Sounders trade Jeff Parke to the Philadelphia Union

By Money Mike


The Seattle Sounders have announced earlier today that they have traded Jeff Parke to the Philadelphia Union. There were rumors floating around last Sunday that Philadelphia expressed interest in Parke and a day later, appeared to have reached in agreement that would bring him to PPL Park, but Jonathan Tannenwald from Philly.com tweeted that no agreement would be reached at that point. I've kept a close eye on this all week, knowing that the deal would more than likely go trough and found out this morning that Parke has indeed been traded. Parke is a native of Abington, Pennsylvania and his family currently lives in the Philadelphia area and the last time I checked, his wife was due to give birth to their first child. So again, Parke will on the move to his hometown to be with his family and of course to join his new club, the Philadelphia Union. In return the Sounders received allocation money and a first round pick in the 2013 Supplemental Draft.

Parke was selected by the Sounders in the 2008 Expansion Draft after five seasons with the New York Red Bulls. However, he struggled to settle in at the time and he ended up signing with the Vancouver Whitecaps, who were still playing in the USL at the time. After making seven appearances for the Caps' in 2009, Parke returned to Seattle on trial and made an appearance in a Community Shield match against Portland, who were also a USL team back then. Two months later, he signed with the Rave Green and was immediately inserted into the starting lineup and has since then been a huge asset to the back line. In his two and a half year stint with the Sounders, Parke has appeared in 105 matches in all competitions and of course has that lone goal from the match last season against Sporting KC which turned out to be the winner.


Thoughts on the move:

Well, his contract with the Sounders was due to expire at the end of the year and I half expected 2012 to be his last year with the Rave Green. So I'm not at all surprised to see him leave, especially since the fact that he is or will be a father, but at the same it's sad to see him go. It's a long offseason because you're always asking yourself "who's coming, who's going, who's coming, who's going?" and wondering if the moves they're making is right or wrong. Again, it's sad to see Parke leave but at the same time, I wasn't expecting him to return to the Sounders in 2013.

Seattle Sounders FC monthly rewind: May 2012

By Money Mike


The Sounders started the month on a high note with wins over the LA Galaxy, the Philadelphia Union and FC Dallas. Since then, they have struggled to produce as they are winless in their last four MLS matches. After a long month where the Sounders had to play a total of eight matches, including the U.S. Open Cup, I'm going to look back and give you guys some positives (Bryan Meredith filling in very well in goal) and negatives (lack of finishing and poor defending) from this past month and look ahead to what we have going on for the month of June, including Steve Zakuani's road to recovery.


Positives:

Back on May 2nd against the LA Galaxy, Bryan Meredith came on as a halftime sub for Michael Gspurning after he suffered a hip injury. He was ruled out for 2-3 weeks, but I wasn't surprised that Meredith got the start in goal for the rest of the month. Since filling in, Meredith has done an excellent job as he finished the month with a GAA of 0.92 in six starts and he also has a couple of clean sheets. The Sounders have dealt with their goalkeeping crisis since the end of last season starting with Terry Boss's season ending concussion which also forced him to retire. Josh Ford has been dealing with a few injuries as well and Andrew Weber has had ankle problems that dropped him to the #3 spot in the Depth Chart. I still remember Bryan Meredith making his debut against Monterrey in the final Champions League group stage match and putting together a great performance between the pipes because he just joined the team at the time following Kitsap Pumas PDL Championship run. I've been impressed with this kid and I think he has a great future ahead of him, but unfortunately he won't be in goal much longer when Gspurning returns in a couple of weeks.

I think Fredy Montero has had a solid month for the Sounders and has answered all the stupid and unnecessary critics with four goals and three assists during the month. People have been calling him lazy and I will say that he hasn't been aggressive at the start of the season, but last month was a different story as he really began to challenge the defenders and test the goalkeepers. The Montero/Johnson partnership has had its ups and downs during the month, but I think it will start to take shape as summer rolls around. Montero has been accounted for six of the seven goals Seattle has scored in league play last month.


Negatives:

I'm not sure what to make of this. Last four MLS matches, poor defending and on the other side, poor finishing. This is definitely not the Sounders team we saw at the last half of the 2011 season all the way up to the midweek road match against FC Dallas. On the defensive side, the man who has disappointed me the most is Adam Johansson. He has been caught napping in his last three starts and those three times he got caught, the opposition went ahead and scored. He is 10 times better than that. The coaching staff needs to get in his head, get him fired up or whatever. They need to do something because getting caught in three straight matches is ridiculous. The defense needs to wake up and the offense needs to finish when they get the chance.


