12Jul/100
Seattle Youth Plan on Display in 1-1 Tie Against Dallas
Due to a rash of injuries during the first half of the season, Coach Sigi Schmid of the Seattle Sounders has been forced to demonstrate flexibility in making key position changes. Sunday night, in a hard fought 1-1 tie against invading FC Dallas before the 25th consecutive sellout crowd of 36,091 at the Xbox pitch of Qwest Field, Seattle Sounders FC unveiled a new youth plan in the midfield area that drew much positive commentary. A key event in triggering Schmid’s moves occurred when veteran right-winger Freddie Ljungberg strained a leg muscle in the team’s final training session prior to the Dallas game. A team record was set when first year Colombian striker Miguel Montano became, at 19, the youngest player ever to start a game for the Sounders in league play. A key referee’s decision concerning Montano in the second half would be referenced as a turning point in the contest by both head coaches. Michael Seamon, who graduated from Villanova University last month and was promptly signed by the Sounders, drew his first MLS start at midfield as part of the revamped starting lineup. “It felt good out there,” Seamon enthused after the game, concerning the team’s continuity flow. Nathan Sturgis also drew a ...10Jul/100
Sounders Speak: Sigi Schmid Declares, “We’ve Got To Get Points!”
The MLS season has now passed the halfway point, and the Seattle Sounders need to launch a second half surge to maintain a reasonable shot of making the playoffs as the team was able to do in 2009 in its first season. The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup competition has found the Sounders performing successfully in the past two seasons. Starfire Stadium at the team’s training facility in Tukwila has been a scene for great Sounder success with the latest chapter coming with last Wednesday’s 3-1 win over the L.A. Galaxy. As enjoyable as those U.S. Open Cup victories are, MLS competition is a separate entity. Sunday night the Sounders reenter that sphere in hosting FC Dallas at the Xbox pitch of Qwest Field beginning at 7:30 p.m. This contest will mark the Sounders’ 25th consecutive sellout. The team and its loyal fans know that time is of the essence if Seattle is going to move out of the second division ranks of the Western Conference, where it has yet to taste victory, and into the upper echelon of playoff teams. Coach Sigi Schmid was upfront about the importance of Sunday’s game. “We’ve got to get points!” Schmid asserted when asked about the Dallas game. ...9Jul/100
Is Nate Jaqua a Key to a Seattle Sounders Resurgence?
During the first half of the season Seattle Sounders Coach Sigi Schmid has had to frequently piece together patchwork lineups based on numerous injuries sustained by his players. One of the key losses during this costly phase had been forward Nate Jaqua. On July 7 at Starfire Stadium in Tukwila, WA, Jaqua served notice that he is back and a force to be reckoned with in the second half of the season as he booted home both scores in a 2-0 Seattle win over the L.A. Galaxy in the quarterfinal round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup competition before an enthusiastic sellout throng of 4,512. Last Sunday night in a 3-1 MLS loss to the host Galaxy, Schmid’s first half lament was that the Seattle defense was notably porous at midfield. Jaqua was the first change he made as the second half commenced and there was a notable tightening after he entered the match. Since Jaqua was returning after a lengthy injury, Schmid understandably has brought him along gradually despite his bullishness in seeking to give him playing time. In one sense the U.S. Open Cup tourney activity has come along at the right time for the Sounders since Schmid has had an opportunity ...7Jul/100
Mystery Surrounds Seattle Sounders, L.A. Galaxy Contest
Seattle Sounders FC announced today that the Starfire Sports Stadium in Tukwila , Washington has been sold out for Wednesday night’s 7 p.m. Lamar Hunt U.S. Open quarter-final against Western Conference leader Los Angeles Galaxy. Due to the scheduling confluence of ongoing U.S. Open Tournament competition and the MLS the Sounders and Galaxy are meeting twice in a four day period. Sunday night at Home Depot Center in Carson, California, the host L.A. team extended its MLS record to 11-1-3 with a 3-1 win over Seattle. The 36 points achieved by Los Angeles thus far puts the Galaxy a full 9 points above the Columbus Crew, the Eastern Conference pace setter. The Galaxy lead the entire MLS in points, giving them a comfortable position. The Galaxy used recently returned U.S. World Cup stars Landon Donovan and Edson Buddle in Friday's contest. An air of mystery surrounds the decision making of veteran coaches Sigi Schmid of the Sounders and Bruce Arena of the Galaxy. The major question relates to which players will be used and those that will be rested. Following Sunday night’s Galaxy win Arlo White, television commentator for the Sounders, speculated that Landon Donovan would not see action in Tukwila . With the spectacular ...5Jul/100
Blaise Nkufo Ready To Join Seattle Sounders
