Super Bowl Update

By Money Mike


The Seattle Sounders have played the Colorado Rapids three times and they beat the Colorado Rapids three times. On Saturday, with the playoff race really heating up in the Western Conference, the Sounders got a big win on the road as they defeated the Colorado Rapids 2-1 at Dicks Sporting Goods Park. With a big month ahead of the Sounders with a home match against the LA Galaxy, an away match at San Jose and of course the U.S. Open Cup final match a week from now against Sporting Kansas City, it was important for the Sounders to get a big win to boost their confidence going into August.

A minute and a half into the game, Rapids fans were still filing in, still looking for their seats and already they saw their team give up a goal off a set piece. It was a corner kick from the near side taken by Mauro Rosales who swings it toward the far post and finds Eddie Johnson who gets away from Marvell Wynne, out jumps Omar Cummings and heads the ball into the far corner for his team leading ninth goal of the season and the Sounders took a 1-0 lead on, if I can remember correctly, is the quickest goal in franchise history.

Unfortunately, the lead only lasted a minute because Colorado came right back and equalised. Martin Rivero slid the ball through on the far side to Brian Mullan who sent in a low ball across the face of goal and right there was Drew Moor to slam it home for his third goal of the year and just like that the game was tied at one.

In the 15th minute, Colorado had a good chance to go in front. Drew Moor took a few seconds to look around for support before chipping the ball to Conor Casey who was just outside the penalty area. Casey made a good turn and tested Michael Gspurning with a low left foot drive. Gspurning made the save and then was able to cover the ball before Omar Cummings could even get a chance of putting away the rebound. Gspurning of course was making his return in goal after missing the last 13 games with a right hip injury that he suffered during the clubs home match on May 2nd against the Galaxy. So having him back is huge.

A couple minutes later, Martin Rivero was found on the near side with room to run. Rivero cut inside of Adam Johansson and tried to curl his shot into the far corner but it was beaten away by Gspurning.

In the 24th minute, the Sounders would've gone 2-1 up if it hadn't been for the post. Luis Zapata gave the ball straight away to Mauro Rosales. Rosales made a run to the center of the field which forced Zapata out of his left back position to cover. That gave Eddie Johnson room to create. Rosales played Johnson with a back heel, and EJ took one touch to get around Tyrone Marshall before hitting one low and hard, but the post saved the Rapids.

In the 48th minute, Luis Zapata's cross was intended for Omar Cummings and Patrick Ianni attempted clearance was instead given straight to Conor Casey who tried to bend one from 20 yards away and he came close to doing so, but sometimes close is not good enough.

In the 65th minute, the Rapids once again give the ball away and this time the Sounders make them pay. Conor Casey was looking to play the ball back to Jeff Larentowicz, but he wasn't paying attention and the ball rolled straight to Fredy Montero. Montero slid the ball through to Johnson who wanted to strike it with his left foot, but he was well defended and instead fed the ball back to Alex Caskey. Caskey looked like he was going to strike the ball from distance, but he played the ball back to Johnson who's cross to the far post found a wide open Ozzie Alonso for a left footed volley and the Sounders climbed back ahead 2-1. That was a brilliant goal by Alonso who was making his 100th league appearance for the Rave Green.

With 15 minutes remaining in the match, Conor Casey had yet another opportunity to get a goal. Martin Rivero found Casey in the box and Casey looked to slot it home, but he hit it right at goalkeeper Michael Gspurning. Had he not made the save, Patrick Ianni probably would've been there to clear the ball off the line. Casey looked like he was going to hit it with his left foot, but Ozzie Alonso tracked back and cut down the angle which forced Casey to go to his right foot. Colorado continued to push, but they could not come up with the knockout blow and the Sounders were able to hold on to get all three points.