Western Conference standings:

1. Real Salt Lake, 9-3-2 (29 pts) GF 22 GA 14 GD 8
2. San Jose Earthquakes, 8-3-3 (27 pts) GF 27 GA 17 GD 10
3. Seattle Sounders FC, 7-3-3 (24 pts) GF 16 GA 9 GD 7
4. Colorado Rapids, 6-6-1 (19 pts) GF 20 GA 18 GD 2
5. Vancouver Whitecaps, 5-3-4 (19 pts) GF 13 GA 14 GD -1
6. Chivas USA, 4-6-3 (15 pts) GF 9 GA 14 GD -5
7. Portland Timbers, 3-5-4 (13 pts) GF 12 GA 15 GD -3
8. FC Dallas, 3-8-4 (13 pts) GF 15 GA 24 GD -9
9. Los Angeles Galaxy, 3-8-2 (11 pts) GF 15 GA 21 GD -6


Look ahead to the month of June:

There's really not much going on this month unlike last month. All we have are four league matches and a couple of U.S. Open Cup matches as well, unless the Sounders end of losing to Cal FC this Tuesday.

Upcoming schedule: June 2012

June 5 vs Cal FC, 7:00pm (soundersfc.com, FOX Soccer)*
June 16 @ Montreal Impact, 4:30pm (KONG TV)
June 20 vs Sporting Kansas City, 7:00pm (KONG TV)
June 24 @ Portland Timbers, 2:00pm (ESPN)
June 30 @ New England Revolution, 4:30pm (KONG TV)

Note: * - U.S. Open Cup match

Now this is huge for the Sounders. Last night Steve Zakuani appeared in a reserve match against the Whitecaps reserves and played a full 45 minutes. It was great to see him back out there as he winds down his long road to recovery from that broken leg he suffered April 23rd of last year. With the struggles the Sounders have gone through late last month and the fact that they have yet to get past the MLS Cup Quarterfinal, having Zakuani back will be a major boost for the Seattle Sounders on their road to MLS Cup 2012.

Sounders defeat Union 1-0, extend winning streak to four

By Money Mike


The Seattle Sounders win yet another one. The Sounders could've scored three, four or maybe even five goals but in the end, one goal was enough to walk away with three points as they defeat the Philadelphia Union by a score of 1-0. With the win, the Sounders improve to 6-1-1 (19 points) on the year and are three points back of San Jose and Real Salt Lake who are each tied for first place in the West with 22 points. The Sounders will be back in action on Wednesday as they head to Frisco to take on FC Dallas and then come back home on Saturday to take on Real Salt Lake in what could be a battle for first place in the Western Conference depending on the outcome during the midweek.

In the seventh minute, Ozzie Alonso sent Fredy Montero away (sort of). The ball held up on the field turf for a couple of seconds and Montero was dispossesed by Raymon Gaddis, but stepping in was Andy Rose for a first time shot that was deflected by Danny Califf and Zac MacMath couldn't keep it in play. Off the corner kick, Jeff Parke nodded the ball down for Fredy Montero who turned and tried to slide it in, but he didn't get enough power of the shot and it was cleared off the line by Raymon Gaddis.

In the 19th minute, Patrick Ianni played a very good long ball down the field for Mauro Rosales. Rosales then made a cut inside of Gaddis, played it back to Adam Johansson who whipped in a curler to the back post for Fredy Montero who directed his header towards goal but he had to reach back to get his head on it and therefore Zac MacMath had no trouble making the save.

Seconds later, Andy Rose tried to work a give and go with Alex Caskey, but Caskey's return ball was a poor one and Rose came in late on the challenge with Kai Herdling and referee Ricardo Salazar wasted no time pulling out the yellow card for the 22-year old rookie. 10 minutes later, Rose lost possession again, this time to Freddy Adu and despite already sitting on a yellow card, Rose came in and took out Adu from behind and this looked more of a yellow card than the challenge on Herdling, but Salazar didn't pull out a yellow this time which would've been the second yellow for Rose which would also have brought out the Red Card.

