Sporting KC’s long unbeaten streak came to end as the Seattle Sounders defeated them 2-1 on Saturday, August 6, 2011. Sporting had a 1-0 lead for most of the match until two late goals from Seattle made for a dramatic last few minutes.

Below are player ratings (on a scale of 1 to 10) for the match.

Sporting KC 1-2 Seattle Sounders Player Ratings

Sporting

Nielsen – 6

Harrington – 5

Cesar – 5

Besler – 6

Sinovic – 8 – Was all over the pitch and had the assist on Kamara’s goal

Kamara – 7 – Scored the only goa of the match

Zusi – 6.5

Jeferson – n/a – Left in first half with injury

Diop – 5.5

Bravo – 6

Sapong – 6

Sassano – 6

Bunbury – 6

Myers – n/a – Was a late second half sub

Sounders

Keller – 5 – Not a great job on the goal but didn’t have much help from the defense

Riley – 4.5

Parke – 5

Scott – 5

Wahl – 4.5

Rosales – 7 – Scored the first Sounders goal and the best player for his side

Alsonso – 5

Carrasco – 5

Fernandez – 4 – He continues to be inconsistent

Levesque – 5

Montero – 5 – A quiet game until the last minute when helped set up Rosales’ goal

Noonan – 5

Fucito – 5

Neagle – 6 - Capped a great comeback with a stoppage time goal

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Manchester United defeated the Seattle Sounders FC 7-0 on Wednesday, July 20, 2011.

Seattle Sounders 0-7 Manchester United Video Highlights

The match highlights can be viewed here at Free Soccer Highlights.

Seattle Sounders 0-7 Manchester United Recap

It was a disappointing result for the Sounders as Man U crushed them 7-0 at CenturyLink Field.

The home side (Seattle) came out very strong in the first half but couldn’t finish chances. As the match progressed, Manchester United would improve and take the lead on a 15th minute Michael Owen goal. Seattle responded well but never could find the quality int he final third.

In the second half, it was a dominating performance from United as Wayne Rooney would score a hat trick. Along with Rooney’s three goals, United scored three other goals to end with a 7-0 win. Park Ji-Sung, Mame Biram Diouf, and Gabriel Obertan scored the other goals in the second half.

It’s United’s second win of their pre-season tour and they will face Chicago Fire on Saturday. Seattle’s next match is against San Francisco in the CONCACAF Champions League.

Seattle Sounders 0-7 Manchester United Match Stats

Goals

Stats

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Manchester United continue their USA pre-season tour with a friendly match against MLS side Seattle Sounders. The match will take place at CenturyLink Field in Seattle, Washington on Wednesday, July 20, 2011. Kickoff is scheduled for 03:00 BST (UK time), 04:00 CET (Central Europe), 22:00 EST (USA Eastern), and 19:00 local time in Seattle.

Seattle Sounders v Manchester United Listings

It will be televised on Fox Soccer Channel (USA), Manchester United TV (Worldwide), SuperSport (Africa), and on Digi Sport (Hungary).

Seattle Sounders v Manchester United Preview

Man U manager Alex Ferguson

“Barcelona are the team of the moment.”

“It is a cycle. It is the same players. They can dominate any game and could have probably done that to any other team.

“But it is not the kind of thing that makes you think ‘let’s not bother with European football any more, we are never going to beat Barcelona’. Manchester United are bigger than that.

“We have a better philosophy than that. The challenge will be can we improve enough to get to the final next season – and win. I view it as an evolution. A new team is emerging.

“We have 12 players aged 22 and under. We have lost five players in their 30s. Javier Hernandez will improve. Wayne Rooney has come into his mid-20s, we expect big things there.

“They should be hungry to try and match the achievements of the others. If we get to the cup final next year, maybe it will be a different United.”

“Dimitar is fine.”

“There is no problem. He has trained very hard. He was disappointed to be left out of the final but I was disappointed myself having to tell him. But that is the problem in football today.

“You get to the big games and you are not just disappointing one player, you are disappointing six or seven.”

