LA Galaxy starts their first team in this match and what happens? Sounders crush them 4-0

By Money Mike


Back on May 2nd, following the Sounders 2-0 home win over the Los Angeles Galaxy, so many LA fans were making dumbass excuses. Saying a bunch of stupid bullshit like, "You beat us only because we played our reserves, if we had our first team out there things would've been different." I watched every single minute of that match last night and the LA Galaxy did play their starters. David Beckham was out there, so was Landon Donovan, Robbie Keane, Omar Gonzalez, Juninho, Josh Saunders, etc. and I got to tell you, all of them played like complete shit. The Seattle Sounders destroyed the Galaxy 4-0 in front of a crowd of 60,908 at CenturyLink Field.

In the fourth minute of the game, Brad Evans went long for Alex Caskey. Now at first the attack looked to have been broke down, but a mistake by defender Omar Gonzalez sent Caskey on a two on one break. Caskey looked to curl the ball into the far corner but Josh Saunders got his hands to it and Fredy Montero couldn't put away the rebound. I don't know how much Montero knew about it, but that would've been the start the Sounders were looking for.

A minute later, the Sounders were on the attack again and this time they got the opening goal. Ozzie Alonso sent Mauro Rosales streaking down the right hand side. Eddie Johnson made a brilliant run into the penalty area and Rosales found him with a terrific cross and EJ puts it away with a snap header from point blank range for his team leading 10th goal of the season which makes him the third player in MLS history to score at least 10 goals in a season for three different clubs. The other two players to do that were Jeff Cunningham and Dwayne De Rosario.

LA started to create some opportunities and they probably should've equalized in the 31st minute. David Beckham played in a good long ball into the box for Landon Donovan who got away from Jeff Parke. Just as Donovan was ready to put the ball away, it took an awkward bounce which forced Donovan to play it back to Robbie Keane whose first timed shot was deflected wide by Parke.

The Sounders doubled their lead in the 52nd minute. Eddie Johnson fed the ball to Fredy Montero who poked the ball through to Alex Caskey who may have been offside. Caskey tried to get to the ball before Josh Saunders but Saunders denied Caskey of his first MLS goal. The ball was still in the box however. Fredy Montero chased the ball down and he saw Saunders retreating to his goal, so Fredy decided to give it a go and found the back of the net. Saunders did get a touch to it, but the Sounders extended their lead to two goals with Montero's sixth league goal of the season and his ninth in all competitions.

Nine minutes later, added a third goal. David Beckham was looking to play in a cross to either Robbie Keane or Landon Donovan, but he got it all wrong and instead gave the ball away to Seattle who quickly poured down field in a counter attack. Eddie Johnson and Fredy Montero sprinted forward to put pressure on both center backs for LA. Johnson tried to get around David Lopes, but his final touch was too heavy and Josh Saunders broke up the play. However, Alex Caskey stepped in and gave it a go from a long way out because he saw that Saunders was well off his line and he found an empty net for his first MLS goal and more importantly to put the Sounders ahead 3-0.

With just over two minutes to go in the game, the Sounders would add one more to cap of LA's embarrasing night. Mauro Rosales played a good ball down the left side for Marc Burch who slowed the play down before squaring the ball across and there to finish it off was Andy Rose for his first MLS goal and to seal a 4-0 victory over the Galaxy.


Observations:

I'm pretty sure Andy Rose has had a difficult day yesterday leading up to this match with the loss of a friend. Yesterday morning, Rose got a call found out that Columbus Crew player Kirk Urso had passed away. Rose and Urso were close friends, going back to the early days when they were club teammates in Chicago. For Rose to score his first MLS goal in front of over 60,000 strong was a special moment for him and he recieved several messages on his phone from people around the nation who watched this match on ESPN2 last night. To hear that a close friend had died is something that's hard to believe and it's something nobody even wants to believe. You just have to wonder what's been going through his mind leading up to the match.

Christian Tiffert made his debut for the Sounders, coming on in the 64th minute of the match. Tiffert joined the Sounders back on July 28th as a Designated Player. I thought Tiffert did very well on his debut. He gave the ball away only once all match, he did a good job defensively and the partnership with Alonso in the midfield seems to be working to perfection. Sometimes you got to have more than one playmaker on your team, so I'm glad that Tiffert is here in the Emerald City and I'm looking forward to the rest of the season with our team getting back to full fitness.

"Pete Carroll @PeteCarroll
Huge 4-0 win for @SoundersFC! And a crowd of 60,000+ too... Seattle fans are unbelievable!"

Pete Carroll, the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, was at the game last night. There's his picture that he posted on Twitter. Just goes to show that Seattle truely is America's Soccer City. The entire stadium will be open again for the Sounders next home match against the Vancouver Whitecaps on August 18th and on October 7th when the Portland Timbers come to town. Unlike RFK Stadium, the Rose Bowl, Gillette Stadium or Soldier Field, CenturyLink Field is a great venue for soccer. It was built remember in 2002 to bring in an MLS team and it's great to have one here in Seattle.

So how about we take a look at the highlights from this match.....



This win will really boost the confidence of this team with a couple more tough games ahead of them. Of course on Wednesday, the Sounders will go for their fourth straight U.S. Open Cup title against Sporting Kansas City and then a big road match on Saturday against the first place San Jose Earthquakes. So to get a win like this is a real confidence booster for sure.