In the 26th minute, Alex Caskey gave the Union a scare. After some sloppy passing, the ball bounced to Mauro Rosales who then played a diagonal ball to the far side for Caskey. He had Marc Burch making an overlapping run, but Caskey instead dribbled his way around Freddy Adu and hit one from 25-yards out, but it drifted wide of Zac MacMath's left hand side, but not by much. 15 minutes later, Sheanon Williams was lost out by Marc Burch. Alex Caskey took possession and fired another shot from outside the area just within 25-yards this time and was parried away by Zac MacMath.

A minute into the second half, the Sounders nearly broke through. Mauro Rosales took the corner kick from the far hash mark and curled it out for Andy Rose who outjumped Keon Daniel and headed it off the crossbar. Zac MacMath was beaten, but the crossbar save the Union because that was bound for the roof of the net which would've capped off a memorable professional debut for Andy Rose despite nearly being sent off in the first half.

In the 63rd minute, Raymon Gaddis got caught again and this time, the Sounders made him pay. Fredy Montero played an excellent ball out wide to the captain Mauro Rosales. Gaddis tried to catch back up, but it was too late as Rosales slotted the ball home for his first of the season to give the Sounders a 1-0 lead. You guys need to understand what difference Mauro Rosales makes for the Sounders when he's on the pitch. So far this season, in four matches with Rosales the Sounders have scored eight goals and in four matches without Rosales the Sounders have scored only three times. Last year, the Sounders signed him to a one-year deal after a successful trial and nobody knew what we were going to get out of him, but he came in and really made an impact as he led the team in assists with 13 and now he is one of our Designated Players. No matter how long Rosales will be in Seattle, the Sounder fans will remember him for his commitment and his leadership on and off the pitch.

With five minutes remaining, Eddie Johnson fed Fredy Montero at the top of the box. Montero turned and tried to chip Zac MacMatch, but once again, the crossbar denied the Sounders. That was the last opportunity for either side as the Sounders pick up their fourth straight win including nine points in eight days.


Scoring summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Mauro Rosales 1 (Fredy Montero 1) 63'


Misconduct summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Andy Rose (caution; foul) 18'

Philadelphia Union - Gabriel Gomez (caution; foul) 78'


Lineups:

Philadelphia Union - Zac MacMath; Sheanon Williams, Danny Califf, Carlos Valdes, Raymon Gaddis; Freddy Adu, Michael Farfan (Danny Mwanga 76'), Gabriel Gomez (Josue Martinez 83'), Keon Daniel; Kai Herdling (Brian Carroll 61'), Lionard Pajoy

Seattle Sounders FC - Bryan Meredith; Adam Johansson, Jeff Parke, Patrick Ianni, Marc Burch; Mauro Rosales (Leo Gonzalez 82'), Osvaldo Alonso, Andy Rose (Eddie Johnson 61'), Alex Caskey (Servando Carrasco 92'+); Fredy Montero, David Estrada

Sounders look to extend their winning streak to four as they take on the Philadephia Union

By Money Mike


The Seattle Sounders have been on a hot run lately and they will look to keep it going as they host the Philadephia Union this afternoon at 1:30. This match will be televised nationally on NBC Sports Network. The Sounders have won three in a row and are currently third in the Western Conference with 16 points (5-1-1). Today, they'll have a chance to come away with their forth straight win including nine points in the last eight days.

The last time the Sounders and the Union met was back on October 8th of last year. That was the same week the Sounders won their third straight U.S. Open Cup, however the Sounders looked like they were still hungover from that and lost 2-0 after goals from Freddy Adu and Brian Carroll. In his last two visits to Seattle, Adu has been able to find the back of the net. The other time he scored here was back on July 4, 2009 against Grenada in the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup. It does feel like Adu has been in this game long enough that he should be in his prime by now, but get this, he was drafted at the age of 14, and right now he's only 22 years of age so he's nowhere close to his prime. As much as he has struggled since leaving Real Salt Lake for Europe back in 2007, Adu has shown what he can do on the ball, he still has the abillity to fool the defenders. The Sounders central defenders better be on their toes because he'll be ready to attack for 90 minutes.


Injury report:

Philadelphia Union - For Philadelphia, Krystian Witkowski has a concussion and he is out. Roger Torres just recently had surgery on his left knee. Chris Albright has a sprained left big toe and he is out. Gabriel Farfan has a strained left hammie and he is listed as questionable. Brian Carroll has a strained hammie as well, this is his right hamstring however and he is listed as probable.

