The high numbers are of less concern for me. I just don’t see how anyone can judge that a certain player is worth $600,000 or $100,000 a year, until that year is over. One goals worth is not equal to another goals worth and one save is not equal to another save, so until you see how that player performs over the entire season, you don’t know what they could have been paid for.

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Today’s match against the San Jose Earthquakes will be the 2nd Heritage Cup the Sounders will have played in. The Heritage cup is a annual game played by MLS teams that carried their NASL names with them into the MLS. Right now there is only two teams that participate in the cup, Seattle Sounders and San Jose Earthquakes.

Next year the Portland Timbers will be joining the MLS and will also participate in the Heritage Cup, which should help build the rivalry around the West Coast.

So, how did the Sounders fair last year during the Heritage Cup? Not bad is the answer.

The Sounders and San Jose are split on the results as you can see, but the Sounders beat San Jose in 2 out of 3 games last year. The Earthquakes are playing better then they did last year, but the Sounders should be able to hold back their offense and sneak past their well playing defense today.

The big question that’s on my mind about today’s game is, will we see Nate Jaqua out on the xbox pitch? Evans did a great job playing Fredy Montero through for a 1-0 victory last weekend, but Nate adds the ever-so-important size to the Sounders front line. I hope we get to see him today, if not as a starter, maybe a sub in the 60th minutes.

Kickoff is at Noon, don’t forget your scarfs!

San Jose Scouting Report

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Lets face reality. The Seattle Sounders are a better team then the LA Galaxy. Of course the Sounders season record do not confirm that conviction, but their play and style certainly says so. If the Sounders can pull off a victory today against LA they can walk away with the bragging rights of taking down a undefeated MLS team.

Needless to say, It would be very disappointing to see a loss today. Looking at last years stats against LA, which hasn’t changed much from last year besides Edson Buddle is actually scoring massive amounts of goals, the Sounders are undefeated and have proven they have the talent to dominate this LA Galaxy team.

If the Sounders can shut down Buddle and finally convert on their scoring opportunities, this should be a classic win. It will be interesting to see if Sigi goes with a 4-3-3 or a 4-4-2 lineup against LA. I was extremely excited to see the 4-3-3 last week, as I was hoping for to see Steve Zakuani in the front line somehow. Zakuani is our hot goal scorer at the moment, so if we can get him up top, our scoring should increase.

Whichever formation Sigi goes, with this should be a great match. See ya out there! GO SOUNDERS!

Match Preview Video

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In the 2009 MLS Season the Sounders went undefeated against Toronto FC and came away with one win and one draw. This year Toronto is off to a poor start, but are still not a team that should be underestimated. Dwayne Derosario has all 4 of Toronto’s goals this season and looks to be in some of the best shape of his career.

Last year Derosario walked away with 11 goals and came in third for shots on goal. 1 out of 3 of his shots are on goal, if your a goal keeper, you don’t like hearing that.

The Sounders will have to do a good job of keeping a lid on Derosario or else he will have at least a few chances on the goal.

After last game’s debacle, the Sounders need to pull out a win here. It would be tuff to settle for a tie… again. Hopefully Freddy L. will be starting the match and will be able to dictate the pace of the game so the Sounders can get some shots on goal. Kickoff is at 11:00 am PST.

[Update] Interesting, the Seattle Sounders lineup looks like it will be a 4-5-1 set up with Freddy L. up top and Patrick Ianni replacing Jhon Kennedy Hurtado. Also Nyassi, Nathan Sturgis, and Pete Vagenas are getting the start. Obviously this is all due to having 2 games lined up over 4 days. Should be interesting!

Match Preview Video

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Needless to say, the MLS and U.S. Soccer Federation have a problem. The quality and consistency of their officials is lacking and may not be able to be patched up with new “guidelines” and “training seminars”. Once again an MLS match is spoiled by bad officiating and blown calls. This is why NONE of the MLS referees were selected to officiate the 2010 World Cup, not even as Assistant Refs.

If you haven’t seen the call, it came in the 3rd minute of stoppage time (why was their 3 minutes of stoppage time by the way?). Terry Vaughn called the foul against either Alonso Hurtado or Gonzalez, it’s hard to tell because they were both playing legal defense. A Penalty kick was awarded (for the second time) and Cunningham scored. End of game.

Why were none of the US referees selected for the World Cup? Obviously FIFA sees a problem many fans have been seeing for years in the MLS. It’s time for a change in the world of U.S. soccer referees.

I’ll have more on the actual Sounders FC vs FC Dallas game soon… it will focus on the game and not the poor officiating. What did you think of the games officiating and do you think the MLS should fire referees who fail to perform?

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One thing we know about FC Dallas is that they like to score. Their scoring strength comes from Jeff Cunningham, who led the league in goals last year with 18 strikes. A big key to the match against Dallas will be to not allow long shots at goal from just outside the box. If the Sounders can do that and press the FC Dallas defensive, they should come out with a victory.