Scoring summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Eddie Johnson 10 (Mauro Rosales 8, Osvaldo Alonso 1) 6'

Seattle Sounders FC - Fredy Montero 6 (unassisted) 52'

Seattle Sounders FC - Alex Caskey 1 (unassisted) 61'

Seattle Sounders FC - Andy Rose 1 (Marc Burch 3, Mauro Rosales 9) 88'


Misconduct summary:

Los Angeles Galaxy - A.J. DeLaGarza (caution; foul) 24'

Seattle Sounders FC - Brad Evans (caution; time wasting) 60'


Lineups:

Los Angeles Galaxy - Josh Saunders; A.J. DeLaGarza, Omar Gonzalez, David Lopes (Jose Villarreal 80'), Bryan Gaul; Sean Franklin (Mike Magee 57'), David Beckham, Juninho (Hector Jimenez 70'), Marcelo Sarvas; Robbie Keane, Landon Donovan

Seattle Sounders FC - Michael Gspurning; Adam Johansson, Jeff Parke, Patrick Ianni, Leonardo Gonzalez; Mauro Rosales, Osvaldo Alonso, Brad Evans (Christian Tiffert 64'), Alex Caskey (Marc Burch 81'); Eddie Johnson, Fredy Montero (Andy Rose 73')

Sounders snap skid vs Galaxy: Win 2-0

By Money Mike


The Sounders finally snap their winless skid against the Los Angeles Galaxy with a 2-0 win Wednesday night in front of a crowd of 39,002 in attendance. With the win, Seattle climbs into third place in the Western Conference standings and remain six points shy of the first place San Jose Earthquakes with still a couple games in hand between the two. Seattle's next match is Saturday afternoon at 1pm against the Philadelphia Union here in Seattle. That game will be televised nationally on the NBC Sports Network.

Seattle got it rollin' early in the match and put LA's weak backline under pressure. Mauro Rosales's free kick was intended for Jhon Kennedy Hurtado and it looked like Chad Barrett got a head on it and goalkeeper Bill Gaudette came off his line to gather the ball. Gaudette is making his second straight start in goal for Josh Saunders who is suspended indefinitely after being enrolled in Major League Soccer's substance abuse and behavioral health program. In the 10th minute, Mauro Rosales made a cut outside of Bryan Gaul and whipped in a good cross to the six yard area for Fredy Montero who turned and tried to slide the ball through, but Bill Gaudette made a huge kick save.

In the 23rd minute, Mauro Rosales sent Eddie Johnson away down the right hand side. Johnson waited a couple of seconds for help to arrive in the penalty area before doing a scissors move to get past David Lopes. As help arrived, Johnson decided to go alone with his left foot which was spilled by Gaudette and Fredy Montero was there for the rebound, but somehow Gaudette was able to get a foot to that to deny Montero point blank.

The breakthrough finally came in the 40th minute as Seattle capitalized on some poor defending all around in LA's half. Mauro Rosales was left with loads of time and space and he whipped in a beautiful curling ball to the middle of the penalty for Eddie Johnson who beats two LA defenders for a snap header that probably should've been saved by Gaudette, but the ball ended up in the back of the net for Eddie Johnson's second goal in as many matches to give Seattle a 1-0 lead going into the break.

In the second half, the Sounders ended up making a change in goal. Michael Gspurning was replaced by Bryan Meredith after a hip injury that has been bothering him for about a week. So unfortunately, he was taken out and Meredith came on for his first MLS appearance.

In the 48th minute, Fredy Montero finally got on the score sheet in big way. Once again, no pressure on the ball from LA and Montero from 35 yards out hits an absolute belter for his first goal of the season that he's been chasing for seven games and quite possibly a top candidate for Goal of the Year, but more importantly, it gave the Sounders a 2-0 lead.

The LA Galaxy hoped to claw their way back and get something out of this match by bringing in Mike Magee and Edson Buddle and for most of the second half, the Galaxy had a ton of possession, but didn't really have anything to show for. In the 62nd minute, Landon Donovan tested Bryan Meredith from about 20 yards away with a left footed strike, but it was straight at Meredith. A minute later, Mike Magee tested him from about the same distance and a few thought it went in, but it missed just wide of the far post. That was the last real opportunity in the match for LA.


Observations:

Another great turnout by the Sounder nation, that's 55 consecutive MLS matches that have been sold out here in Seattle since the Sounders joined MLS and I don't see that streak ending anytime soon. As a matter of fact, not in a long time. Because of the success this team is having right and the direction they're going in the future, fans will continue to pack the stadium and add to their streak of sellouts as Soccer in America continues to grow. Every year, the capacity for Sounder matches has increased. At the start, the capacity was around 28,000 in 09' and then the fan base started to grow and grow and it continues to grow, so now the capacity is around 39,000 now although there are four matches this season including the friendly match against Chelsea where they'll open up the entire stadium.

Former Sounder Pat Noonan made his return to Seattle since he was taken in the Re-entry Draft by the Galaxy last December. He came on for the last 19 minutes match and didn't really do a thing for the Galaxy because they were outplayed, outcoached, weren't fully prepared for this match. Landon Donovan had a disappointing night, Edson Buddle was unable to provide any spark to LA's attack, Sean Franklin had a disappointing night, Marcelo Sarvas came close a couple of times to getting a red card, Bryan Gaul had a rough night defensively, all night LA just couldn't find a way to click it into full gear.

I was a little surprised to see Bryan Meredith come on in the second half. I thought he did very well in his 45 minutes of work. Took a couple of touches at the start of the half, made a good stop on the shot from Landon Donovan, kept his nerve the entire half and he didn't look like was playing under a bit of pressure. Meredith made his Sounders debut in the final group stage match of the 2011-12 CONCACAF Champions League against Monterrey, mainly because Sigi wanted to rest Kasey Keller for the playoffs that time and Terry Boss and Josh Ford were on the DL. The reason he was out there as a backup to start the match was because Josh Ford is still out injured as well as Andrew Weber.