Scoring summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Eddie Johnson 9 (Mauro Rosales 7) 2'

Colorado Rapids - Drew Moor 3 (Brian Mullan 6) 3'

Seattle Sounders FC - Osvaldo Alonso 1 (Eddie Johnson 2, Alex Caskey 4) 65'


Misconduct summary:

NONE


Lineups:

Seattle Sounders FC - Michael Gspurning; Adam Johansson, Jeff Parke, Patrick Ianni, Leo Gonzalez; Mauro Rosales, Brad Evans (Marc Burch 83'), Osvaldo Alonso, Alex Caskey (Andy Rose 80'); Eddie Johnson, Fredy Montero (Zach Scott 88')

Colorado Rapids - Matt Pickens; Drew Moor, Marvell Wynne, Tyrone Marshall, Luis Zapata; Brian Mullan (Andre Akpan 80'), Joseph Nane (Wells Thompson 62'), Jeff Larentowicz, Martin Rivero; Conor Casey, Omar Cummings (Kamani Hill 62')

By Money Mike


The Seattle Sounders finally got a win that they desperately needed. Saturday night, a crowd of 39,060 at CenturyLink Field saw first hand, the return of their fan favorite Steve Zakuani who made his first appearance since April 23, 2011 when he suffered a fractured leg and more importantly, the Sounders bringing an end to their nine game winless run. The Sounders got their first win since May 9th as they defeated the Colorado Rapids 2-1 to improve to 8-5-6 (30 points). Keep in mind, the Sounders have been a great second half team these past couple of seasons.

The Sounders had all the possession early on and they nearly made it count in the 8th minute. Eddie Johnson played a brilliant high lofting ball to the left side for Alvaro Fernandez. Flaco brought the ball down off his chest cleanly and he was in a good position to hit it with his left foot, but he decided to cut the ball to his right foot and try to curl his shot to the far corner and it was saved by Matt Pickens after it took a bit of a deflection.

Two minutes later, they had another opportunity. Marvell Wynne gave the ball straight away to Mauro Rosales in his own area. Rosales waiting for an overlap from Eddie Johnson before playing it to him. Johnson was forced into a tight angle and tried to sneak the ball inside the near post, but Pickens again tipped it wide for a corner.

The Sounders continued to dominate this match and they came close again in the 14th minute, but not close enough. After a give and go with Alvaro Fernandez, Marc Burch went long for Eddie Johnson who brought the ball down at the top of the penalty area and tried to put it away with a half volley, but he took about a second too long and fired his shot wide of Pickens's left hand side.

The Rapids didn't have a real opportunity until the 24th minute. Ozzie Alonso gave the ball away in his own area to Conor Casey. Support came from Jamie Smith and Martin Rivero. Casey fed Rivero on the near side for a first timed shot that hit the side of the net.

Colorado didn't have anymore real opportunities in the first to take the lead. The Sounders continued to pour men forward and put all the pressure on the opposition in their half of the field and wear down the back four. In the 35th minute, the Rave Green nearly came up with something out of nothing. Jamie Smith was dispossessed in his own area by Adam Johansson. He was looking for a free kick, but there was definitely not enough contact for it to be a free kick. Alonso poked the ball back to Johansson who had time to look for options. The Swedish international decided to whip in a cross to the far post. Right there was Alvaro Fernandez for a looping header which looked at first like it didn't have a chance, but in the end, it was just a fraction too high.

In the 51st minute, Mauro Rosales whipped in another dangerous ball, this time off a free kick, intended for Alvaro Fernandez but the ball bounced towards goal and Matt Pickens had to be alert and tip the ball wide for another Sounders corner kick. Seconds later, off the corner kick, the Sounders would find the break through. Mauro Rosales's outswinger found a wide open Alvaro Fernandez who's header skipped underneath Matt Pickens and in for his first league goal of the 2012 season and the Sounders took a 1-0 lead.

The Rapids looked to hit back a couple minutes later. Jeff Larentowicz had time and space from about 30 yards away and he decided to give it a go and Bryan Meredith had to do everything he can to punch the ball away. In case anybody didn't even notice on that shot, there was quite a bit of movement on the ball.

