The other draft

The NBA draft was yesterday, and many of the top college basketball players in the country have been snapped up by new teams. In that spirit, let's take a quick look at some of the top players available in the 2009 MLS college draft, in which the Sounders FC have the first pick: 

Bruno Guarda, attacking midfielder

Marcus Tracy, striker

Chris Clements, central defender

O'Brien White, striker

Alejandro Bedoya, midfielder

Zach Simmons, keeper

In the coming week I'll hopefully learn a lot more about these players, and see if anyone else is worthy of being added to this list. At this point, Tracy is my favorite of the bunch. As the year goes on and the draft (in January) draws closer, I'll bring some interviews of these college superstars and prospective Sounders.

Our MLS Predictions

For those not in the know, or those distracted by the naming of Seattle MLS (vote Sounders!), the 2008 MLS season begins tomorrow. Obviously we're well qualified to make these predictions, since we watched about 8 games overall last year. And these are going to be totally biased for our likes/dislikes of certain teams (say goodbye to the playoffs, Dallas!) Still, for the record and for all you Seattle soccer fans who somehow know less about the league than we do, here's how we think each team in MLS will finish.

WESTERN CONFERENCE
Houston Dynamo - 1st
Chivas USA - 2nd
Colorado Rapids - 3rd
LA Galaxy - 4th
FC Dallas - 5th
San Jose Earthquakes - 6th
Real Salt Lake - 7th

EASTERN CONFERENCE
1st - DC United
2nd - Chicago Fire
3rd - New York Red Bulls*
4th - New England Revolution
5th - Kansas City Wizards
6th - Columbus Crew
7th - Toronto FC





*Seriously, are they 'Red Bull New York' or the 'New York Red Bulls?' Their official home page lists both, for crying out loud.

Give a big hand to...

The incoming Philadelphia franchise, which will be the 16th to enter MLS, and will do so in their own waterfront soccer stadium (probably in 2010). It's about time that their fantastic media market and long history with soccer was rewarded. And we're especially happy for all the hard-core fans in Philly, who are so dedicated that they formed a supporters group long before their team was ever announced.

St. Louis seems to be a certainty for the 17th franchise, which almost certainly won't be until 2011 at the earliest. But after that, there's a bevy of potential cities that want and will be able to support MLS. Vancouver? Miami? Another New York team? Montreal? Anchorage??? These decisions, however, are likely a long ways off.

EDIT: With MLS saying that they're hoping to have 18 teams by 2011, those decisions might not be that far away after all! St. Louis is the definite front-runner for one of spots #17 and #18, and after that... who knows.

Soccer returns! Sort of.

While many in the sporting world are focused on baseball's spring training, MLS teams are already playing in games that mean something. At least, that's what they want you to think.

The Pan-Pacific Cup final was yesterday in Hawaii, crowning Japanese side Gamba Osaka victors of a 4-team tournament including Houston Dynamo, LA Galaxy and the Aussies of Sydney FC. In reality, this means nothing - the two MLS sides weren't fielding their most competitive lineups.
However, the tournament did introduce many American soccer fans to Gamba star striker Baré, a 26 year old Brazilian. With 5 goals in 2 games, 4 of them coming in the final against defending champions Houston, he put on a totally dominant performance. And he's been consistently good in the J-League, with 92 goals in the last 5 years. If he wanted to move to a higher-profile league and team, Seattle MLS would seem to be a good choice, yes?

Unfortunately, he's so good that acquiring him might be difficult. Says Adrian Hanauer, "...honestly, the salaries in the J-league are generally higher than those of MLS, and a team like Gamba Osaka would probably be looking for a multi-million dollar transfer fee, for a player like Bare. In MLS, Bare would probably command designated player type compensation." It appears that if Seattle MLS will sign a designated player, they're going to go out and pick up a real superstar. Sadly, Baré probably isn't that guy.

How to be awesome

Do you think this design looks pretty sweet? Do you often lay awake in bed wondering "How can I show my support for local soccer - and still save money?"