Seattle manager Sigi Schmid

“Every player hopes in the back of their minds, whether they say it or not, that this is their breakthrough game.”

“This is their game in front of Cecil B. DeMille and they get discovered.”

“I’ve had to tell [assistant coaches] Ezra [Hendrickson] and Brian Schmetzer they can’t suit up for this game.”

Seattle player Kasey Keller

“I have a lot of memories against Man. United.”

“I’ve had great games against [them] and lost one-nil.”

“For me, it’s different than anyone else.”

“At the same time, it’s a fun game. There aren’t a lot of friendlies happening during the middle of the season in Europe. … [Our players] watch these guys on TV and in World Cups and have that opportunity to test themselves against them. It’s an honor for our guys.”

“They’re not going to be rooting for Man. United.”

“There will be a handful, but they will be the away team and that doesn’t happen too often.”

Seattle Sounders v Manchester United Prediction

Manchester United wins 3-2

Seattle Sounders v Manchester United Betting Odds

Seattle win – 17/2

Draw – 9/2

Man Utd win – 1/5

Seattle Sounders v Manchester United Live Online

The match can be seen at Free Live Sports TV and Free Sports Online.

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Once again, the Red Devils will make their way to the United States for their pre-season. They will take most of their top stars with a few not joining until later in the tour because of international play this summer. This includes David de Gea, Phil Jones, Chris Smalling, Tom Clevelerly, Danny Welbeck (all UEFA U-21), and Javier Hernandez (CONCACAF Gold Cup) who won’t be with the team initially.

United will face several MLS sides on the trip (Chicago, Seattle, and NE) along with the MLS All-Stars (repeat of last summer) and FC Barcelona.

The full roster is below.

Manchester United 2011 Pre-Season Squad (USA Tour)

GOALKEEPERS: Ben Amos (ENG), David de Gea (ESP)*, Sam Johnston (ENG), Andres Lindegaard (DEN)

DEFENDERS: Fábio da Silva (BRA), Rafael da Silva (BRA), Jonny Evans (NIR), Patrice Evra (FRA), Rio Ferdinand (ENG), Phil Jones (ENG)*, Chris Smalling (ENG)*, Nemanja Vidic (SRB)

MIDFIELDERS: Anderson (BRA), Michael Carrick (ENG), Tom Cleverley (ENG)*, Ryan Giggs (WAL), Nani (POR), Gabriel Obertan (FRA), Ji-Sung Park (KOR)

FORWARDS: Dimitar Berbatov (BUL), Mame Biram Diouf (SEN), Javier Hernández (MEX)*, Federico Macheda (ITA), Michael Owen (ENG), Wayne Rooney (ENG), Danny Welbeck (ENG)*, Ashley Young (ENG)

* Indicates player will join tour in progress

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Sporting KC played their second match at LiveStrong Sporting Park on Friday, June 17, 2011 versus the San Jose Earthquakes. Sporting won the match 1-0 on a 31st minute CJ Sapong goal and have won two MLS matches in a row.

Below are player ratings for the match with comments on certain players (not available for each one).

Sporting KC 1-0 SJ Earthquakes Player Ratings

Sporting

Nielsen – 7 – Was tested several times and responded to each one

Myers – 6 -

Collin – 6.5 – A strong presence in central defense

Besler – 6 -

Sinovic – 6 -

Arnaud – 6.5 -

Diop – 6 -

Sassano – 7 – A solid match in the midfield

Zusi – 7.5 – Dangerous on multiple occassions and a ball into the box which led to the Sapong goal

Bravo – 6.5 – Couldn’t convert a great chance but overall played well

Sapong – 7 – Always willing to take on defenders and scored the only goal

Cesar – 5 –

Kamara – 6 – Only played the final 30 or so minutes but helped created a few good chances

Bunbury – n/a -

San Jose

Busch – 6 – Could do little on the goal but overall had a decent match

Burling – 4 -

Convey – 5 – A quiet game but he appeared to pick up an injury in the second half

Hernandez – 5

Beitashour – 5

Ring – 5

Cronin – 5

Corrales – 5

Ampaipitakwong – 5

Stephenson – 5

Lenhart – 5- Didn’t have great service but failed to do much when he did have possession in the final third

Dawkins – 5

Sealy – n/a

McLoughlin – 5

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The Cascadia rivalry begins for the first time in Major League Soccer as the Seattle Sounders host the Portland Timbers. The match will take place at Qwest Field in Seattle, Washington on Saturday, May 14, 2011. Kickoff is scheduled for 23:00 EST (USA Eastern), 22:00 CST (USA Central), 20:00 PST (USA Pacific), and 04:00 BST (UK time).