Seattle Sounders FC - For the Sounders, Josh Ford, Michael Tetteh, Steve Zakuani and Babayele Sodade of course are out. Michael Gspurning was subbed out at halftime in Wednesday's match against the LA Galaxy, he has been ruled out for 2-3 weeks so Bryan Meredith will be in goal during that stretch. Alvaro Fernandez has a right quad strain and he is questionable. Last but not least, Patrick Ianni has low back pain and, is listed as probable.


Suspensions:

Philadelphia - For the Union, the guys that won't he allowed on the pitch because of their stupidity are Michael Farfan who is suspended through next weekend and head coach Peter Nowak who is suspended for this match.

Seattle Sounders FC - NONE


Player to watch:

Bryan Meredith - Playing 45 minutes is one thing. Getting your first MLS start, that's a whole new level. Just when you thought he missed his chance on making the squad at the start of the 2011, Bryan Meredith comes on as a halftime sub for Michael Gspurning on Wednesday night against the LA Galaxy for his MLS debut and looking at his performance in the second half of that match, Meredith's confidence must be growing ahead of the match this afternoon. Can he do it for 90 minutes this time though? Too me, I think he can. He went 90 minutes against Monterrey in the Champions League and did a good job, so he's been there before. It's just a matter of how well he's able to communicate with his defenders.

Sounders fall 2-0 to Philadelphia

By Money Mike



The Seattle Sounders needed a win last night to keep any hope of winning the Supporters Shield alive, or at least a point to officially secure 2nd place in the West. Neither of that happened. The Philadelphia Union who were unbeaten in their last 6 matches have come to Seattle and shut out the Sounders 2-0 at CenturyLink Field. With the Win, the Union have taken over the top spot in a very tight Eastern Conference. For Seattle, the loss means that they'll have no chance of taking over first place in the West and that LA has clinched their second straight Supporters Shield. But here's the problem though, in 14 MLS seasons, only four teams that have won the Supporters Shield have gone on and won the MLS Cup. Only four teams. Seattle still looks like the stronger side heading into the playoffs despite the loss last night.

The game started off slow, with sloppy passing from both sides of the midfield. The best chance in the first half from either side came in the 35th minute from Brad Evans when he latched onto a pull-back from Lamar Neagle, but he got under the ball and skied it over the top of the goal. The Sounders were without their leading goalscorer Fredy Montero who was serving a one game suspension after Yellow Card accumulations. Mauro Rosales was also out with a Sprained MCL that he suffered about three weeks ago in a 3-0 win over D.C. United, there's a chance however the Sounders will get him back next Saturday when the San Jose Earthquakes come to town. Alvaro Fernandez was on the bench after passing a late fitness test after suffering a concussion Tuesday night in the U.S. Open Cup final, but he didn't see any action at all in this one. Pat Noonan and Nate Jaqua both played like crap yet again. Sammy Ochoa barely even had possession of the ball since coming in as a sub in the

The Sounders were forced to make a change defensively. Jeff Parke was taken out at halftime after picking up a head injury and was replaced by Patrick Ianni.

In the 60th minute, the Union broke the deadlock. Gabriel Farfan somehow beat James Riley to the ball before it even crossed the endline. Farfan pulled it back to Freddy Adu who buried it into the top corner.

The Union doubled their lead in the 72nd minute. After the Sounders started to put pressure on the Union back line, they end up getting caught on a counter attack. Brian Carroll sent former Sounder Sebastien Le Toux loose and off to the races. Carroll got the return pass from Le Toux off the outside of his boot, through the retreating Seattle defense. Carroll made a good run toward the endline and tucked the ball away beautifully into the far corner. And that was just about the last highlight of this one.

Next Saturday, the Sounders will host the San Jose Earthquakes at 7:30pm. This will also be Kasey Keller's final regular season home match of his career. Over 55,000 tickets have been sold for the home finale in the 2011 regular season and there are still more available. So if you want to catch him in person at least one last time, I would suggest you get your tickets.

Following this match, the Sounders will close out Champions League group play at home on October 18 against Monterrey as they look to clinch the top spot in the Group which would assure them home field advantage in the second leg of the Champions League Quarterfinal.