In the 64th minute, the Sounders doubled their lead off another set piece. Mauro Rosales took the corner kick again, this time an inswinger from the far side, toward the near post and Matt Pickens was trying to go up and gather the ball but his teammate Drew Moor got in his way so he punched the ball instead, but not out of danger. Andy Rose was looking to head the ball back across for Fernandez, but Jeff Larentowicz got in the way to head the ball, but he headed the ball straight to Patrick Ianni. Ianni poked the ball out wide to Rosales who curled the ball back in toward the far post and right there to head the ball in for his eighth goal of the season was Eddie Johnson who was left wide open and Matt Pickens had no chance of stopping that one.

With just over 10 minutes to go in the match, the Rapids pulled a goal back. After Alex Caskey gave the ball away in his own area, the Rapids re-grouped. Jaime Castrillon fed the ball to Luis Zepata on the near side. Zepata took one touch and it looked like he was gonna try one from distance, but he went for the cross to the far post and found Omar Cummings who made a good run toward the far post and he put the ball away with a half volley to cut the Sounders lead in half. This one was on Patrick Ianni because he didn't pay attention to Cummings when he made that run.

Five minutes later, the Rapids thought they equalised, but the officials didn't think so. The Sounders had difficulties clearing the ball away. The ball fell to Jeff Larentowicz, who dribbled around Alex Caskey and sent in a ball to the far post and it snuck in, but the offside flag went up because the linesman claimed that Omar Cummings got a touch to it. I've been looking at the replay over and over again and it looked to me like Cummings did get a foot on the ball and he was in an offside position when Larentowicz played the ball in.

Seconds later, you could hear the roar from a mile away which meant only one thing, the return of Steve Zakuani. The no. 1 overall draft pick from 2009, Steve Zakuani came on in the 85th minute as he made his long awaited return since April 23 of last year when he suffered a fractured tibia and fibula following a dangerous two footed challenge from Brian Mullan. Having him back is really big for this team as the season progresses. Remember this past offseason, Sigi Schmid didn't expect him to be back until late 2012 if not the 2013 season, but I didn't buy that, I thought he was gonna come back sooner and now he's back. So now what's next for Zak? It's simple, work his way back into the starting 11. He did get a few touches late in the match which is good.

In the final seconds of stoppage time, the Sounders nearly let another one slip away. Tony Cascio played in a low left footed ball to the near post which got away from Omar Cummings. The ball fell to Castrillon, who played the ball back to the top of the area for a first timed shot from Martin Rivero and it just flew over the bar. After going nine games without a win, the last thing the Sounders want is to blow a two goal lead late and have their winless run extended to 10 games, but the Sounders were able to hang on and win 2-1.


Scoring summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Alvaro Fernandez 1 (Mauro Rosales 5) 52'

Seattle Sounders FC - Eddie Johnson 8 (Mauro Rosales 6) 64'

Colorado Rapids - Omar Cummings 4 (Luis Zapata 1) 79'


Misconduct summary:

Colorado Rapids - Martin Rivero (caution; foul) 41'

Seattle Sounders FC - Eddie Johnson (caution; excessive celebration) 64'


Lineups:

Colorado Rapids - Matt Pickens; Hunter Freeman, Marvell Wynne, Drew Moor, Luis Zapata; Brian Mullan, Martin Rivero, Jeff Larentowicz, Jamie Castrillon (Tony Cascio 84'), Jamie Smith (Omar Cummings 67'); Conor Casey (Edu 67')

Seattle Sounders FC - Bryan Meredith; Adam Johansson, Jeff Parke, Patrick Ianni, Marc Burch; Alex Caskey, Osvaldo Alonso, Andy Rose, Alvaro Fernandez (Cordell Cato 81'); Mauro Rosales (Steve Zakuani 85'), Eddie Johnson (Fredy Montero 72')

By Money Mike


For over a year now, I've been doing a lot of soccer related stuff regarding roster moves, previews/recaps, etc. At the end of each month during the MLS regular season, I plan on doing a rewind on the Sounders. So on the rewind I'm going to be talking about the clubs performance during the entire month, give some positives and negatives, look ahead to the next upcoming month and I'll also throw in some info with the Sounders U23 squad who will kick off their USL Premier Development League campaign on May 11. Most of that however, will relate to the young guys who could end up signing with the Sounders as Homegrown players. The Sounders had three matches this month and came way with two wins and a draw and are now getting ready for a long month of May where they have to play a total of eight matches in all competitions, starting on May 2nd at home against the Los Angeles Galaxy. They have seven league matches as well as a U.S. Open Cup match on May 29th which will be the last match of the month.