Then HOLY CRAP you're in luck. We've updated our store with this original logo on t-shirts, polos, buttons and stuff. Get this on a t-shirt for only 12 bucks! You know you want to. All profits go to us to help us move to a real website and purchase a real domain name.

The link now lives permanently on the sidebar, but here it is as well. All you Real Salt Lake fans, show us how much you love us and buy a t-shirt. Do it for the children.

The case for Salt Lake

If Seattle is going to enter the league with a rival already lined up, we can think of no better choice than Real Salt Lake.

There's a couple reasons. One, obviously, is their silly name. The Sonics and the Utah Jazz have a pretty good rivalry (when the Sonics are competitive) in the NBA. And RSL are possibly the closest team to Seattle (San Jose might be closer), which makes sense geographically. But the biggest reason? They cost us Seattle fans 4 years of MLS.

In 2004, as many may recall, Seattle was a leading candidate to score an expansion team. Don Garber, MLS commissioner went so far as to say that our bid "absolutely has an inside track." But then the Salt Lake City bid kind of came out of nowhere, throwing cash all over the place and stealing our MLS franchise away from us. Surely this is legitimate reason to consider them our rivals.

And seriously, who picks Salt Lake City over Seattle for a sports franchise? That's like, to conjure up a hypothetical example, moving a team from Seattle to, say, Oklahoma City.

Can rivalries be 'created?'

One of the greatest things about soccer is the rivalries... feuds like Rangers-Celtic and Milan-Inter that surpass anything American sports have to offer. MLS has its share, as well. There's no love lost between New York and D.C. United, and the hatred San Jose fans have toward Los Angeles is nearly unmatched in U.S.A. professional sports.

On the other hand, there's the Rocky Mountain Cup. Put in place a few years ago when Real Salt Lake entered the league, this 'competition' pits them against the Colorado Rapids, their geographic neighbors some 400 miles away. And new for this year is a fabricated rivalry between Columbus and Toronto. (Maybe call it the "Suck Cup?")

Seattle, when we enter the league, will have no natural rivalries, with the closest teams geographically about 12 hours of driving away. The former USL rivals of the Sounders, Vancouver and Portland, don't have a realistic chance of entering MLS for at least 5 to 8 years. So would it be better to create a rivalry shortly after entering the league, which would provide some boost to fan support and interest, or wait and see if something develops naturally?

Northwest's team should look south

The Beckham's and Blanco's may attract all the headlines, but it's becoming clear that one of the best ways to build a solid MLS side for cheap (the cheap part is necessary, given the stringent salary cap currently in place) is through South America.

Ahndray Rocha, a young Brazilian signed today by FC Dallas, is the latest young talent to join the league. Dallas already had the Columbian hotshot Juan Carlos Toja. Columbus managed to avoid being a huge suck-fest thanks to the midfield play of Guillermo Barros Schelotto (from Argentina). Real Salt Lake (who WERE actually a huge suck-fest) was given a huge late-season boost by the signings of Javier Morales and Matias Mantilla (also Argentina). And DC United rolled to the best regular season record in MLS largely because they have like 8 talented South Americans on their roster.

While all the talk is around the current Sounders Seattle MLS could call upon, and the potential designated players like Shunsuke Nakamura that get soccer fans drooling, it would be wise for Adrian Hanauer to take note of all the good, cheap talented South Americans that are available.

The National Team: Coming to a Stadium Near You?

If you liked what you saw in the US Mens National Team's thrilling 2-2 draw with Mexico last night, you could be in luck. There's a good chance that one of the group stage World Cup Qualifiers is played in Qwest Field sometime this fall.

Seattle is one of a number of cities being considered to host a game (the others are Columbus, L.A., Dallas, D.C., Chicago and Denver, out of which 3 will be chosen.) Logic and fairness dictates that one game will be held west of the Rockies... but L.A. is already hosting a qualifier in June! So Seattle would seem to be a front-runner to host a game (at Qwest, obviously). Our guesses for the other 2? D.C. and Denver.

