David Falk has followed soccer in the Puget Sound region since 1974. This blog covers Sounders FC, local college soccer, Seattle Wolves FC, Tacoma Tide FC and Kitsap Pumas. Send tips or comments to: goalseattle@gmail.com
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Seattle Soccer Examiner

Seattle Soccer Examiner

Friday, March 6, 2009

Time to VOTE in the flag contest!


The GOALSeattle flag contest is entering its final weekend as the four finalists are now done and their flags are being put up to a public vote on the GS forums!

The winning flag / maker gets a full 2009 south end season ticket! The Sounders have added to the prize winnings, too! The club will give a jersey to the second-place winner and a signed Kasey Keller soccer ball to the third place finisher!

Two judges will decide the winner. If they can't agree then the public vote will break the tie.

Register in the forums here and then go to the voting thread and cast your vote by Sunday March 8th!

Thursday, March 5, 2009

KISW: The scarfage continues...


I am not sure what to say about this video. What do you think? Like they always say..."You've got a face for radio!" Watch for the middle finger and a Sounders FC scarf coming out of a guy's fly. Hey, it's a Seattle 'rock' station.



Sounders have Seattle 'by the neck,' and other news


It has been a crazy day in the Emerald City with the Wexley 'viral' add campaign doing just what it is supposed to do. We've got more on the scarves that ate Seattle here.

We've got scoop today about some of the match day activities the club are planning for fans.

There is a bit of actual soccer news today, too. Fans in the GS forums reported it first: Jarrod Smith has been put on the injured list by Seattle. Jarrod who?

NextSeasonSports.com has a look at how Qwest could become the Sounders' 12th Man.

Two Whitman College boys (Walla Walla) are off to England to explore the 'beautiful game.'

Happy scarfing!

Wexley Sounderfies Seattle!



We've got the scoop over on our Examiner page. Wexley School For Girls are going to let Seattle know what's up today with a giant Sounders scarf on the Tullys building near I-5, among other coolness. See also: ScarfSeattle.com

Fans are talking about the 'viral marketing effort' in the GS forums.

The Sounders lost 1-0 to River Plate today in Argentina. Quick! Get on that plane.

Speaking of planes, if this is your bag, the club are encouraging fans to meet the Sounders at the airport tomorrow.

Did you miss the behind the scenes blog about the Wexley Sounders billboards? Check it out here. Hmm...one of those ardent scarf-wavers sure looks a lot like...me!

ESPN / Ives posts a season preview of the Sounders here.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Seattle: sleeping 'soccer giant' reawakens

Visit GOALSeattle.com's extensive soccer museum for much more on all three 'versions' of the Sounders.

Professional soccer is on the rise in Seattle with the imminent debut of Sounders FC in Major League Soccer. 32,400 fans will pack the lower bowl of Qwest Field on March 19 as Seattle hosts New York Red Bulls in the city's first-ever MLS match. The club have capped season ticket sales at 22,000. For those of us who have passionately followed all three incarnations of the "Sounders," March 19 will feel like a brand new beginning with serious deja vu undercurrents.
Seattle, the 'sleeping giant' of soccer in the Northwest, has reawakened. Here's a look back at Sounders attendances in which we'll also be visiting with some local soccer writers and Sounders fans who are following the new club with their own internet presences. Read the entire article at my Seattle Soccer Examiner Page!

Behind the scenes of the USA- Mexico rivalry



Go behind the scenes of the United States - Mexico soccer rivalry in this video feature leading up to and including the night of February 11, 2009 when the two faced off in Columbus Ohio in a World Cup qualifying match.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Sounders crush second-division Argentine side 5-0


Sounders FC scored a 5-0 victory today in their Argentina tour over second division club Tristán Suárez. Here's the report from SoundersFC.com:

Erupting for three goals within a 10-minute span, the Seattle Sounders FC extended its preseason unbeaten string to five matches with a 5-0 defeat of Tristán Suárez in La Plata, Argentina, on Tuesday.

Sebastien Le Toux factored in three goals before scoring one of his own in the dying minutes. Michael Fucito, Fredy Montero, Brad Evans and Zach Scott also scored for Seattle against the second division opponents from Buenos Aires.

Seattle has won two and tied once during its stay in Argentina. During the unbeaten run it is 4-0-1 and it is 7-1-1 overall.

The training game was split into three 30-minute periods, with many of the projected starters comprising a unit which played the final hour. Fucito, starting up front, opened the scoring in the 25th minute. He intercepted a ball just inside the halfway line, fed Roger Levesque and took the return pass to beat the onrushing keeper from 18 yards.

After Fucito’s goal late in the first period put Seattle on top, Le Toux assisted on two quick strikes to begin the second stanza. In the 33rd minute he cut the ball back for a clinical 10-yard finish by Montero, his 10th goal of the preseason. Five minutes later, Le Toux found Evans open at the top of the box for a drive into the right corner for 3-0.

Corner kicks set-up the final two Sounders FC goals. In the 43rd minute a Le Toux corner was weakly punched by the Tristán Suárez keeper. Patrick Ianni headed it back into Scott, whose header found the net from a sharp angle to the left. Le Toux flashed near post to nod home Montero’s corner from short range shortly before the final whistle. It was the first goal of the preseason for Le Toux.

None of the three Seattle keepers was seriously tested by the Tristán Suárez attack.

Sounders FC completes the tour on Thursday morning at 9:30 A.M. local (3:30 A.M. PT) at River Plate, before heading for home later that night.