Scoring summary:

Philadelphia Union - Freddy Adu 2 (Gabriel Farfan 2) 60'

Philadelphia Union - Brian Carroll 1 (Sebastien Le Toux 9) 72'


Misconduct summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Lamar Neagle (caution; Reckless foul) 63'


Lineups:

Philadelphia Union - Zac MacMath; Sheanon Williams, Carlos Valdes, Danny Califf, Gabriel Farfan; Michael Farfan, Brian Carroll, Justin Mapp (Jack McInerney 86'); Freddy Adu (Amobi Okugo 75'), Sebastien Le Toux, Veljko Paunovic (Stefani Miglioranzi 89')

Seattle Sounders FC - Kasey Keller; James Riley, Jeff Parke (Patrick Ianni 46'), Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Tyson Wahl; Brad Evans, Osvaldo Alonso, Erik Friberg, Lamar Neagle; Mike Fucito (Nate Jaqua 68'), Pat Noonan (Sammy Ochoa 62')

Alvaro Fernandez's 91st minute goal salvages a point at Philadelphia

By Money Mike

When it looked as though the Philadelphia Union were gonna pull off another 1-0 victory, Alvaro Fernandez's equalizing goal a minute into stoppage time saved a point for the Seattle Sounders as the match ended all square at 1-1. With the draw, Seattle now has 6 points (1-2-3) and Philadelphia remains on top of the Eastern Conference table with 10 points (3-1-1). The Sounders now head to Colorado to face the defending MLS Cup Champion Rapids on Friday, then it's back home for a match Toronto before hitting the road again for matches at D.C. United and the Columbus Crew then after that the next three matches are at home, starting with the Portland Timbers.

The weather over there was really crappy, the conditions were poor, the ball movement was poor, I mean, the Sounders just looked miserable out there.

The man officiating this match by the way was Terry Vaughn, and you can tell that he was the referee, after a foul that led to a Philadelphia goal. Kyle Nakazawa's touch was a little too heavy and instead of going for goal, he just leans into Osvaldo Alonso and his arms were up in the air before Alonso even made contact with him, so it should've been a dive, instead Terry Vaughn signaled free kick in a dangerous position and showed a yellow card to Ozzie Alonso. That led to this.........

Carlos Ruiz with a free kick from 25-yards out, a bender over the wall toward the far post, Kasey Keller got a touch, but he couldn't keep the ball from sneaking inside the far past for the goal to put the Union up 1-0. It was Ruiz's 2nd goal of the season.

In the 51st minute, a mistimed header by Jeff Parke nearly led to a second goal, Ruiz with a good touch out of the air sent Sebastien Le Toux away but he didn't strike it hard enough and it was easily saved by Keller. A couple minutes later, Ruiz set up young Amobi Okugo for an open look from outside the area but again, no trouble for Kasey Keller.

In the 66th minute, Sigi Schmid went to his bench and brought on Nate Jaqua and Fredy Montero to boost the attack late on for Seattle. It was Montero's first game back since recovering from wrist surgery a couple weeks ago.

In minute 78', Alvaro Fernandez nearly made an immediate impact. Fredy Montero drove the ball across, hoping for a deflection of some kind, goalkeeper Faryd Mondragon got a hand to it, and the ball fell directly to Fernandez who struck it hard. It was goal bound, but Danny Califf got in the way of that shot and seemed to have saved a win for the Union. But Fernandez wasn't going to be denied a second chance.....

In the first minute of stoppage time, a corner by Mauro Rosales found Nate Jaqua who nodded it to Fredy Montero at the far post, after exchanging passes with Steve Zakuani, Montero chiped the ball to the middle of the area. There were three Sounder players unmarked and in the end, it was Alvaro Fernandez with the header, off the post and into the back of the goal to tie the match up at 1-1 and that's how it ended.

Scoring summary:

Philadelphia Union - Carlos Ruiz (unassisted) 32'

Seattle Sounders FC - Alvaro Fernandez (Fredy Montero) 91'+

Misconduct summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Osvaldo Alonso (caution; Reckless tackle) 30'

Philadelphia Union - Stefani Miglioranzi (caution; Reckless tackle) 55'

Philadelphia Union - Amobi Okugo (caution; Reckless tackle) 65'

Philadelphia Union - Carlos Valdes (caution; Reckless tackle) 88'

Starting lineups:

Seattle Sounders FC - Kasey Keller; James Riley, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Jeff Parke, Leonardo Gonzalez (Fredy Montero 66'); Erik Friberg (Alvaro Fernandez 77'), Osvaldo Alonso, Brad Evans, Mauro Rosales; O'Brian White (Nate Jaqua 66'), Steve Zakuani