Positives:

Eddie Johnson has made significant progress with his form that he, over the last couple of years, has seen dip since he moved to Europe in 2008. It was great to see him score his first Sounders goal last night against the Chicago Fire. I know it was just a tap into an empty net, but it's better to get that first goal out of the way. I think he and Fredy Montero have linked up very well with one another in these last couple of matches since Johnson was inserted into the starting lineup and if Johnson can stay healthy and maintain his form, I think the Montero-Johnson partnership up front will be the most dangerous in MLS.

Speaking of Montero, I did mention he has had his ups and downs this season. He well overdue to score his first goal of the season. Despite the fact he still hasn't scored, I think he was a little more aggressive this month getting forward a lot more than he did at the start of the season. I've said this over and over again and I'll continue to say it. Montero will end his scoring drought soon.

The Sounders so far have done a great job defensively, shutting their opponents down and are tied for the fewest goals allowed with only three goals conceded. Ozzie Alonso is ranked as the best holding midfielder in MLS and he showed that against DC United, Colorado and Chicago after making some huge defensive plays to deny the opposition any chance of scoring. Jeff Parke is also doing a great job since he was re-inserted into the starting 11 after sitting on the bench the first two games of the season. The back line needed improvement during the offseason and so far, I haven't seen any real problems with this team defensively, not to mention the injuries.

After the beating the Sounders got from Santos Laguna earlier this season in the Champions League. Fans for some reason were criticizing new goalkeeper Michael Gspurning, saying he would never fit in with this team. I wonder if all of them are going to take back those critics after the start he's having. He has three shutouts this season, he has a goals against average underneath one and he has an 84% save percentage. So all this crap about Gspurning not being good enough should've ended right before the start of the MLS campaign because he is a solid goalkeeper and he's proved that so far in this young season.


Negatives:

The real problem I'm having with so far regarding the Sounders are the injuries. The first week of the season was completely brutal. Mauro Rosales who suffered two left knee sprains at the end of last season, suffered a right knee sprain after he took a shot intentionally from Toronto FC rookie Aaron Maund and he was out through April 14th. Adam Johansson suffered an injury during practice and was also ruled out through April 14th. Alonso took a shot from one of the TFC players during the opener, but luckily he hasn't missed any action. Of course we have Eddie Johnson, who missed the last couple weeks of training camp and started both legs of the Champions League Quarterfinal on the bench. He came on in the first leg and didn't seem to have any problems. Same with the second leg, but then he suffered a strained hip flexor. It's great to see that Johansson, Rosales and Johnson are back on the pitch now, but when you are out there without you're key players, things can get pretty rough for you and your team, but the Sounders just like last year, were able to get through it.


Western Conference standings:

1. San Jose Earthquakes, 19 pts (6-1-1), GF 15 GA 6 GD 9
2. Real Salt Lake, 19 pts (6-3-1), GF 16 GA 11 GD 5
3. Vancouver Whitecaps FC, 14 pts (4-2-2), GF 7 GA 6 GD 1
4. Seattle Sounders FC, 13 pts (4-1-1), GF 8 GA 3 GD 5
5. Colorado Rapids, 12 pts (4-4-0), GF 12 GA 10 GD 2
6. FC Dallas, 12 pts (3-3-3), GF 10 GA 12 GD -2
7. Los Angeles Galxy, 10 pts (3-3-1), GF 11 GA 11 GD 0
8. Chivas USA, 9 pts (3-5-0), GF 4 GA 9 GD -5
9. Portland Timbers, 7 pts (2-5-1), GF 9 GA 13 GD -4