Seattle Sounders FC v Portland Timbers TV Listings

It will be televised on ESPN2 (USA), ESPN Deportes (USA), C+ Sport (Europe), Setanta Sports (Africa & Australia), GolTV (Canada).

Seattle Sounders FC v Portland Timbers Preview

Sounders manager Sigi Schmid

“You don’t want to get into the hype.”

“It’s something that should be in the back of their mind.  It’s Portland week and that should get them excited.  If I have to spend a big amount of time trying to impress that on them, then they haven’t been living in the city long enough.”

“I think Chivas-Galaxy is a rivalry that the teams are in close proximity to each other in L.A. but it’s more a rivalry that people tried to create with the Honda trophy and people tried to make it into rivalry.  This is a rivalry that you don’t have to make into a rivalry.  It already exists. It’s been there.  It’s been there for the past 30-plus years.  It’s nothing that you’ve got to contrive.  It’s nothing that you’ve got to whip into a frenzy.  It’s there.”

Sounders assistant coach Brian Schemtzer

“I think it’s peaking.  The amount of energy and enthusiasm that the Portland fans have brought to an already existing rivalry and to an already existing team that has done it first – meaning our fans, our crowd, our record, our Open Cups, our victories – it adds to it.”

“It gives us something to make sure that we’re not complacent and we’re continuing to try and push up and onward because there are guys nipping at our heels.”

Timbers manager John Spencer

“The big thing for me is going away from JELD-WEN [Field] and performing.”

“That’s the big question mark still hanging over our heads. We need to go away and put in good performances and have a good result. You don’t want the stigma — it’s very hard to get it off — that you can’t play on the road. The quicker we get that erased, the better.”

“If you keep clean sheets you can’t ask any more. I truly believe that in the modern game you’ve got to be a good athlete, you’ve got to have that desire to compete from the first minute to the 90th minute because if you don’t, you’re not going to win games.”

“Right now, we’re competing and we’re winning games.”

“Our [defensive] shape, just in general, has been good.”

“We need to be sure to start the game with the same mentality we have the last three or four games.”

“It’s a great game to coach in, a great game for the players to play in because of the history behind the rivalry.”

“It’s great we’re having these games in MLS soccer and American soccer. When I came [to the US] in 2001, we never had anything like this.”

Injuries

SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC – OUT: FW O’Brian White (L leg surgery); MF Steve Zakuani (R leg fracture); QUESTIONABLE: MF Mauro Rosales (hamstring strain)

PORTLAND TIMBERS – OUT: FW Bright Dike (R Achilles rupture); FW Eddie Johnson (R Achilles tendinitis); FW Brian Umony(R knee MCL sprain)

Seattle Sounders FC v Portland Timbers Prediction

Seattle wins 2-1

Seattle Sounders FC v Portland Timbers Betting Odds

Seattle win – 4/5

Draw – 23/10

Portland win – 16/5

Seattle Sounders FC v Portland Timbers Live Online

The match can be seen at Free Live Sports TV.

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The Red Devils have released their pre-season schedule in the USA as they will play several MLS sides and FC Barcelona. The full list is below and it’s expected most of these matches will sell out despite being played in large stadiums (with exception of Red Bull Arena). For MLS clubs, this will be a chance to increase exposure and play against one of the top teams in the world.

The exact roster that Manchester United will bring will likely not be announced until sometime in June or July.