Keep in mind, though, that the USMNT does need to beat either Barbados or Dominica in June just to advance to the group stage. Fortunately, though, the gulf in talent between the U.S. and either of these two teams is wider than the Gulf of Mexico separating the countries geographically. Keep your fingers crossed...

(Original source here)

Call it an 'unfriendly'

ESPN2 and Univision, 9:00 ET (6:00 PT)

Want to watch a big game that people in more than one country care about?

Tune into the somewhat annual USA-Mexico match Wednesday night. Nothing official will be on the line, but that doesn't matter when these two teams face off. For those who don't know, the U.S. and Mexico teams (or at least their fans) absolutely hate each other, making this one of the top rivalries in international soccer.

Mexico, ranked 15th in the world, are probably in slightly better form than the United States (currently 20th). But Mexico haven't won in the last 9 games they've played in the U.S., and this contest will be held just across the border in Houston. It's definitely one worth watching.

(And if you do, make sure to check out the spanish-language broadcast. Even if you can't understand a word they're saying, it's still supremely entertaining.)

Seattle to have company?

Seattle might (might!) not be the only team entering MLS in 2009.

The long-running battle between Philadelphia and St. Louis for the 16th expansion slot may have just been won by those from the land of cheesesteaks and obnoxious sports fans. The state of Pennsylvania has just announced that they're cool with giving about 50 million dollars for building a brand new soccer stadium in a Philly suburb. This is in addition to 30 million dollars of county money.

There's plenty of time remaining before the 2009 season, and having Philly and Seattle join at the same time would give the league a friendly number of 16 teams. Philly would have to play in a temporary home for one year, but the University of Penn Stadium would probably work as a decent option.

However... based on what Commissioner Don Garber has said in the past, MLS would prefer to have the next team open in their own stadium, making it probable that Philly doesn't start until 2010. On the other hand, he kinda changes his mind all the time, so don't rule out a 2009 start for the club-to-be.

Philly's proposed stadium:

Kinda looks like a toilet seat...
(but still cool.)

Click here for the MLSnet article.

Already Making Headlines

Seattle's hiring of Chris Henderson is on the front page of MLSnet.com as of now. It's great to see the club to-be getting such positive press more than a year before the team begins play, and especially to see things like this (from Henderson):

"The stadium experience will be incredible. We're confident that the 24,500 lower bowl will be filled to capacity. The fan club sections, the VIP sections will be state of the art. Word around the country is all about what is going on in Seattle. We'll all -- fans, organization and players alike -- be part of something big. I'm happy to be coming home to see it."

All the ingredients seem to be in place to build a team/franchise that can be perennially successful - the Asian connection, a great (on paper) ownership group, a brilliant stadium in the heart of an amazing city. And that's what has us so excited; we could be not only major league, we could be one of the best major league franchises. In America. Sweetness.

Huskies to MLS, Cougars to KFC

File this away for later - two senior forwards from the University of Washington, Ely Allen and Kevin Forrest, are invited to the 2008 MLS player combine taking place next week. Around 60 top prospects primarily from the US have been invited, and all of them have a future playing professional soccer.

Allen, from Kent, racked up 26 goals and 12 assists in his UW career. Forrest, who is from Edmonds and is (in our possibly incorrect opinion) the more talented of the two, was injured for much of the 2007 season. He had 34 goals and 6 assists in his career.

Both have a good chance of going in the draft, and if not, either or both of them could find themselves wanted by the USL Sounders, in preparation for the big show of Seattle MLS. The club will be offensive-minded, and these are two excellent offensive players. Remember these names.

(If you're reading this and you're a WSU graduate who actually works at KFC, well, it could be worse. At least you didn't go to Eastern.)

Sounders 2008 home games to be played in Siberia

Tukwila, Siberia, same thing. If you want to see local pro soccer next year, be prepared to drive.

The Seattle Tukwila Sounders will play their home games at 2,000 seat Starfire Sports Complex.