Gspurning underwent an MRI earlier today on his hip and it appears unlikely that he'll play Saturday in their home match against the Philadelphia Union. If he's unable to go, what I'm hearing is Bryan Meredith will get the start and a guy named Steve Spangler who recently played goalkeeper at Oregon State University will join the squad as an emergency backup.

Eddie Johnson had another terrific night, picking up his second goal of the season and hopefully his goal last night can put an end to all the critics about the Sounders trading Mike Fucito, who unfortunately is now with the Portland Timbers, and Lamar Neagle to the Montreal Impact to get Eddie Johnson. He's made a lot of progress getting back into goalscoring form and so far he hasn't disappointed. I can say now that the Sounders pulled off a good trade because of Johnson's performance recently and also because of his caliber which is much higher than Fucito and Neagle.

In case anybody who was at the game didn't notice, Leon Washington of the Seattle Seahawks was at the match. He does have a couple of pictures and videos from the match on his twitter page. Tony Ventrella caught up with him at halftime for a Sounders 1 V 1. Here's the video....



The Sounders have now won three in a row and continue to add to their best start in franchise history. Even though the Galaxy didn't put their strong team out there, it was nice to get that first home win against them out of the way. The Sounders are three points back of Real Salt Lake for 2nd place in the Western Conference with three games in hand and are six points back of the San Jose Earthquakes for 1st place in the West and if they can take advantage of those games in hand, not only can they take over first in the West, they can take over the top spot in the race for the Supporters Shield.


Scoring summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Eddie Johnson 2 (Mauro Rosales 1) 40'

Seattle Sounders FC - Fredy Montero 1 (Osvaldo Alonso 1) 48'


Misconduct summary:

Los Angeles Galaxy - Marcelo Sarvas (caution; foul) 34'


Lineups:

Los Angeles Galaxy - Bill Gaudette; Bryan Jordan (Pat Noonan 71'), A.J. DeLaGarza, David Lopes, Bryan Gaul; Sean Franklin, Marcelo Sarvas, Juninho, Landon Donovan; Adam Christman (Edson Buddle 53'), Chad Barrett (Mike Magee 58')

Seattle Sounders FC - Michael Gspurning (Bryan Meredith 46'); Zach Scott, Jeff Parke, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Leo Gonzalez; Mauro Rosales (Marc Burch 74'), Osvaldo Alonso, Brad Evans, David Estrada; Fredy Montero, Eddie Johnson (Alex Caskey 81')

LA Galaxy win 1-0 to claim their third MLS Cup title

By Money Mike

After choking in the MLS Cup playoffs the last two years, the Los Angeles Galaxy have finally won an MLS Cup title in the Beckham era. The Galaxy defeated the Houston Dynamo 1-0 in what could be David Beckham's final game with the LA Galaxy. 30,281 filled up the Home Depot Center. Most of which were hoping that Beckham would end his LA Galaxy career with an MLS Championship (if this were to be his last game with LA), and a couple weeks ago, I said that if this were to be his final match and the Galaxy didn't win the Cup, this would've been an epic fail following the Cup final defeat here in Seattle against Real Salt Lake in 2009 and a 3-0 beating they got from FC Dallas in the 2010 Western Conference final. But after the final was all said and done, the Galaxy came out on top and lift the Trophy for the third time in their history.

LA nearly opened the scoring in the 12th minute. Adam Cristman, who made 11 appearances and scored only one goal, was found unmarked off a David Beckham corner kick, but he couldn't get his header on target, missing wide of the right post. Cristman was getting the start in place of Chad Barrett after Barrett dislocated his ankle earlier this week during practice.

Cristman had another chance in minute 27. David Beckham sent another dangerous ball into the penalty area. Cristman got up and again headed the ball off the mark before colliding with goalkeeper Tally Hall.

Houston struggled to test LA goalkeeper Josh Saunders, who had been filling in for Donovan Ricketts in the 2nd half of the season since Ricketts suffered a broken hand back on July 2nd against the San Jose Earthquakes. The best chance they had came in the 43rd minute. Calen Carr sent a very good ball out wide to the right for Danny Cruz. Cruz then cut to his left foot and ripped a low drive, but it was right at Saunders. Again, that was just about the best chance the Dynamo had in this match.

A minute later, the Galaxy had another chance to break the tie. Robbie Keane found Mike Magee in the box, but the opportunity came to waste as Magee's left footed shot flew well over the bar.

In the 49th minute, Robbie Keane had a golden opportunity to put LA on top. Keane ran onto a loose ball that caromed off Luiz Camargo's head, but he trickled a shot wide of the far post.

In the 72nd minute, the LA Galaxy finally got their goal. Robbie Keane picked out Landon Donovan with a beautiful through ball in the box. Donovan lifted the ball over Tally Hall and into the far corner. Geoff Cameron tried to clear the ball of the line, but he wasn't fast enough and you knew that there was no way back for the Dynamo with the lack of chances they had in the game. The Galaxy were knocking on the door and with over 18 minutes to go, they get the goal that turned out to be the winner.

For Landon Donovan, that was his 20th career postseason goal and his forth all-time in the MLS Cup as he continues to add to his amazing career. Donovan is the all-time leading goalscorer in LA Galaxy history, he's the all time greatest goalscorer in U.S. national team history and he has now won four MLS Cup titles in his career and there is still more milestones to reach in years to come for the 29-year old.