Manchester United 2011 USA Tour/Schedule

13 July v New England Revolution, Gillette Stadium, Boston

20 July v Seattle Sounders, Qwest Field, Seattle

23 July v Chicago Fire, Soldier Field, Chicago

27 July v MLS All-Stars, Red Bull Arena, New Jersey

30 July v Barcelona, FedExField, Washington DC

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The 2011 Major League Soccer season begins with the Seattle Sounders FC hosting the Los Angeles Galaxy. The match will take place at Qwest Field in Seattle, Washington on Tuesday, March 15, 2011. Kickoff is scheduled for 21:30 EST (USA Eastern), 18:30 PST (USA Western), 01:30 GMT (UK time), and 02:30 CET (Central Europe).

Seattle Sounders FC v Los Angeles Galaxy TV Listings

It will be televised on ESPN2 (USA), ESPN (UK), and on GolTV (Canada).

Seattle Sounders FC v Los Angeles Galaxy Preview

Galaxy player David Beckham

“It’s something that we’re always passionate about.”

“Everyone wants to be successful. Going into this season, it’s no different than going into every other season.”

“You have to be up for it. You have to want to win.”

Galaxy manager Bruce Arena

“We are clearly driven to win a championship this year,” Arena said. “No question about it.”

Galaxy player Frankie Hejduk

“Anything less than a championship would be a disappointment, to be honest,” the 36-year-old said. “That should be the goal of every team you’re on every year. If you go into a year not thinking you’re going to win a championship, you shouldn’t be out here.

“Yeah, there are high expectations, but as a player that’s what you want. You want to play at the highest level in the toughest environment week in and week out. It’s intense around here, and that’s going to make us better.”

Sounders manager Sigi Schmid

Q: What are your feelings about how preseason went?
A: It went ok.  It doesn’t necessarily always reflect how you’re going to do in the regular season.  It was good from the standpoint that we got new guys integrated into the group like O’Brian White and Carrasco and Friberg … Tetteh and Ford, too.  It was also good because we got to look at different combinations, seeing what combinations fit together and what combinations work.  It was also good from the standpoint of fitness.  I think our fitness is good.  If you look at the game against Colorado as an example, we are a week out from our first game and for our guys to go 90 minutes and still be able to score two goals at the end of the game when they are bringing on fresh legs – I think that speaks well for where we are, fitness wise.  So, it was good.

Q: How has this preseason differed from the previous two in Seattle?
A: Obviously the first one was very unique and you can’t compare that to anything.  You’re running through a ton of players in a short period of time.  That was unique and separate that way.  The second year, you’re fine-tuning a bit more, but you’re adding pieces as you go into it.  You still are trying to look at how well they fit together as a group.  Your first year, you are trying to identify the group and the second year you are really trying to see how that groups fit together.  In year three you know what parts fit together and you figure out what you need to add or improve.  From that standpoint, they’re all different.

Q: What was the area that you can use as a barometer for how comfortable you will be going into the season?
A: One of the things I wanted to see was an off-season commitment to fitness from the players.  I wanted to see who had that fire in their eyes – that desire to take this a step further.  Part of that is how you prepare in the off-season.  I think for the majority, they prepared a lot more in the off-season than they had in the past.  That tells me that they want to take on a bigger challenge.  From a standpoint of an improvement of play – you always want to see that, but I also wanted to see an ability to play in games of a physical nature.  In preseason, we played Houston, who is a little more of a physical team than some others.  We were able to come back from 2-0 down and tie the game 2-2 and we were actually creating more in the first half as well, so I was happy with that.  Chicago, with the additions they made, is also a reasonably physical team.  Portland, we didn’t come away with the result, but I was happy with how we played.  And all of those teams area a little more physical than Dallas is or Salt Lake is.  That was the next important step for me.