Look ahead to May:

Like I said this is going to be a long month with seven MLS matches scheduled for the Sounders. Overall in the month of May, the Sounders are 3-5-8. To me, this is a huge month for the Sounders because they've struggled in the May as you can tell by the record, but also because this is the only month where they have to play more than about 4-5 matches like they normally do in a month. So I think Sigi Schmid will be switching his lineup around every match this month. Which means Mauro Rosales could be left out of the squad for a couple of these matches, but of course this is my thought. Looking at their upcoming opponents, this is where the Sounders can really improve on their 3-5-8 record in the month of May.

Upcoming schedule, May 2012:

May 2 vs Los Angeles Galaxy, 7:00pm (KONG TV)
May 5 vs Philadelphia Union, 1:30pm (NBC Sports Network)
May 9 @ FC Dallas, 5:30pm (KONG TV)
May 12 vs Real Salt Lake, 7:00pm (KING 5)
May 19 @ Vancouver Whitecaps FC, 2:00pm (KONG TV)
May 23 vs Columbus Crew, 7:00pm (KONG TV)
May 26 @ Chivas USA, 7:30pm (KING 5)

Aside from MLS, we also have the Sounders U23s who will kick off their USL Premier Development League campaign on May 11th. The Premier Development League is where mostly college players spend their summer gaining some work experience during their collegiate offseason, but the league also features over age players as well. Right now the Sounders U23 have about 6-7 players on their roster that have been in their youth program including Sean Okoli (Wake Forest University), DeAndre Yedlin (University of Akron), Darwin Jones (University of Washington) and Nick Palodichuk (Duke University). These players as well as a few others are eligible to sign with the Sounders as a Homegrown player. Sean Okoli was rumored to become Seattle's first Homegrown signing in 2011, but instead he decided to play college soccer at Wake Forest University. I still think Okoli will sign as a Homegrown player as well as Yedlin, Jones and Palodichuk. With what the Sounders U23 has on their roster, the future is definitely bright for the MLS club who are already enjoying success.

Hope you guys enjoyed reading the April 2012 edition of the Sounders monthly rewind. Hopefully, I gave you guys enough detail about this team and their performance. This is something new for me, doing a rewind every month during the regular season, but I hope I gave enough detail on this one. If not, sorry, there wasn't much to talk about for the month of April.

By Money Mike


The Sounders moved up to third place in the Western Conference earlier this afternoon as they defeated the Colorado Rapids by a score of 1-0. Zach Scott's goal in the 63rd minute snapped the Sounders 305 minute goalless streak. Seattle made a couple of changes to the lineup. Eddie Johnson and Alex Caskey both got their first start with the Rave Green who were still without Mauro Rosales and Adam Johansson. However both of them should make their return when the Sounders travel to Chicago to take on the Fire.

No surprise the Sounders came right at them early in this game. In the 5th minute, Colorado had lots of trouble clearing the ball away and they nearly paid the price. Marvell Wynne gave the ball straight to David Estrada, who quickly found Fredy Montero in the box. Montero then turned, escaped an attempted slide tackle from Drew Moor and went for the far corner but it was beaten away by Matt Pickens. Montero's first half performance was pretty good. Really starting to get in on the attack. However, he's still looking for his first goal of the season. Then again, he struggled in the early stages of 2010 and 2011.

In the 13th minute, a free kick from Alex Caskey found Zach Scott from point blank range, but he directed his header just wide. Scott is really good in the air in these situations. He scored eight goals with the Sounders USL franchise, and he nearly got one there but was inches wide of the left post.

Seconds later, Scott nearly got caught at the other end. After failing to control a high lofted ball from Brian Mullan, Scott lost out to Tony Cascio who tried to chip Michael Gspurning but instead, he fired high over the bar.

