with Chivas de Guadalajara last night, the two ended up drawing 2-2, but the bigger thing to take from the game last night was that no one picked up an injury and most of the projected starters that played last night didn't play more than 45 minutes. Last night also turned into a better night in league play yesterday for KC, as two teams chasing KC in the playoff race dropped points.

So we reported on this briefly when first announced, but I thought it was worth revisiting as it's probably one of the coolest things an MLS player has ever done with regards to their respective teams' city. I mean, no matter what happens to Sal Zizzo at this point he's pretty much setting himself up to be a Portlander for life.

By ALAN LEDBETTER

This week in MLS, which was originally intended to be an international calendar break, was created due to games that were rescheduled throughout the year. There are three games this week, and with only three weeks left in the MFLS schedule, it is important that you don't lose ground due to players not playing.

On September 24th D.C. United had an impressive showing against a somewhat second team squad of Real Salt Lake but the result was exactly what United needed - 3 points.
The Black and Red seemed poised to make a strong playoff push down the stretch of the 2011 MLS season however the ensuing road trip saw United lose to Eastern Conference and I-95 rivals Philadelphia Union and Columbus Crew just three days later failing to collect a single point.

Busy week in Major League Soccer with Champions League group stage matches, important jockeying for playoff position and the opening of Bell Pitch Downtown in Vancouver. Before we get to attendance, here are a couple of thoughts on the inagural match at the league's newest showpiece. First, it is unfortunate that the game was not part of a national telecast.

STARTERS
Vancouver Whitecaps will debut at the beautifully refurbished BC Place stadium this weekend against long time rivals Portland Timbers. Should be a skeptical.
VIDEO OF THE DAY
The latest video from the Minnesota Stars follows them south to Cary North Carolina for the final game of the regular season - a must win.

Tuesday nights 7 PM Pacific game in CONCACAF Champions League action can lock up the knockout stages for the Seattle Sounders with just a draw. For CSD Comunicaciones of Guatemala it is nearly a must win to force deep tie-breakers or count on Herediano causing Monterrey troubles. The Sounders own the all time series by goal differential (+1), as each team has a win at home.

Busy weekend in Major League Soccer as the playoff picture is starting to crystallize with just about a month of the season remaining. Before we get into our weekly attendance review, here are a couple of other items of business note from the last couple of days. We'll start in Vancouver, where the Whitecaps wrapped up their Empire Field portion of the home schedule.

Almost two months ago, I wrote about the fact that the Sounders were one of only two teams in the league (along with FC Dallas) who were still in the running for all five potential trophies. Remarkably - despite a grueling schedule both in the league and in cup play - Seattle outlasted Dallas and still remains in the running for every one of those cups (though their claim on the Supporters Shield is pretty tenuous as the Los Angeles Galaxy pull away in that race).

The playoff race is heating up, and so too is the charge up the SBI MLS Power Rankings.

Philadelphia and Houston each came up with important victories to make up ground in the Eastern Conference and climb further into the top 10. Even late-charging teams Toronto and Chicago, for whom the postseason is a longshot, are getting their due, with each moving up as well.

This piece contributed by John Nyen.

It's all to play for at the end of the season.

Deride the league and the format for the MLS play-offs as much as you want, but the fact remains that with five to seven matches left for most teams, there are still 13 teams trying to climb over one-another to make the playoffs with only one, the mightly 2002-USMNT-Los Angeles Galaxy, having clinched.

And....quickly:

Uche

5. La Liga: Oops, Wrong Scoreline

Levante took down Mourinho's Madrid in an unexpected win at home. Bigger? Granada with its first win in 35 years in La Liga by beating reeling Villarreal in a chippy affair that saw the recently-promoted El Graná survive seven yellow cards without a red attached.

Keane's well placed header Preparing myself mentally to watch the Whitecaps is a long experience, especially when they're facing the top of the table LA Galaxy, at the Home Depot Center, where the Galaxy have yet to lose. Yet as the match kicked off, the Caps seemed organized, hardworking, and ready to create a few attacking opportunities of their own.

In light of the news that MLS was lining up to sell 25% of Soccer United Marketing to a private equity firm, I happened across Dave Clark's response:

Second, MLS is about to get flooded with money that dwarfs the expansion fees. This one payment would be the equal of adding the Impact, Timbers, Whitecaps and Union - at once.

An inside look at the Whitecaps' under-construction enormodome in downtown Vancouver. Thank the god of your choice that this big boy is smack in the center of town, otherwise we could be looking at the makings of Giants Stadium Part 2, The Return.

Man, the past week or so has been quite kind to the Red Bulls. After Irene washed away any hopes of the Galaxy match being played, New York saw their playoff position actually improve despite not playing a single match since August 20th. As of now, New York owns the 10th and final playoff spot, sitting behind Columbus, SKC, Houston, and Philly in the East.

Been a few weeks since our last look at stadium building, addition and renovation around Major League Soccer. We'll start in Vancouver, where renovations continue at BC Place, with an expected Fall 2011 re-opening. Until then, the Whitecaps will continue to play their games at Empire Field, a 20k seat venue.

Houston Dynamo (8-7-11, 35 pts.) vs. Real Salt Lake (3-13-9, 18 pts.) Empire Field - Vanouver, British Columbia, Canada - 6:00pm
BROADCAST: KHOU 11.2 (ENG TV) La Ranchera 850 (SPN Radio) SportsTalk 790 (ENG Radio)

REFEREE: Niko Bratsis. MLS Career: 7 games; FC/gm: 24.