Scoring summary:

Los Angeles Galaxy - Landon Donovan (Robbie Keane, David Beckham)

Misconduct summary:

Houston Dynamo - Bobby Boswell (caution; Handball)

Los Angeles Galaxy - Adam Cristman (caution; Reckless tackle)

Houston Dynamo - Andre Hainault (caution; Reckless foul)

Los Angeles Galaxy - David Beckham (caution; Tactical foul)

Los Angeles Galaxy - Landon Donovan (caution; Delaying a restart)

Lineups:

Houston Dynamo - Tally Hall; Andre Hainault, Bobby Boswell, Geoff Cameron, Jermaine Taylor; Danny Cruz (Colin Clark 78'), Luiz Camargo, Adam Moffat, Corey Ashe (Je-Vaughn Watson 84'); Brian Ching, Calen Carr (Carlo Costly 66')

Los Angeles Galaxy - Josh Saunders; Sean Franklin, Omar Gonzalez, A.J. DeLaGarza, Todd Dunivant; Landon Donovan, David Beckham, Juninho, Mike Magee; Adam Cristman (Chris Birchall 57'), Robbie Keane

MLS Cup semifinal recap

By Money Mike

Well the Sounders may be out, but that doesn't keep me from recapping the MLS Cup playoffs. Today we found out who will be playing for the MLS Cup title two weeks from now and who will be packing their bags and heading home one game away from the MLS Cup final. The playoff system has turned into a land of confusion because of the wild card positions where an Eastern Conference team would end up in the western conference bracket or a Western Conference team possibly ending up in the eastern bracket. The fact that Seattle was knocked out the playoffs was because the Quarterfinal was a two game home-and-home series where whoever scores the most goals in the series moves on and if the series ended all square after 90 minutes in the 2nd leg, there would be two 15-minute overtime periods and if still tied, the series would be decided by penalties (There's no Golden Goal). After that, the semifinals and the championship is single elimination. This round was the semifinal where the winner heads to the final.

Sporting Kansas City vs Houston Dynamo (Houston wins 2-0):

Well after missing out on the playoffs last season, the Houston Dynamo are moving on to the MLS Cup for the third time in franchise history. The previous two times they were in the final in 2006 and 2007, they won the MLS Cup. They move on to the Championship after defeating Sporting Kansas City 2-0. Andre Hainault opened the scoring in the 53rd minute after Adam Moffat whipped a cross to the back post. The ball bounced around and fell to Hainault who tapped it in to make it 1-0 Dynamo. In the 87th minute, Sporting Kansas City were caught on a counter and beat on a counter. Luiz Camargo split a through ball which sent Carlo Costly behind the defense and through on goal, and the Honduran international made no mistake, banging a shot off the post and in to put the Eastern Conference final beyond reach.

I got to tell you, keeping track of the MLS teams all season long and tracking what Sporting Kansas City has accomplished since moving to their new home ground back in June after all they went through in their first eight games of the season, all on the road of course, winning the Eastern Conference regular season title and then getting knocked out of the playoffs one game away from a trip to LA is just a major disappointment and Teal Bunbury knows it. It's been an up and down year for Bunbury, struggling through injury which left him off the U.S. squad for the Gold Cup. Despite his struggles, the 21-year old did manage to finish the year with 9 goals and 5 assists in 29 matches and will start to get better in years to come. But that picture says it all, a missed opportunity at reaching the final and qualifying for the 2012-2013 CONCACAF Champions League is just tough to swallow and Teal Bunbury and the rest of the Sporting Kansas City players will be feeling the pain for a few days.

Scoring summary:

Houston Dynamo - Andre Hainault (unassisted) 53'

Houston Dynamo - Carlo Costly (Luiz Camargo) 87'

Misconduct summary:

Houston Dynamo - Calen Carr (caution; Reckless tackle) 17'

Sporting Kansas City - Julio Cesar (caution; Reckless foul) 30'

Houston Dynamo - Luiz Camargo (caution; Reckless tackle) 55'

Sporting Kansas City - Roger Espinoza (caution; Dissent) 74'

Houston Dynamo - Carlo Costly (caution; Shirt removal) 87'

Lineups:

Houston Dynamo - Tally Hall; Andre Hainault, Bobby Boswell, Geoff Cameron, Corey Ashe; Danny Cruz, Adam Moffat, Luiz Camargo, Brad Davis (Jermaine Taylor 39'); Brian Ching (Carlo Costly 78'), Calen Carr (Will Bruin 68')

Sporting Kansas City - Jimmy Nielsen; Matt Besler, Aurelien Collin, Julio Cesar (Jeferson 82'), Seth Sinovic (Omar Bravo 85'); Chance Myers, Graham Zusi, Roger Espinoza (Davy Arnaud 75'); C.J. Sapong, Kei Kamara, Teal Bunbury

Los Angeles Galaxy vs Real Salt Lake (Los Angeles wins 3-1):

With the Los Angeles Galaxy advancing to the MLS Cup final and the fact that Los Angeles was chosen to host the 2011 MLS Cup final, you would expect LA to win the final. The Galaxy earned a spot in the final after defeating Real Salt Lake by a score of 3-1. LA got on the board first in the 23rd minute. Omar Gonzalez was pushed to the ground from behind in the RSL penalty area and referee Jorge Gonzalez pointed to the penalty spot. Landon Donovan stepped up for the LA Galaxy and put the spot kick away with ease. RSL answered back two minutes later. Off a Javier Morales corner, Jamison Olave headed the ball back across goal for Alvaro Saborio who flicked it in to the goal to level things up. In the 58th minute, LA re-took the lead. David Beckham again doing what he does best. Curling in a trademark cross to the far post for Mike Magee who headed it goalwards from point blank range and in off the hands of Nick Rimando to put LA up 2-1. 10 minutes later, LA puts the icing on the cake in the Western Conference. RSL started to push numbers forward and LA made them pay on a counter attack when Landon Donovan fed Robbie Keane who started to slow down as he was approaching the penalty area, the Irish international made a nice cut to full Jamison Olave and ripped a shot low and into the far corner to seal the win and a place in the MLS Cup final.