In the 33rd minute, the Rapids thought they scored the opening goal. After some poor ball control by Seattle, Tony Cascio chipped the ball forward for Omar Cummings on the far side of the pitch. Cummings made a nice cut to get around two Seattle defenders and fired a low right root drive on goal which forced a save from Michael Gspurning. Brian Mullan was there to pounce on the rebound and tap it in the goal, but the offside flag went up and the goal was waved off. Mullan in his first match in Seattle since the injury he cause to Steve Zakuani has been booed all match by the entire Sounder nation. The fans still haven't forgiven him for what he did to our no. 1 overall draft pick from 2009.

In the 53rd minute, the Sounders won a free kick in a dangerous area. Fredy Montero stepped up and curled it around the wall and just missed wide of Picken's right hand side. Despite his struggles, you can't deny that Fredy Montero is a threat in these situations. About nine minutes later, Montero tested the keeper again. This time forcing Pickens to palm his shot wide for a corner.

In the 63rd minute, first blood went to the Men in Rave Green. After a poor delivery off a corner kick from Alex Caskey about a few seconds ago, he had another chance to get this one right and he did. Caskey driven ball found Zack Scott at the near post and the veteran directed his header to the far post and in the back of the goal to snap the Sounders scoreless streak and even better, give the Sounders a 1-0 lead. It was Scott's first goal of his MLS career.

In the 89th minute, Fredy Montero worked a give and go with Leo Gonzalez. Montero caught Matt Pickens off his line and tried to chip him, but Pickens punched his effort over the bar. He had Sammy Ochoa up with him as well. I think he should poked the ball to Ochoa which would've led to an easy tap in. However one goal proved to be enough for Seattle.


Observations:

Fredy Montero and sort of an up and down performance in this match. I understand this guy wants to score goals, to help his team try to win and all that, but he needs to quit acting as a playmaker, get forward and test the backline. He's a good young player, but often times, he's been a little too cute on the ball and try to make plays all by himself which will never work in the game of soccer, unless you're Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, but Fredy is nowhere near their caliber. It's early in the season and he is way overdue for his first goal of the season, but this is a team game and his second half performance was somewhat disappointing. Hopefully after the bye week, Montero can turn things around on the road in Chicago and I think he'll step his game up. Like I said earlier, the early stages of the season is where he isn't really at his best, but then as the season rolls along, he starts to heat up.

The Sounders made a couple of lineup changes in this match. Alvaro Fernandez was left out of the lineup. Alex Caskey got the start in place of him. Eddie Johnson also made his first start and David Estrada was move to right midfield. Despite outshooting the Rapids 18-4, the Sounders weren't on the right page due to those lineup changes and they had only 40% of the possession all match. You need to be on the right page at all times.

It was a lot of fun catching another game in person. The problem though is I forgot my Camera so that shot from the upper deck was taken on my phone which is basically why it's not a great picture. I remember my very first Sounders game was that USL Championship game in 2005 and at that time, we didn't have this many fans. All the fans were on the east side of that picture. Since the Sounders became an MLS franchise I've been to five of their matches so far. Three of them were MLS matches, the U.S. Open Cup final last year and earlier this year, I saw their CONCACAF Champions League Quarterfinal match against Santos. So this match is the second I've gone to this year.

Despite all the terrible passing and the lack of possession and all that. This is a good win for the Sounders because they now move to third place in the Western Conference standings and are only five points behind Real Salt Lake with a couple of games in hand. RSL lost earlier to Sporting Kansas City 1-0 and this is no joke people, Sporting KC is 6-0 so far in this young season. Anyway, it was important that this team got back on track after failing to score the past couple of weeks.