In the wake of last night’s disappointing 3-1 loss to MLS Western Conference leading Los Angeles Galaxy, the Seattle Sounders announced Tuesday that Blaise Nkufo will be soon joining the team. "In our discussions with Blaise, we encouraged him to take a full two weeks off once he returned from the World Cup," said General Manager Adrian Hanauer. "His first training date is scheduled for July 13 and he is eligible to be added to the roster on July 15." This comes as welcome news during a season when Coach Sigi Schmid has often had to go with patchwork lineups to stem the tide with a series of injuries. A major injury was losing defense specialist John Kennedy Hurtado due to an injured ACL for the entire campaign. The signing of Congo born Nkufo was seen as a move to provide needed vigor to the Seattle attack for the second half of the 2010 season, an effort to make the difference in sending the team back to the playoffs after a successful first year campaign that ended in playoff competition. Nkufo flew to Seattle for a press conference and to meet with management, the coaching staff, and his future teammates prior to leaving for South ...5Jul/100
Landon Donovan, Edson Buddle Return as L.A. Galaxy Top Seattle Sounders, 3-1
There is a three-step process that has propelled the Los Angeles Galaxy to its pedestal atop the MLS this season. It is pressure, pressure, and more pressure. This was the formula employed before a sellout crowd of 27,000 the evening of July 4 at Home Depot Center in Carson, as Galaxy home patrons were treated to the return of U.S. team members Landon Donovan and Edson Buddle from World Cup competition. There were comments about Donovan feeling tired legs on the Carson pitch, but don’t tell that to the Sounders, who saw the same dazzling virtuoso who took control of the Galaxy offense and performed set pieces in the same devastating fashion that has come to be expected. Seattle Coach Sigi Schmid knew going in that to stand a chance of upsetting the Western Conference leaders with the premier record in the MSL, his team would need sufficient possessions to neutralize the firepower of Donovan and Buddle. Schmid also realized that. While Los Angeles had lost to Real Salt Lake 1-0 and been deadlocked 0-0 by Toronto in its last two contests, those matches occurred without the services of Donovan and Buddle. One fact provides enough of a clue as to how the first half went: The ...3Jul/100
Seattle Sounders Face L.A. Galaxy Twice in Four Days
The Seattle Sounders and Los Angeles Galaxy should be well acquainted by the time the final whistle blows on the evening of July 7th. The MLS Western Conference rivals will have played twice in a span of four days. The first game is in accordance with regular scheduling and takes place July 4th, at Home Depot Center in Carson, California. Due to the fact that the teams are both in the hunt for the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup competition, their quarterfinal contest just happens to be three days later on July 7th at Starfire Complex in Tukwila, Washington, which the Sounders use as their regular training facility. Last season, the Sounders used a trip to face the Galaxy as an opportunity to establish momentum and get back into the competition for a playoff spot, which they eventually gained in their first full season. This season, things look tougher considering that the Green Rave are in the midst of their first three-game skid of the season and stand in seventh place in the Western Conference with a mark of 4-7-3 and 15 points. As for Los Angeles, this week Bruce Arena was named to coach the MLS All-Stars in the All-Star Game scheduled July 28 ...1Jul/100
Seattle Sounders Outlast Portland Timbers on Penalty Kicks
The facial expression of Seattle Sounders Coach Sigi Schmid was one of a confounding, “Do I, or do I not?” And who could blame him? The Sounders were matched against their northwest rival the Portland Timbers in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open competition Wednesday night before a sellout crowd of 15,422 at PGE park. Seattle came away with an exciting win on penalty kicks 4-3 after the teams had battled for 120 minutes after deadlocking 1-1 at the close of regulation play and 30 minutes more of overtime. Schmid knows that the host team is a natural rival of the Sounders and that the intensity will increase next season when Portland and Vancouver enter the MLS. He wanted the victory and yet realized the need to rest players following a game last Sunday back east in intense heat against the Philadelphia Union that resulted in a 3-1 loss as well as an impending important league clash July 4 in Los Angeles against the L.A. Galaxy. An early goal in the 13th minute—one of the most brilliantly executed this season—made Schmid think that perhaps he could pull off victory without extending his roster. The goal came as Miguel Montano received the ball from Michael Seamon on the ...28Jun/100
Philadephia Union Scores 3-1 Win Over Seattle Sounders
Despite heat and humidity an enthusiastic sellout crowd of 18,755 turned out June 27 to watch host Philadelphia score a 3-1 triumph over Seattle as the Union’s new stadium in suburban Chester, PPL Park, was inaugurated. Philadelphia visited Seattle March 25 in another inaugural, that of the season’s first game, as the Sounders scored a 3-1 win. After the World Cup break, the word from the Sounders training site in Tukwila was that the team was refreshed and ready to approach the second half of the MLS campaign with confidence and optimism. Those positive sentiments dissipated as the second meeting of the teams produced a totally different result, but with a first half that was reminiscent of earlier Sounders games. The Sounders had played possession football in games that had produced disappointing losses and frustrating ties. For a time it looked as if the Sounders might have good fortune on their side as, despite numerous Philadelphia chances falling short and being dominated in time of possession, a quick breakthrough produced a 1-0 Seattle lead. The game’s as well as PPL Park’s initial goal came at the 44-minute mark. Steve Zakuani made a run up the left flank. He played a ball to Fredy Montero in ...24Jun/100