Ever since David Beckham has arrived to MLS in 2007, the league has started to become one of the top leagues in the world and that American soccer is starting to grow. Now remember, I listed him at no. 1 when I gave you guys my Top 5 worst Designated Players in MLS history, but I may over look that if LA were to win the MLS Cup on November 20th. It's just disappointing to have guys like David Beckham and Landon Donovan on your team and not win a league title with both of them on your team. In 09' the LA Galaxy reached the final as we all know, this one was in Seattle. The match went to penalties and the Galaxy ended up losing to Real Salt Lake. Last season, the Galaxy were knocked out of the playoffs in the semifinals, losing 3-0 at home to FC Dallas. Now this year, in what could be David Beckham's final season in Major League Soccer, will Beckham finally win an MLS Cup title?

Scoring summary:

Los Angeles Galaxy - Landon Donovan (penalty kick) 23'

Real Salt Lake - Alvaro Saborio (Jamison Olave, Javier Morales) 25'

Los Angeles Galaxy - Mike Magee (David Beckham, Robbie Keane) 58'

Los Angeles Galaxy - Robbie Keane (Landon Donovan) 68'

Misconduct summary:

Los Angeles Galaxy - Juninho (caution; Reckless foul) 56'

Real Salt Lake - Javier Morales (caution; Reckless tackle) 70'

Los Angeles Galaxy - Sean Franklin (caution; Delaying a restart) 93'+

Lineups:

Real Salt Lake - Nick Rimando; Robbie Russell (Ned Grabavoy 70'), Jamison Olave (Tony Beltran 82'), Chris Schuler, Chris Wingert; Andy Williams (Luis Gil 75'), Kyle Beckerman, Javier Morales, Will Johnson; Fabian Espindola, Alvaro Saborio

Los Angeles Galaxy - Josh Saunders; Sean Franklin, Omar Gonzalez, A.J. DeLaGarza, Todd Dunivant; Landon Donovan, David Beckham (Michael Stephens 89'), Juninho, Mike Magee; Chad Barrett (Chris Birchall 63'), Robbie Keane

Sounders defeat LA 3-1 in the U.S. Open Cup Quarterfinal

By Money Mike

In front of 4,322 at the Starfire Sports Complex in Takwila, the Seattle Sounders faced off with the Los Angeles Galaxy in the U.S. Open Cup Quarterfinal and pretty much a replica of last years Quarterfinal matchup with LA, the Sounders come away with a win.

The Sounders, with the win, advance to the U.S. Open Cup semifinal against FC Dallas. That match will take place on August 30 at Starfire.

In the 4th minute, the Sounders struck early. After hitting the post a minute ago, Nate Jaqua was sent behind the defense off a Pat Noonan through ball and he calmly slotted it inside the far post. It was Jaqua's 8th career goal in Open Cup play (7 of them with the Sounders).

In the 25th minute, Jaqua was involved in the 2nd Sounders goal. I don't what the hell this guy was thinking. Defender A.J. DeLaGarza gave the ball right to Jaqua who quickly fed it to Fredy Montero who cut the ball to his left foot and put away his third goal in two matches to double Seattle's lead at 2-0. The Sounders could've been up 4-0 or 5-0 up to that point, but they just couldn't capitalize on their chances, most of them coming from Jaqua and in the 40th minute, LA pulled one back. Adam Cristman finished a cross from Chris Birchall at the front of the net.

On the stroke of halftime, Birchall almost came away with one for himself, but Terry Boss made the save.

In the 74th minute, the LA back line got caught off another through ball. After some work on the ball, Alvaro Fernandez sent one through for Lamar Neagle who made a diagonal run through the penalty area to score. That goal prooved to be the knock out punch for the Galaxy as the Sounders once again, win a U.S. Open Cup match.

The Sounders get back to work in MLS as they return home to face that fucker who broke Steve Zakuani's leg on purpose............ yes I'm talking about Brian Mullan. He's gonna be there along with the Colorado Rapids on Saturday. That match will be shown live on FOX Soccer Channel, if you don't have that channel, sucks for you.

Scoring summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Nate Jaqua (Pat Noonan) 4'

Seattle Sounders FC - Fredy Montero (Nate Jaqua) 25'

Los Angeles Galaxy - Adam Cristman (Chris Birchall) 40'

Seattle Sounders FC - Lamar Neagle (Alvaro Fernandez) 74'

Misconduct summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Osvaldo Alonso (caution; Tactical foul) 22'

Seattle Sounders FC - Fredy Montero (caution; Unsporting behavior) 54'

Seattle Sounders FC - Jeff Parke (caution; Tactical foul) 55'

Los Angeles Galaxy - Paolo Cardozo (caution; Reckless tackle) 59'

Seattle Sounders FC - Mike Fucito (caution; Delaying a restart) 90'

Lineups:

Los Angeles Galaxy - Josh Saunders; Bryan Jordan, A.J. DeLaGarza, Gregg Berhalter, Todd Dunivant; Chris Birchall, Michael Stephens, Juninho (Jovan Kirovski 78'), Landon Donovan (Hector Jimenez 75'); Paolo Cardozo (Miguel Lopez 64'), Adam Cristman

Seattle Sounders FC - Terry Boss; Zach Scott, Jeff Parke, Patrick Ianni, Leonardo Gonzalez; Pat Noonan (Erik Friberg 64'), Osvaldo Alonso, Alvaro Fernandez, Lamar Neagle; Nate Jaqua (Roger Levesque 71'), Fredy Montero (Mike Fucito 79')

Final day of Group play in the 2011 Gold Cup. USA, Canada and Guadeloupe. Somebody will pack their bags, somebody moves on to the quarterfinals.