Scoring summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Zach Scott 1 (Alex Caskey 1) 63'


Misconduct summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Eddie Johnson (caution; foul) 47'

Seattle Sounders FC - Zach Scott (caution; foul) 49'

Colorado Rapids - Brian Mullan (caution; foul) 87'

Seattle Sounders FC - Fredy Montero (caution; Dissent) 87'


Lineups:

Colorado Rapids - Matt Pickens; Kosuke Kimura, Marvell Wynne, Drew Moor, Luis Zepata; Brian Mullan, Martin Rivero, Jeff Larentowicz, Jaime Castrillon (Kamani Hill 69'), Tony Cascio (Andre Akpan 83'); Omar Cummings

Seattle Sounders FC - Michael Gspurning; Zach Scott, Jeff Parke, Patrick Ianni, Leo Gonzalez; David Estrada, Osvaldo Alonso, Brad Evans, Alex Caskey (Marc Burch 75'); Fredy Montero (Roger Levesque 91'+), Eddie Johnson (Sammy Ochoa 66')

By Money Mike


The Seattle Sounders return home to their natural confines after drawing last weekend. The Colorado Rapids make their first of two trips here in the Emerald City because of the unbalanced schedule that was put into place by the league this offseason. The Rapids come in to this match at 3-2 in this young season. The lost their last match 2-0 on the road to their Rocky Mountain rivals Real Salt Lake and all of their trips to Seattle so far have been unsuccessful. The Sounders hope that trend doesn't change tomorrow. Kickoff time is at 1pm and will be aired on KONG TV and live on ROOT Sports for people outside the Seattle area.

This will be the first trip to Seattle for Brian Mullan since breaking Steve Zakuani's leg last season when these two clubs met at Colorado. Seattle won the match, but they sort of lost their focus because Zakuani's injury was so disturbing. It was the same challenge as about five years ago during an English Premier League match when Edurado da Silva during his time with Arsenal had to sit out for about 12 months, except that challenge was somewhere near his left ankle but the Impact was still the same. Hopefully you guys understood that I completely went off on Brian Mullan when I recapped that road match last year, especially because of this quote from him, "It's a tackle that I've done hundreds of times and would probably do again."

When I heard him say that, I was so pissed because he apologized prior to that and hearing that crap just made it hard for me to believe that he was sorry for his challenge. What happened initially was that he was looking for a foul because he felt like he was held by Tyson Wahl, who now plays for the Montreal Impact, but the referee didn't give it to him. But there was no excuse for the challenge. Studs were up, two footed, and you could hear the impact on that play. I mean you could hear his leg break from your living room almost all the way to you porch. Bottomline is, that injury was so disturbing the media shouldn't have shown any pictures or video replays of it. On the recap, yeah, there was a lot of profanity and not much detail. The reason for that was because I was in a lot of distress as were the players and the rest of the Sounder nation and I remember chatting with Miguel Montano about that on Facebook, asking him if he saw that. And he told me that he did, and the main reason is because he was on the 18-man squad for that match so he basically saw it with his own eyes. Despite that, the Sounders stood tall and finished 2nd in the West and led the league in Goals Scored. But we'll see how the fans react when Brian Mullan takes the field with the rest of the Colorado Rapids.


Injury report:

Colorado Rapids - Speaking of the Rapids, here's their injury report. Veterans Jamie Smith and Pablo Mastroeni as well as young Anthony Wallace are out for this match. Conor Casey (left achillies tear) and Eddie Ababio (concussion) are both listed as questionable. Ababio who was Colorado's first round pick last year has made one playoff appearance but has yet to make regular season appearance. Ross LaBauex is dealing with a Sports Hernia and is listed as probable.

Seattle Sounders FC - For the Sounders, of course we have Josh Ford, Michael Tetteh, Steve Zakuani and Babayele Sodade out. Backup goalkeeper Andrew Weber will be out four weeks with a left ankle sprain. That now leaves with our no. 4 goalkeeper Bryan Meredith as our backup to Michael Gspurning. Mauro Rosales and Adam Johansson are listed as questionable but Sigi Schmid feels it doesn't make sense to rush them back due to the fact that the Sounders have a bye next week before they travel to Chicago on the 28th of April. So you can count Rosales and Johansson as out for this match.