The team played some home games there last year, including the USL final where they stomped Atlanta, 4-0. It's a cool place and all, but... seriously, it's tiny, and it's going to limit the amount of people who will catch a game next season. Imagine the Mariners moving to Everett
Memorial Stadium.

The only way this makes sense is to make people forget about the Sounders, so when the MLS team rolls into town in 2009, those people will be like "OMG we have soccer now!" But even that doesn't really make sense. Hey, we tried.

For those hardcore enough to still want tickets, or the lucky few living in that area, season tickets will be on sale November 27 November 30 sometime before the season begins, and should be a bargain at less than $200.

We'll be waiting for a friendly match of some sort to come to Qwest, thanks.

The Bigger Picture

So to partially fill this off-season we're going to be doing a series on the popularity, acceptance and development of soccer in the United States. This will be called



We're going to be talking to various people around the U.S. and Seattle soccer scene to see what they think of the current and future states of American soccer. The basic question, of course, is "how popular will soccer be in the near future?' There are some differing opinions:

Danny Jackson (former MLS and current Sounders player) - "I do think it will get there, but it will take time. When this next generation of supporter arrives at the stadium, the generation which grew up playing the game, who will vividly remember Beckham arriving, Sounders winning a championship, feeling pain and hurt when their team loses, and when we are on prime time TV, we will be on the right track."

Adrian 'Man of the Hour' Hanauer (owner of Sounders and future MLS franchise) - "The trend is definitely going the right direction, and I believe that we will continue to see increased support for soccer on every level, over the next 10-20 years."

Larry Stone (Seattle Times sportswriter) - "I don't think soccer will ever become a mainstream sport. It's simply not part of our culture, and it never will be. When I was little, I heard people say that soccer would be huge once all the kids who play youth soccer became adult consumers. Never happened, and it won't happen, I believe. Soccer will remain a niche sport -- hugely popular among the fanatics, but not on par with NFL, MLB, or NBA. It might catch NHL."

...so what do y'all think?

The Name Game

Over 8000 Seattleites evidently like soccer enough to place season ticket deposits without even knowing the name of our future team. Nevertheless, this is currently the hottest topic of discussion in Seattle soccer circles. The basic question is... to be Sounders, or not to be Sounders?

So against our better judgment, we're going to offer our opinion. The obvious reason to keep the Sounders name would be to preserve the rich history of soccer this city has. But if the new team has a different name, we will not be 'throwing away our history,' as some hardcore Sounder fans might argue. The ownership group (especially Adrian Hanauer) knows soccer and the importance of its history, and if the name is changed, they will surely take measures to preserve this. Keeping the same blue and green colors would be a start. Another way would be to put (with Paul Allen's blessing) a Seattle soccer museum in Qwest field, with banners, photos and newspapers from the days of the Sounders in the NASL and A-League/USL.

Of course, Sounders would be just peachy, but if not, we trust the owners to not pick a ridiculous name. If they could both take steps to preserve this cities' soccer history and still pick a classy, more 'traditional' soccer name like Seattle City or Inter Seattle, that would arguably be the best of both worlds. And hey, if they pick something horrendously stupid (Seattle Strikerz! Wooo!), there's always the chance that us fans could bitch enough to make them change it, like what happened in San Jose a few years ago.

In conclusion, a name change wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. Feel free to vehemently disagree.

And now for the fun part...

The speculation can end: Seattle will have an MLS franchise.

And now, according to this article, all of the team's details will be announced at the press conference this coming Tuesday. So until then, we have three questions to ask of Seattle MLS: What is your name? What is your crest? What are your team colors?

We expect to see a new crest, but using the traditional Seattle soccer colors of green and teal-ish. As for the name... let's just say that the hardcore Sounders fans should be happy. *LATE EDIT* Suggestions for the name are now being accepted online, so the name may still be up in the air.

(Bonus points if you caught the Monty Python reference!)

Also, since this news has already been leaked, we can confirm that Drew Carey will almost certainly be a part of the ownership group.