By Money Mike


With a spot in the quarterfinals on the line, the United States need to do what they did in the 2010 World Cup, and that is advance out of their group on the final day. Tomorrow, the United States will be taking on Guadeloupe in Kansas City and they will be under so much pressure after suffering an embarrasing 2-1 loss to Panama on Saturday. Panama won their 2 matches and are clear to advance to the quarterfinal round. Now the U.S., Canada and Guadeloupe will be fighting for a spot. Mexico took the top spot in group A with ease. After winning their first match 5-0 over El Salvador, five Mexican players were diactivated from the squad for testing positive for a banned substance. Goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa, Defenders Francisco Javier Rodriguez and Edgar Duenas and Midfielders Christian Bermudez and Sinha were banned from the squad. It didn't seem to effect Mexico as they won 5-0 over Cuba and 4-1 over Costa Rica. Jamaica and Honduras will advance out of Group B. Now tomorrow, the 2nd spot will be decided in Group C, the United States can still win the Group if they beat Guadeloupe and Canada defeats Panama. So that is 6 spots locked in, so we need 2 more. The two best 3rd placed teams in this tournament will fill in the two spots, Guatemala finished with 4 points tied with El Salvador but are in the clear due to a higher goal difference. But it's time to focus on tomorrow...


United States will advance if:

• They do not lose to Guadeloupe or


• They lose by only 1 goal and Panama defeats Canada

Canada will advance if:

• They defeat Panama or


• They draw and Guadeloupe defeats United States

Guadeloupe will advance if:

• They defeat United States by 2 or more goals and Panama defeats Canada

United States will be eliminated if:

• They lose to Guadeloupe by 4 or more goals or


• They lose and Panama does not defeat Canada

Canada will be eliminated if:

• They lose to Panama and Guadeloupe defeats United States by 4 or more goals

Guadeloupe will be eliminated if:

• They do not defeat the United States

USA opens up 2011 Gold Cup with a 2-0 win over Canada

By Money Mike


Day 3 of the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup is now officially in the books. Both the United States and Canada kicked off their Gold Cup campaign and it was the United States coming out on top 2-0 with Jozy Altidore and Clint Dempsey finding the back of the net for the Red, White and Blue. Panama and Guadeloupe also kicked off their campaign with Panama winning 3-2. The United States will face Panama next on Saturday at 5pm on FOX Soccer Channel.

The U.S. got on the board first in the 15th minute. Landon Donovan with a good through ball found Jozy Altidore, who made a nice turn and slotted the ball under goalkeeper Lars Hirschfeld for the opening goal. It was Altidore's 11th international goal, and this dude has received a lot of criticism for his lack of confidence while in Europe. You know, the lack of playing time, lack of goals (6 total. 2 for Hull City, 3 for Villereal and 1 for Bursaspor), etc. So I don't care how lucky that was, it was nice to see him get a goal for the U.S.

The 2nd goal came in the 62nd minute. Juan Agudelo slid the ball into the danger area and as the ball rolled past Altidore, Clint Dempsey made a run at the far post and tapped it into an open net to put the United States up 2-0 and that was the final score.

Missed the match, wasn't able to catch it on TV:

OK, sorry that was all I could share to you guys. I wasn't able to see the match at all, so I had my friend send me text messages regarding the match. This is the 3rd straight time that I missed the first match. In 07', I was able to catch like, the first 10 minutes of the USA-Guatemala match in which the U.S. won 1-0 on a goal by Dempsey. In 09', I couldn't see their match against Grenada, which took place here in Seattle, because I was at my grandmothers house for the 4th of July, she didn't have FSC, and this was just after USA's 2nd Place Finish at the FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa. The United States won that match 4-0. As for the next match against Panama, I'm not sure if I'll be able to catch this one because of the Tacoma Relay for Life, but we'll see.

Alejandro Bedoya replaces Benny Feilhaber in USA's Gold Cup squad:

So, just before USA's final tune up match before the Gold Cup, the United States made a change on their Gold Cup squad. Benny Feilhaber picked up an ankle injury during New England Revolution's 1-0 to the Los Angeles Galaxy, so Alejandro Bedoya replaced him on the squad. Remember I made a complaint when I showed you guys the squad about Bedoya not being named when I think he should've. So it's nice to see him on the squad because, he left Boston College, went to Europe, and he has worked his ass off every season with Orebro SK in Sweden.

Here's the scoring summary from the match:

United States - Jozy Altidore (Landon Donovan) 15'

United States - Clint Dempsey (Juan Agudelo) 62'

Booking summary:

United States - Michael Bradley (caution) 51'

Canada - Will Johnson (caution) 52'

Lineups:

Canada: 1 - Lars Hirschfeld, 2 - Nik Ledgerwood, 4 - Kevin McKenna, 5 - Andre Hainault, 7 - Terry Dunfield (21 - Jonathan Beaulieu-Bourgault, 82'), 8 - Will Johnson (10 - Ali Gerba, 65'), 11 - Josh Simpson, 13 - Atiba Hutchinson, 14 - Dwayne De Rosario (9 - Rob Friend, 81'), 17 - Simeon Jackson, 19 - Marcel de Jong

United States: Tim Howard; Steve Cherundelo, Clarence Goodson, Tim Ream, Carlos Bocanegra; Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley, Jermaine Jones (Maurice Edu, 79'), Landon Donovan; Jozy Altidore (Sacha Kljestan, 74'), Juan Agudelo (Chris Wondolowski, 65')

Note: I put Canada's starting lineup in numerical order because I didn't know their exact lineup.

USA announces their 2011 Gold Cup squad.