Scoring Summary
SEA-Fucito (Levesque) 25’
SEA-Montero (Le Toux, Jaqua) 33’
SEA-Evans (Le Toux, Nyassi) 38’
SEA-Scott (Ianni) 43’
SEA-Le Toux (Montero) 89’

Seattle Sounders FC Lineups (4-4-2)
First 30-Minute Period: Chris Eylander; Zach Scott, Tyson Wahl, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Evan Brown; Jared Karkas, Nathan Sturgis, Stephen King, Ely Allen; Michael Fucito, Roger Levesque

Second 30-Minute Period: Kasey Keller; Zach Scott, Tyrone Marshall, Patrick Ianni, James Riley; Sebastien Le Toux, Brad Evans, Osvaldo Alonso, Sanna Nyassi; Nate Jaqua, Fredy Montero

Third 30-Minute Period: Evan Bush; Tyson Wahl, Tyrone Marshall, Patrick Ianni, James Riley; Sebastien Le Toux, Brad Evans, Osvaldo Alonso, Sanna Nyassi; Nate Jaqua, Fredy Montero

Notes: Although Tristan Suarez is based in Buenos Aires, where Sounders FC is staying, the game was played an hour away due to the lack of available fields…After Monday’s game was canceled, the only available practice site was an artificial turf surface in downtown Buenos Aires…Evan Bush made his debut in goal, playing the final 30 minutes, but he was not required to make a save. ..A total of 11 players played 60 minutes.

Photo credit: Forward Michael Fucito in action in Argentina. (SoundersFC.com)

Monday, March 2, 2009

Exclusive 'tarp' photos; Alaska Airlines feature


I literally can't seem to step away from my GOALSeattle blog chair today without coming back to more Sounders FC news!

Greg Roth has a collection of great photos of what the Qwest Field tarps are looking like, on Facebook.

Alaska Airlines Magazine has featured a photo from GOALSeattle photographer Rick Morrison in their March 2009 in-flight magazine. Rick was kind enough to scan it for us, and you can see the entire spread here.

Jack Bell may have called Joe Roth "Joe Smith," but other than that his feature today on the Sounders and Sebastien Le Toux is good reading.

Not much to report on 'roster compliance' day, except that the Sounders are...compliant.

Next Season Sports is doing a very nice job of previewing the Sounders. The latest is a look at the Seattle defense and Kasey Keller.

Sounders FC Sells Out Home Opener; team to cap season ticket memberships at 22,000


RENTON, Wash. – (Club press release) Single game tickets for the Seattle Sounders FC inaugural home opener on March 19 sold out this morning. Sounders FC will kick off the 2009 Major League Soccer season at Qwest Field versus the New York Red Bulls with more fans than originally planned.

Due to the anticipation and tremendous enthusiasm from soccer fans, the seating configuration for the March 19 home opener has been expanded to 32,400. Sounders FC will also cap season tickets at 22,000. The team recently surpassed 20,000 season tickets, the largest season ticket base in Major League Soccer.

“When we started this process 15 months ago, our goal was to successfully bring the world’s game to the people of Seattle,” said Sounders FC Owner Joe Roth. “Because of this region’s passion and the overwhelming support for the Sounders FC, we wanted even more fans to experience our historic opening match in March.”

The seating configuration for regular season matches will be increased to 27,700 seats, making it one of the larger venues in Major League Soccer.

“This community once again showed why Seattle has the best fans in the country,” said Vulcan Sports and Entertainment CEO Tod Leiweke. “The demand for tickets has exceeded our expectations, and the seating expansion to 27,700 will allow more fans to join us without jeopardizing the intimacy of the stadium.”

Season tickets will be capped to accommodate group, partial season and single game ticket sales. Season tickets consist of 18 home matches, including the March 19 home opener and July 18 match versus English Premier League power, Chelsea FC.

Single game tickets for all other home matches are available at www.SoundersFC.com or by calling 877-MLS-GOAL.

Photo courtest of mmpeterson44, www.SeattleSoccerTalk.com

Tickets on sale today at 10:00 AM; Sounders rained out in Argentina


Individual match tickets for all 2009 Sounders FC MLS home dates go on sale today at 10:00 AM via Ticketmaster and the club website. By the end of the day several matches are expected to sell out. Act now or watch from your couch this summer.

The Monday training match between the Sounders and Velez Sarsfield has been cancelled due to heavy rain. SoundersFC.com has details.

Soccer America gets our attention this morning with this headline: Sounders Mania - Back to the Northwest.

The MLS Soccer Examiner predicts Sounders FC will be a playoff club. I am quoted at the end of the article, though I haven't officially made my own predictions yet.

MLS Seattle: The Beautiful Game in the Emerald City has two posts you need to read. The first is a comparison of last year's expansion San Jose Earthquakes with this year's Sounders. The second is the first in a series of previews of the other clubs in MLS, starting with the 2009 LA Galaxy.

My Examiner.com feature, wondering aloud about what Seattle's ticket holders will bring to the efforts to establish Qwest Field as a 'intimate soccer venue,' is a big hit. Thanks for all the reads. Miss it? You can read it here.

WeAreECS.com's forums recently featured the photo in this post. The billboard is near Ballard. Watch for other such works of art in the coming weeks. Emerald City Supporters posed for photos for the club adverts.

GoSounders.com brings to our attention that Steven Goff of the Washington Post still insists Seattle have the inside track on hosting MLS Cup 2009.

Too much of a good thing?
Goal.com's Kyle McCarthy says Sounders FC's 21,000 (yes, that's the update) season ticket sales might be unrealistically raising expectations for the expansion clubs that follow...

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