Designated Player Speculation: Shinji Ono

As MLS Cup and a possible Seattle-related announcement draw nearer, only 2 weeks away at the time of posting, all we can do is wait. Wait and speculate.

Supposedly Adrian Hanauer, the MLS Seattle boss-to-be, has been in Asia for scouting purposes. (Which would explain why he isn't responding to our emails!) It makes sense for him to be looking for an Asian superstar player to sign, as sort of a soccer equivalent to Ichiro. Well, we think we know of the perfect guy.

Shinji Ono (shown here in a Seattle jersey, 2 years in the future) is an midfielder, primarily attacking but able to play anywhere in the midfield. He's played for Feyenoord, Uwara (in the J league) and has had 55 appearances (with 6 goals) for the Japan national side.

He's known for fantastic vision and versatile, all-around strong play. Ladies think he's cute, so we guess that's a bonus. Plus his nickname is 'Tensai,' or 'Genius,' which we think is just awesome. But here's the best part - his current contract with Uwara runs out in winter of 2008 - just in time to join Seattle for their inaugural MLS season in 2009! And by that time, he'll still only be 29 years old. Perfect. A Japanese midfielder in his prime to build around.

The only knock on him is durability, as injuries have caused him to miss a bunch of games for Japan internationally. Still, that shouldn't stop Hanauer from pursuing Shinji Ono, who looks to be a perfect fit for a Seattle MLS team.

(Check out videos of him here and here.)

Stadium Mumblings

So we've heard some stuff we're pretty sure we weren't supposed to hear.

But this requires a sort-of introduction to the Seattle basketball scene for those not in the know. A bunch of rich midwest guys have kidnapped (bought) the Seattle Sonics Basket Ball team and are trying to move them to Oklahoma City. Their reason: KeyArena, current home of the Sonics, isn't big or fancy enough. And so far Seattle's been pretty 'eh' on the whole thing, acting as if they don't really care.

Until now. Apparently there's been a lot of recent talk between Seattle mayor Nickels and a bunch of other Seattle political people, and they want to partially remodel Seattle Center in order to take down KeyArena and build a new, big, fancy place for the Sonics to stay. But they all want this kept quiet for some reason, which is why we have to be annoyingly vague.

So how does this relate to Seattle MLS? Well, we'll tell you. But first read this, or at least the first paragraph. Clicky.

If you were lazy and didn't read it, basically Memorial (currently a pile of crap) Stadium might be remodeled, too. We've talked to one of the guys behind this thing. Although the article doesn't mention it, we've heard on good authority that under this plan the New Memorial Stadium could be used to house an MLS team. Seriously. Now, how much of this plan the city is talking about using, we're not entirely sure. Possibly none. But there is a slim chance that Seattle Fillintheblank soccer club will one day be playing in a Soccer Specific Stadium, downtown and in an awesome location.

We will update as we learn more, and as soon as the city decides to stop being all secret-like about their plans.

Seattle MLS: What We Know

As some dude named Socrates might say, we only know that we know nothing.

However, many rumors from both credible and BigSoccer sources are floating around the inter-web. So, a brief summary. The supposed group interested in bringing MLS to Seattle includes Joe Roth (formerly of Revolution Studios), Adrian Hanauer (owner of the USL Seattle Sounders) and Paul Allen, who we hear has a bunch of money or something. The as-of-yet unnamed team would play at Qwest Field, reportedly for free, thanks to Allen. They'd begin play in 2009, with a formal announcement presumably coming sometime before then.

What we also know is that inter-webbers far and wide are getting all argument-like over whether or not a new team playing in a football stadium is a bad thing. They want smaller stadiums. To which we say, meh. The team will play in Qwest. It's a flippin' gorgeous stadium. It's in the middle of downtown, close to restaurants, bars and other fun places. And the Seattle (fill_in_the_blank) soccer team will possibly play there for free.

Any logical person would realize that all these awesome goodies that come with Qwest are way cooler than having a stadium with less seats. Sadly, not all inter-webbers are, in fact, logical.