Q: How much has losing in the first round of the playoffs changed the approach this season?
A: Being a soccer purist, you want to say that the team that wins the Supporters’ Shield is the best team in the league.  But if you ask the fans who follow the league in this country, they can probably tell you the last eight MLS Cup winners, but they can’t tell you the last eight Supporters’ Shield winners.  Success in this league, as is viewed by the soccer public, is measured by who wins MLS Cup.  At the end of the day, MLS Cup is … a cup.  If you go to Spain, you will see Barcelona and Madrid winning 75 percent of the championships in the last 20 years, but they haven’t won 75 percent of the Spanish Cup championships.  It’s the same in Germany and the same in England.  It’s hard to win the Cup two years in a row or three years in a row because it is a knockout competition.  So that’s something I’m actually proud of with this team.  To win the US Open Cup two years in a row is hard to do.  Now in MLS, winning the Supporters’ Shield would be great, but winning the Supporters’ Shield would be great, but the Supporters’ Shield winner hasn’t won the Cup in the last two years – they’ve only done it twice in the last ten years or so and that was LA in 2002 and Columbus in 2008.  I would love to do it again, but it’s not necessary to win the MLS Cup.  For us, what’s important is to make the playoffs.  If we can win the Supporters’ Shield, great.  But we want to be tougher mentally when we get into the playoff competition and to find a way to raise our game when we get into that competition.

Q: Do you find yourself needing to scale things back at different moments because of how many competitions and how many games you will be playing?
A: Sometimes when you try and win every competition you’re in, you’re probably going to fail at some because guys are just going to be burnt out.  I guess I don’t know any other way to do it.  It’s tough for me to say we are going to focus on one competition and not another one.  Everything is important.  If you do go in there, it can give the players the rationale that they don’t think they have to try because the club doesn’t put as much emphasis on a competition.  Then you need them to try in a game and they might forget how to try.  We aren’t scaling back competitions, but we may have to be smart about the minutes that we are giving players and it may have to be more of a mix at times.  If we play five games in two weeks, maybe some guys will play two of those games and others will play three or four, but nobody’s playing all five games.  So those are things that we’ll look to do, where we will find a mix sometimes that isn’t a pure reserve team or a pure first team.  If you put Friberg on the field instead of Evans, your game hopefully doesn’t change much or miss a beat.  If you put Carrasco on the field instead of Alonso, has your game lost much?  If you put O’Brian White on the field or Ianni on the field, does your game change?  The more guys we can do that with – the Germans have a saying that you can dance at all the marriages.  We want to take part in all the marriages that are taking place.

Q: There are a lot of different competitions.  How difficult is it going to be, with all the talent and depth on this team, to make sure guys are getting the playing time they need?
A: It is a good problem to have, but it’s always going to be frustrating.  As a young coach, I tried to be like Nostradamus and look ahead for a couple of weeks and figure out where I was going to play guys and tell the players the plan so they could stay in focus.  Invariably, when you do that, somebody gets hurt and everything gets thrown out the window.  As an older coach I’ve learned to keep those thoughts to myself because the second a player doesn’t think he’s going to play, the guy in front of him gets injured and then he has to play.  But that division of playing time and keeping everybody happy is always a difficult thing.  You know the starters are going to be happy and you have to touch base with the guys who aren’t starting to see how they are feeling.  When you add ten official reserve games with 34 regular season games and eight games in Champions League and four or five in the Open Cup, that’s 57 official games.  You can’t play that many with just 18 players, so guys are going to get opportunities.  Some might get four or five.  Someone else will get 25.  Someone else will get 40.  There are enough games to go around, sometimes we just have to be patient and as a coaching staff we have to keep in touch with the guys who, at the moment, aren’t playing as much.

Q: Do you feel like this team is better equipped to handle an injury than last year’s team?
A: Yeah, definitely.  That is one of the things we wanted to improve upon.  Especially in the areas we really got caught short.  When Nate Jaqua got hurt at the start of the season, we didn’t really have a forward with size.  Brining in O’Brian White and already having Nkufo here and Jaqua – we now have three forwards with some size.  We wanted to have more depth in the middle of midfield because the loss of Sturgis kind of thinned that out.  Now with Carrasco and Friberg we have that.  With the return of Kennedy in the middle of the defense, we have that depth too.  When you look at the flanks, Neagle’s improvement after being away for a year and the growth and development of Montano and Fernandez now being here from the beginning we have more depth in the wide areas.  I think we’ve improved ourselves in all of those areas.