Philadelphia Union - Faryd Mondragon; Sheanon Williams, Danny Califf, Carlos Valdes, Jordan Harvey; Keon Daniel, Stefani Miglioranzi (Danny Mwanga 59'), Amobi Okugo, Kyle Nakazawa; Sebastien Le Toux, Carlos Ruiz (Justin Mapp 80')

Seattle Sounders FC vs Philadelphia Union preview

By Money Mike

The Seattle Sounders hit the road to PPL Park in Chester, Pennsylvania to take on the Philadelphia Union. Last season, following USA's World Cup exit, the Union opened up their new stadium against the Sounders. The Sounders got on the board first in that one after a late first half goal by Pat Noonan, but defensively they were awful, a clip inside the box resulted in a penalty kick which was converted by Sebastien Le Toux. Kasey Keller was left helpless as the backline just stood around almost all game and late on in that match, the Union made them pay with goals by Fred and Danny Mwanga. The Sounders, coming off a win against Chicago, are seeking revenge against the Union who are right now leading the east with 9 points. So far all of their matches ended in 1-0 decisions with three of them going their way. But the Sounders look to pick up where they left off last week and come away with another big victory.

Injury report:

Seattle Sounders FC - Well there's only one injury to report this week for the men in Rave Green. Fredy Montero, who missed the last two matches while recovering from wrist surgery, has been cleared by the doctors and is with the team for the trip to Philly.

Philadelphia Union - Gabriel Farfan has a dislocated right toe and is not going to feature in this match. Brian Carroll has a strained right hamstring and it's unlikely he'll play.

Key matchups:

Steve Zakuani vs Sheanon Williams - I like this matchup here, Zakuani and Williams. Steve Zakuani with his creativity and Sheanon Williams who is very good defensively and also add depth to Philadelphia's attack. Look for these two to battle it out.

Philadelphia front line vs Seattle Sounders back line - I already said the Sounders had difficulties shutting down Le Toux and Mwanga, but now Philadelphia's attacking front looks even more dangerous with the acquisition of Carlos Ruiz. I think this matchup will decide whether or not Seattle will win this game.

What's the difference between this years Philadelphia team and last years?:

Much like last year, Peter Nowak has done a fantastic job bringing in veterans like Danny Califf, and also bringing in some young talent. We of course remember the 2008 Expansion Draft. I was listening online that day and I had a bad feeling that Sebastien Le Toux was gonna be selected. There were some big names that Nowak selected, including Alejandro Moreno, Andrew Jacobson, Stefani Miglioranzi and when I heard Le Toux's name last, I can't remember what my reaction was, but I can tell you, there was nothing to smile about. Le Toux made 28 appearances with the Sounders in 09' and scored only 1 goal, then Peter Nowak picks him up in the Expansion Draft and he ends up scoring 14 goals in 28 matches, which is even more disappointing to me because I still felt like we should've kept Stebastien Le Toux. The fans loved him when he was with the USL squad and were really excited to see that he was the first player signed by the MLS Sounders, and seeing him go, I was just upset. Alot of us are still talking about that, saying that we should've protected Le Toux, and I'm sure that even though he did very little in terms of scoring goals, the fans were upset after hearing about Le Toux's departure.

Aside form Le Toux, Nowak drafted three players in the first round of the 2010 MLS SuperDraft, including former Oregon State Beaver, Danny Mwanga as #1 overall. Mwanga after his sophomore year considered leaving Oregon State to play in Europe, but Nowak talked him into staying in America and he selects him as the first overall pick. Other key acquisitions prior to 2010 of course included Danny Califf, they brought in Justin Mapp in the last half of the season. So Nowak already had this team going the right direction.

This year, it almost felt like they lost a lot of players, which they did. Michael Orozco is now back in Mexico, playing for San Luis. Shea Salinas, Alejandro Moreno, Chris Seitz and Fred have all left. But they brought in veteran goalkeeper Faryd Mondragon from 1. FC Koln, Carlos Valdes from Club Santa Fe, Brian Carroll from the Columbus Crew, Carlos Ruiz from Aris FC, Keon Daniel from the Puerto Rico Islanders and they also drafted goalkeeper Zach McMath in the first round of the 2011 draft. So this team is gonna get stronger and stronger.