By Money Mike


The Seattle Sounders, following their Open Cup victory, get back to business in MLS play. The Colorado Rapids come to town, but Brian Mullan has been left out of this match. Remember the last time these two met? Back on April 22, Brian Mullan was dispossessed of the ball and he argued that he was held and that there should've been a foul. Steve Zakuani had possession of the ball when Mullan came over and intentionally broke Zakuani's tibia and fibula on his right leg and the entire Sounder nation was in major distress, all thanks to that stupid mother fucker, Brian Mullan. The Sounders won that match 1-0, but in a bad way. They lost one of their best players and dispite having the one man advantage, were out played by the Rapids. Kickoff time is at 1pm on FOX Soccer Channel.


Injury report:

Colorado Rapids - Macoumba Kanji is still suffering from that left knee ACL tear he picked up in last years MLS Cup final victory. He still has not played in 2011 and I don't think he's gonna debut in this one. Right now he's questionable. Danny Earls is also questionable with a quadriceps contusion. Matt Pickens, Joseph Nane and Anthony Wallace are dealing with strains right now and all of them are listed as probable.

Seattle Sounders FC - For the Sounders, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado is out for this match. He picked up an MCL sprain back on sunday in Seattle's 3-2 win over the Timbers. Steve Zakuani's leg is healed an right now he's taking some slow jogs. I'm hoping he does make it back as we lean toward the playoffs. And Brad Evans...... oh my god, I can't really explain this. A hamstring strain. He's listed as probable, but he ain't playing this weekend.


Key matchup:

Conor Casey vs Jeff Parke - For almost the entire season, Jeff Parke has been carrying the load for the Sounders this season, and that's gonna continue with Conor Casey up front. Casey has faced the Sounders 3 times since their arrival to Major League Soccer and has scored twice against us. Whoever wins this matchup should win this game.

By Money Mike


The CONCACAF Champions League took place earlier this morning at the CONCACAF Headquarters in New York City and the Seattle Sounders, who qualified by winning the U.S. Open Cup last year, have been drawn against Panamanian club San Francisco F.C. in the preliminary round of the Champions League. The winner of this matchup has been drawn into Group D with Monterrey (Mexico), Comunicaciones (Guatemala), and the winner of Herediano (Costa Rica) and the 3rd place team from the CFU Tournament. The Sounders are one of five MLS clubs that will take part in this years Champions League. The LA Galaxy got in by finishing with the best overall record in 2010. Colorado Rapids got in by winning the MLS Cup. FC Dallas were the runners-up in the MLS Cup. Seattle's rivals Vancouver Whitecaps could take part in the Champions League if they beat Toronto FC in the Canadian Championship. Here's the draw from the preliminary round to the group stage.

Preliminary round (Teams listed 1st will host 1st leg):

Motagua (Honduras) vs Municipal (Guatemala)

UNAM or Morelia (Mexico) vs CFU runner-up

Isidro Metapan (El Salvador) vs CFU champion

Santos Laguna (Mexico) vs Olimpia (Honduras)

Alianza (El Salvador) vs FC Dallas

Toronto FC or Vancouver Whitecaps (Canada) vs Real Esteli or Walter Ferretti (Nicaragua)

San Francisco (Panama) vs Seattle Sounders FC

Herediano (Costa Rica) vs CFU third place

Group stage:

Group A:
Los Angeles Galaxy
Alajuelense (Costa Rica)
Clausura runner-up (Mexico)/CFU runner-up
Motagua (Honduras)/Municipal (Guatemala)

Group B:
Colorado Rapids
Real Espana (Honduras)
Santos Laguna (Mexico)/Olimpia (Honduras)
Isidro Metapan (El Salvador)/CFU champion

Group C:
Clausura champion (Mexico)
Tauro (Panama)
Alianza (El Salvador)/FC Dallas
Canadian champion/Real Esteli or Walter Ferretti (Nicaragua)

Group D:
Monterrey (Mexico)
Comunicaciones (Guatemala)
San Francisco (Panama)/Seattle Sounders FC
Herediano (Costa Rica)/CFU third place

By Money Mike