Ticket prices on the way!

A seating and season ticket pricing guide should be released within a week. Probably next Monday, but don't quote us on that. The cheapest seats (those on the endline) will be about 18 to 20 bucks per game for season ticket holders, and the other seats will be.... more than that. Anything other details we'd just be guessing at. If you can't wait, hit up this link to check out the views from all the different Qwest Field sections.

Apologies for the short and detail-less update, but... well, it's 2 in the bloody morning.

There is a team in the city already...

Somewhat lost in the announcement of the team name and badge, as well as the various superstar rumors, is the fact that the current iteration of the Seattle Sounders have just begun their season and their attempt to defend their USL title. Not surprising, really, since the first game (played last Saturday afternoon) was in relative obscurity, across the country in Charleston, SC. Compare that to the season opener for this year's MLS expansion club - the San Jose Earthquakes opened in LA in a primetime Thursday night game!

The Sounders managed to get a point in a 1-1 draw thanks to a late goal from Kenji Treschuk, one of many hopefuls to make the big club in 2009. But the focus this year will undoubtedly not be on results, but on developing for next year. Pretty much every regular starter has a chance of playing for Seattle Sounders FC, with some more likely than others (and with striker Sebastien Le Toux basically a lock already.) Names to keep tabs on (in our humble opinion) are midfielders Treschuk and Kevin Sakuda, defenders Zack Scott and Taylor Graham, keeper Chris Eylander, and a handful of others. We'll be watching them closely, and you should too.

New targets needed

It appears that both Thierry Henry and Juan Roman Riquelme can be crossed off the list of superstars with a chance of joining the Sounders. Riquelme has recently said that he wants to stay with his current club, Boca Juniors of Argentina, for the remainder of his career. And just yesterday this article came out which says Henry wishes to leave Barcelona and go back to play in England so he can see his daughter more often. Playing across the globe in Seattle wouldn't exactly fit for him, then.

In the meantime, Adrian Hanauer will continue traveling around the world, as he recently got back from Argentina (ostensibly just to scout, not to try and convince Riquelme) and will soon head to Africa. For now, it seems, attempts at coaxing a big-name player to the Pacific Northwest for 2009 will be put on hold.

Mexico-China a success, Brazil-Canada up next

Does one good turnout deserve another?

That may be the case in Seattle soccer. The national teams of Brazil and Canada are reportedly close to an agreement to play a friendly match sometime this summer at Qwest Field. This comes on the heels of the smashing success of the Mexico-China friendly at the same stadium, which Mexico won 1-0. Originally sales for this match were limited to the lower bowl of 24,000, but the match ended up selling more than DOUBLE that amount of tickets - over 56,000 were in attendance!

The Brazil-Canada match isn't finalized and no date has been set, but it will surely draw a comparable crowd. Brazil is always a big draw wherever they play, and the fact that the match should take place in the summer means that many Brazilian stars in European leagues (dare we say Ronaldinho?) will be available. They'll face an almost certainly outmatched Canadian side that could feature Houston Dynamo catalyst Dwayne Derosario (our fave MLS player). We'll have more details as we get them.

Here's a video featuring goals from both Ronaldinho and Derosario.
And here's the Seattle PI blurb.

The keeper conundrum

We're still half a year away from the serious roster building stuff, and already a potential roster conflict is emerging. But it's a good kind of conflict. Seattle Sounders FC will likely be able to choose between Kasey Keller and Marcus Hahnemann, both world-class keepers with local ties: Keller is from Lacey, Hahnemann is an SPU graduate and former Sounder from Seattle. And both have recently expressed serious interest in playing in Seattle.

Keller: "It’s an extremely attractive proposition. Hopefully at some stage it becomes a viable option, and coming from that area, it’s obviously something I’d find extremely interesting... there is a relationship (with the owners), and if it becomes something, then I’m all for it. If it doesn’t, I’ll still be a fan of the new franchise."

Hahnemann: "They (SSFC) are doing everything right and eventually when Reading don’t want me any more and I get sick of driving on the wrong side of the road and buying petrol instead of gas then I might leave... I know a lot of people are really excited to be getting a team in the MLS in Seattle and I am sure that those same people are, like myself, very pleased with what we saw. This may make coming home much easier."

Obviously, having either one of these players, both veterans selected for the 2006 World Cup, would be incredible both from a playing and a marketing standpoint. The first thought would probably be to take whichever one we can get. Both of their teams, especially Keller's Fulham, are in danger of being relegated from the lucrative English Premier League, so that could be a factor as well. We'll be watching closely to see whether Fulham and Hahnemann's Reading are sent down here in the last few weeks of the EPL season.

Take a look at this

As much as we would love to take credit for this, we can't  - it was emailed to us, but we don't know who created the thing. If you know where it came from originally let us know and we'll give them props. 

Also, what do you think? Too 'out there,' or groovy and unique?