Video Preview can be seen here at Free Soccer Highlights.

Next Matches

Seattle Sounders FC v Los Angeles Galaxy Prediction

LA Galaxy wins 2-1

Seattle Sounders FC v Los Angeles Galaxy Betting Odds

Seattle win – 6/4

Draw – 85/40

LA win – 13/8

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MLS 2010 Playoff Conference Semifinals 2nd Leg Predictions

Thursday, November 4, 2010

New York Red Bulls v San Jose Earthquakes (1-0 after first leg) – NY wins 1-0 (2-0 on aggregate)

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Real Salt Lake v FC Dallas (1-2 after first leg) – RSL wins 3-1 (4-3 on aggregate)

Columbus Crew v Colorado Rapids (0-1 after first leg) – 1-1 Draw (Colorado advances 2-1 on aggregate)

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Los Angeles Galaxy v Seattle Sounders FC (1-0 after first leg) – 1-1 Draw (2-1 on aggregate)

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It’s the marquee match-up of the first round in the MLS playoffs as the Seattle Sounders host the LA Galaxy in the first leg of the Conference Semifinals. The match will take place at Qwest Field in Seattle, Washington on Sunday, October 31, 2010. Kickoff is scheduled for 20:00 EST, 19:00 Central, 18:00 Mountain, and 17:00 Pacific (local time in Seattle and LA).

Seattle Sounders FC v Los Angeles Galaxy TV Listings

It will be televised on ESPN2 in the United States, ESPN in the United Kingdom, Setanta in Ireland, Sky Sport in Italy, Al Jazeera Sport in the Middle East, and on GolTV in Canada.

Seattle Sounders FC v Los Angeles Galaxy Preview

LA player Landon Donovan

“I think he’s (Steve Zakuani) been their best player this year,” Galaxy captain Landon Donovan said. “He’s powerful, he’s fast and he’s relentless and he goes and goes and goes. Sean (Franklin) is going to have his hands full and we’ve got to do a good job of making sure he’s not isolated one on one.”

LA player David Beckham

“It’s impossible to slow him (Zakuani) down because he’s so quick,” he said.

“There has to be (good communication) on both flanks, with Landon and Todd (Dunivant) on the other side and myself and Sean on our side,” Beckham said. “Everyone has to be in synch and everyone has to perform, and if you don’t perform and don’t have your runners, they will capitalize on that. Both flanks have to defend well.”

LA manager Bruce Arena

“Gregg’s (Berhalter) been around for a while. He brings that experience and is a big voice for us back there,” Franklin said. “When he’s in, it’s a different game and when A.J. comes in, A.J. is a good player. He reads (the game) well, is calm and brings a little bit of pace to the backline.”

“It hasn’t really changed,” he said. “Both guys have played a lot of games for us and it doesn’t who’s in the middle or who’s in the backline. Bruce built a team this year where we have depth in every position. I’m comfortable and I know the whole team’s comfortable with whoever starts and whoever comes off the bench.”

Seattle manager Sigi Schmid

“He (Bruce Arena) is probably considered America’s best coach based on what he did with the World Cup team, the titles he won with Virginia, and early on in our league,” Schmid said about Arena this week. “It’s fun to coach against a coaching legend like that.”

“Obviously we have got to prepare for it both ways (Donovan playing as forward or midfielder),” Sounders coach Sigi Schmid said. “We have got to prepare for him to play up top or wide.”

“But it doesn’t matter where he plays, whether it’s top or wide, we know that he is an influential player on their team, and so is David Beckham and so is Edson Buddle,” Schmid continued. “So wherever they are on the field we have got to make sure we keep them in check.”

“You can’t really zero in on one of them, because they’re all dangerous players,” Sturgis said.

Seattle Sounders FC v Los Angeles Galaxy Prediction

1-1 Draw

Seattle Sounders FC v Los Angeles Galaxy Betting Odds

Seattle win – 6/4

Draw – 11/5

LA win – 8/5

Seattle Sounders FC v Los Angeles Galaxy Live Online

The match can be seen at Free Live Sports TV.

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