Here are the 2009 Seattle Sounders vs FC Dallas stats from last year. The Sounders have a 1-0-1 career record against Dallas and have proven to be the dominant team in both games last year.

The Sounders ended their 2009 regular season last year with a 2-1 victory over Dallas. The game could have easily been a 4-1 victory with all of the chances the Sounders had on goal.

If this weeks games is anything like last years games against Dallas, it will be very physical and have lots of goal scoring chances in it. Anytime you get 18 shots and have 8 of them on goal, you are going to get some points.

Players to watch out for on Dallas are: Jeff Cunningham – Forward, Dax McCarty – Midfield, and Atiba Harris -Midfield

Hopefully the Sounders can get 3 points and start closing the gap between them and the LA Galaxy.

Match Preview Video

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You may love it, you may hate it, but either way, the Seattle Sounders 3rd Jersey is here. The 3rd Jersey is available now at the Sounders ProShop and sells for the standard price of $90.

So far the reception to the new color has has been mixed. Many who attended the unveiling were quite impressed, while commentators online seemed bewildered at the bright glare coming off of their computer screen. Perhaps the color is more impressive in person?

Personally, I like the color, but thought they could have gone with a grey tone to match the Seattle area better :)

Official Sounders Jersey’s

The Sounders Electric Jersey is going to be used in the friendly matches this coming summer and may also see some light during the Open Cup tournament.

I’ll end with a couple of color combo’s that would have been nice alternatives to the Hi-Lighter yellow. Leave a comment below on what you think of the new Sounders kit. If you don’t like the color what color would you have liked to seen?

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Seattle played a fantastic game on Saturday. Ball Possesion was great, the passing was impressive and the defense was rock solid. The caper was Michael Fucito had a excellent goal in the 90th minute that got the Sounders their well deserved 3 point.

Oh and Brad Evans totally redeemed himself.

Michael Fucito was the official man of the match, but I really believe that Osvaldo Alonso was the full 90 man of the match. Alonso had more time on the ball then any Sounder on the pitch. Defensively and Offensively he pressured Kansas City and helped the Sounders win the ever so important possession game. When you are 1 out of 22 players on the field and you provide that much quality time on the ball, you really deserve the credit.

Match Result Video

Next up for the Sounders is FC Dallas away at Pizza Hut Park.

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This week the Seattle Sounders FC will be taking on the Kansas City Wizards in what should prove to be a exciting match. The Wizards are off to a great start this season and have 2 wins in 2 games. Also, they have yet to be scored on this year.

Hopefully the Sounders will put a end to Kansas City’s shutout streak tomorrow afternoon. The Sounders scored twice on one of the best teams in the MLS last weekend, so without saying to much, they should be able to get some goals in the net against the Wizards.

In the 2009 MLS season the Sounders lost to the Wizards in their first match against them, but in the second game they proved to be too much for them in a 3-2 victory.

After watching Kansas City’s game last weekend against the Colorado Rapids, one player clearly stood out on the Kansas City team. His name is Ryan Smith and I already don’t like him. Partially for his attitude on the pitch, but mostly because he is stellar on the ball.

At one point in the match against Colorado, Smith was improperly called for a illegal tackle. His response was to throw the ball at the ground in the general direction of the ref nearly hitting the ref and other players. If it had been any other ref in the MLS it would have been a automatic red card and ejection from the game. Luckily he had the most inexperience and youngest referee in the league managing the game.

With his attitude aside, Smith has already show this season that he is going to be a threat to any team in the league. He got his start in the same Arsenal Youth Development program as Steve Zakuani and has played for clubs such as Leicester City and Southampton in Europe. James Riley will be able to handle him, but he will need to be on top of his game if he is going to keep Smith from sending dangerous balls into the box.

Arlo White and Matt Gaschk go into more detail on Ryan Smith in the Seattle Sounders official match preview video below. Kickoff is noon at Quest Field so don’t be late!

Match Preview Video

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A lot of press saw Saturdays game as a let down for the Sounders. Yeah Seattle didn’t have the best passing game ever, but what they did do that matters more then anything else in a game was score. What’s even more impressive is that they scored 2 goals against one of the best teams in the MLS.

I would be a lot more worried if the match had ended in a 0-0 tie.

The stats for the game look pretty dismal overall, but the game was tight and really could have gone either way.

Many comments were directed towards the fact that both times RSL scored against the Sounders, the goal scorer was being marked by Brad Evans. I looked at both of the replays and that is correct, but the goals were not 100% his fault. In the first goal he needed to be (a lot) tighter to his mark, but in the second goal, Brad was all over Soborio. Soborio just did a really great job of getting up and getting a head on the ball.

Match Result Video

The Sounders will be back at home next week and will take on Kansas City. In the game preview, we’ll take a look at what has changed for Kansas City since last season and we’ll look back and see how the Seattle Sounders did last season against Kansas City.

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