By Money Mike


With the CONCACAF Gold Cup now a couple weeks away, some teams have still yet to unveil their squad, while the others are all set and ready to go including the United States national team. USA head coach Bob Bradley earlier today, announced his squad for their friendly match on June 4th against Spain and also for the Gold Cup, and after looking at the squad, I must admit, I'm a little disappointed in his work. Looking at the squad, of course there are players that definitely deserve a spot on the roster like Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan, Juan Agudelo, Tim Howard, Carlos Bocanegra, etc. And there are players that I just do not understand why they are on the roster or how they made the roster. I mean, looking at the squad here, you'll understand what I'm talking about here...


United States 2011 Gold Cup squad:

1. Tim Howard (Everton; England)

2. Jonathan Spector (West Ham United; England)

3. Carlos Bocanegra (Saint-Etienne; France)

4. Michael Bradley (Borussia Monchengladbach; Germany)

5. Oguchi Onyewu (A.C. Milan; Italy)

6. Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96; Germany)

7. Maurice Edu (Rangers; Scotland)

8. Clint Dempsey (Fulham; England)

9. Juan Agudelo (New York Red Bulls; MLS)

10. Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy; MLS)

11. Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes; MLS)

12. Jonathan Bornstein (UANL Tigres; Mexico)

13. Jermaine Jones (Schalke 04; Germany)

14. Eric Lichaj (Aston Villa; England)

15. Tim Ream (New York Red Bulls; MLS)

16. Sacha Kljestan (Anderlecht; Belgium)

17. Jozy Altidore (Villarreal; Spain)

18. Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake; MLS)

19. Robbie Rodgers (Columbus Crew; MLS)

20. Freddy Adu (Caykur Rizespor; Turkey)

21. Clarence Goodson (Brondby IF; Norway)

22. Benny Feilhaber (New England Revolution; MLS)

23. Marcus Hahnemann (Wolverhampton Wanderers; England)


Players that should've made the squad:

Timmy Chandler:

- I don't get this at all, he's only 21, he now has a starting job at right back with FC Nurnburg. Bob Bradley what the hell did you not like that made you decide to leave him off the squad. He made his debut against Argentina and did very well all around the pitch. He made his second appearance for the U.S. national team against Paraguay, and again, didn't disappoint. Every was expecting him to make the Gold Cup squad and now I look at the list and he is not there.

Alejandro Bedoya:

- This guy graduated from Boston College in 2008, went straight to Europe and quickly earned a starting job at Orebro SK in Sweden. Since he began in 2009, he's made 58 appearances and scored 8 goals for that club. Now, he didn't make the World Cup squad in 2010, and nobody expected him to make it either, but no Gold Cup either?

Teal Bunbury:

- Why is he left out? Another young player that was expected to make the roster and I don't see his name. Teal Bunbury had a good rookie season with Kansas City last year and I know he came back from injury at the start of the 2011 MLS season but he's still having a good year. This guy is very good on the ball, he finds ways to burst through a trap and he has that goalscoring potential. Leaving him off the roster - STUPID MOVE!!

Edson Buddle:

- Why is Buddle left out? Didnt you see him domintate in 2010 while he was with the LA Galaxy? He is a goalscoring threat, and the US team only has three strikers because Bob Bradley just ditched him because he's not thinking straight.


Players who made the squad that absolutely did not deserve a spot:

Jonathan Spector:

- This guy had a crappy 2010-2011 season at West Ham. He was only useful for cup matches because he scored in those matches, but in the League, he sucked. Pretty much the reason why he lost his job at right back and also why he shouldn't be on the U.S. team.

Freddy Adu:

- God damn, this guy is a worthless soccer player. How the fuck did he make the squad. Ever since he left for Europe, it was like, nobody wanted him anymore. Look, in 2004, he gets drated by D.C. United at 14-years of age, he makes 30 appearances and scores 5 goals that year, and everybody started to love him when he was at D.C. from 04'-06'. Get's traded to Real Salt Lake in 2007, but then he opts out of his contract and moves to Europe (TOO DAMN EARLY!!). He signs with Benfica and he just struggles. He gets loaned out to AS Monaco to try to pick up his game, that didn't work. Next season, he's loaned out to Belenenses and he sucked over there, then loaned out to Aris FC, same story, he sucked. Seriously, I can't believe he's on the roster, especially after he's proven to be worthless.

Jonathan Bornstein:

- Here's another guy that doesn't deserve to be on the roster. The last two times he's capped for the United States, he was terrible defensively, and he also keeps giving the ball away. So let me get this straight, you add him on the roster so he can continue to play like shit? If the U.S. wins the Gold Cup, then maybe I'll take back everything I said, but if not, I think it's time Bob Bradley stepped down.

Saunders too much for Sounders! Sounders drop opener to Galaxy 1-0

By Kshell

Well the MLS season has begun! In front of a record setting MLS crowd of 36,433 fans the L.A. Galaxy(1-0-0) led by goalie Josh Saunders defeated the Seattle Sounders(0-1-0) 1-0 to earn three points on the road. The game opened up the MLS season on national t.v. on ESPN. The Sounders for the third straight year mostly because of the great turnout by the fans were featured in the opening game. Unfortunetly for the Sounders they couldn't capitalize on few scoring opportunities on tough goaltender Josh Saunders. Saunders entering this game hadn't allowed a goal in his last 342 regular season minutes in MLS play. The Sounders last year were swept by the Galaxy 4-0 and were outscored 10-2 in those four games. The Sounders have a long season left but they must figure out how to defeat the mighty Galaxy which features players like Landon Donovan and David Beckham.

The atmosphere was quite electric at Qwest Field. You would have thought this was a World Cup game not the first game of a seven month grind. The Sounders average attendance is over 36,000 while the second place MLS team is the Los Angeles Galaxy who averages 21,000. The Sounders have created a nice buzz in Seattle. With the Portland Timbers coming into the league look for the Sounders-Timbers rivaly to carry the MLS. This game had a buzz to it like no other MLS game. Despite the terrible weather conditions the Sounders set an MLS record for attendance in a game(Note only MLS games count, Sounders have had larger crowds before). The game had quite the opening atmosphere that even the biggest soccer naysayers must admit was well done. After the opening night ceremony had finished the match had begun.

In the first half the Sounders had controlled the tempo of the game but had nothing to show for it. Early on the Galaxy were having more shots but thanks to Kasey Keller the Galaxy were denied. Early on Keller went up for a save and collided with team USA star Donovan knocking Donovan down for a while. Then the Sounders started to attack the Galaxy trying to end Saunders goal less streak. The Sounders despite seven shots and five shots on goal were held scoreless. The Galaxy didn't even have a single shot on goal and had just four shots total. The Sounders had dominated that first half in front of an electric crowd. Keller who is a northwest legend has stated this will be his last season. While the Galaxy Beckham had also announced this was his last year as well. Beckham was loudly booed throughout the contest. The Sounders were shocked to start the game as they had cut designated player Blaise Nkufo who played in last year's world cup for Switzerland. He was believed to carry the load on offense for the Sounders.

In the second half the Sounders wasted more opportunities to finally score. Unlike the first half it finally caught up to the Sounders. After dominating the first 45 minutes the Sounders finally let the Galaxy have life. A costly turnover by Sounders midfielder Erik Friberg was intercepted by the Galaxy Todd Durnivant. That set up in the 58th minute a 25 foot goal by Juninho to give the Galaxy a 1-0 lead. The goal had just got by stellar goal keeper Keller. The Sounders weren't dead quite yet as they kept attacking Saunders. Each time Saunders kept making one save after another. When Saunders wasn't making saves the Sounders were wasting their chances. Like when O'Brian White had a shot that bounced wide off the far post in the 72nd minute. Friberg missed an open net as well and fan favorite Freddy Montero also missed a short short. Saunders when all was said and done had six saves. The Galaxy had survived to win the game 1-0 to extend their streak to five games in a row over the Sounders.

Overall the biggest winner in this game was Major League Soccer. This game showed that people in America do care about soccer. The crowd was intense and it was a well played game. The game could have featured more scoring but it was well played. There was plenty of shots on goal and this game featured some players that the average fan has heard of. The Galaxy earned a very important three points in a tough road game. Prior to this game the Sounders had never lost an opener before. For the Sounders the season is still young and anyone giving up on them after this loss is crazy. The Sounders do need to figure out a way to beat the Galaxy or at least earn points. The Sounders will have better days and this was a good showcase for soccer. Just remember when the NCAA tournament was going on the city of Seattle had over 36,000 fans in attendance. Soccer is slowly growing in America which can only be a good thing. The Galaxy earned the victory but the game of soccer was the big winner.

Observations:

- This game featured probably the most popular and well known American player in Landon Donovan. As we all remember in World Cup 2010 Donovan was the one who scored the winning goal in stoppage time to advance USA out of pool play. Donovan for a short time in July was the most popular person in the country. He was just one of many stars in this game and shares the star treatment on his own team.

Donovan early on hurt his ribs on a collision with goal keeper Kasey Keller. Donovan didn't flop as he got up and remained playing. The Sounders did a good job on Donovan as he didn't have any shots on goal. Donovan as we all saw in the World Cup can be an explosive scorer but the Sounders did a good job defending Donovan.

- The biggest star in this game was David Beckham. Beckham at this point in his career is more of a celebrity than a good soccer player. Beckham announced this will be his last year in the MLS. Showing how serious the Seattle fans were in this rivalry everytime he had the ball he was booed loudly. Beckham also received a yellow crowd which the crowd reacted pretty emphatically to the call.

I felt Beckham at least this game showed he still has game. He was quite active and had a few shots. He obviously isn't the Beckham of the 1990's who was making movies but he showed he still has game. Beckham if this is truly his last year is at least showing he won't go out like many stars have had in the past. Most importantly for Beckham he is still on one of the best teams in MLS. The Galaxy won the regular season title last year and are on the short list of favorites to win it this year.

- Tough loss for the all-time MLS wins leader Sigi Schmid. Schmid is in his third year with the Sounders. The Sounders in his first season made the playoffs before losing to Houston Dynamo. Then last year the Sounders won the U.S. Open Cup. Schmid has this team going in the right direction. Fans in Seattle better start paying attention to the Sounders as they are closest mens professional team to winning a championship.

For all Schmid has done well for the Sounders beating the Galaxy seems to be a problem. This is the fifth consecutive loss to the Galaxy in MLS play. The season is young and a veteran coach like Schmid I'm sure isn't too worried. The Sounders will fix their scoring problems and should be one of the top tier teams of the MLS season. The Sounders feature one of the better goal keepers in Kasey Keller which should always keep them in games.

All in all, tough loss for the Sounders as they were hoping to make a statement to the rest of MLS. The city of Seattle made a statement to the rest of the nation that they are still the #1 soccer city in America. The 1-5 rivalry with Portland should be quite fun. I was never a soccer fan but the 2010 world cup sucked me in. I also kept hearing how the Sounders games were a fun atmosphere and even though they lost 1-0 I can see myself enjoying a game at Qwest. When the summer rolls around and most likely the Seattle Mariners are 20 games out of first place don't forget about the Sounders. The Sounders will be playing games from now until November and should feature a pretty good squad. The Sounders may have lost this game but you don't see NBA fans freaking out after losing the first of 82 games. Well fans don't give up on the Sounders after one loss. The Sounders will eventually figure out how to defeat the Galaxy. For now the Galaxy proved once again why they are one of the best teams in MLS.