March 19, 2009
MLSNet.com - Sounders FC host Red Bulls in debut
The Sports Network - Seattle, New York set to open 2009 season
Advantage Played - 3 Questions for Seattle and New York
Next Season Sports - It's About All of Us
Seattle Times - What to expect from Sounders FC
Seattle Times - Be in your seat by 6
Seattle Times - Sounders FC ready for debut
MLSNet.com - Scarves play big role in Seattle debut
MLSNet.com - Schmid undeterred by lofty task ahead
SI.com - The re-running of the Red Bulls
At 9pm EST on ESPN2 and ESPN2HD, Seattle will make it's MLS debut and owner Drew Carey has been everywhere promoting the club.
It will be interesting to see if the Sounders can live up to many of Drew's boasts such as the one that they will win 1-0 tonight and won't have the same problems scoring that Toronto FC did as an expansion club.
It's going to be really interesting to see if Seattle can raise the bar with regards to on the field results when compared to San Jose, Toronto, and Real Salt Lake.
The big question will be how steady will the defense be in front of Kasey Keller.
News & Notes:
- Toronto players may not like Drew Carey's plan to have Seattle supporters vote on whether the club needs a new GM, but I like it. This will give fans a sense of ownership of the club and that will be vital in these tough economic times.
- NY will have one new defender available for selection tonight in Carlos Johnson and one new defender that is not available in Alfredo Pacheco.
- Speaking of a new defender that is not available, I still haven't seen the press release saying that Scott Palguta is a Colorado Rapid.
- Portland City Hall is saying that tomorrow's 1pm ET press conference will be to announce that Portland will also be moving to MLS in 2011.
- They may not be the Vancouver Whitecaps? Seriously?!?!?! Steve, you need to put a stop to this!
- Miami FC is in for the 2009 USL 1st Division season. Well, as of yesterday........
- Clint Dempsey talks about becoming a more complete player at Fulham.
- Is 20 MLS teams by 2012 too much, too soon for the league? I voted No.
- Oh yeah, the Rhinos officially opened up camp at 9:30am this morning.
- US Soccer.com has revamped the US MNT blog.
- MLS Ultras is a pretty cool supporters roundtable on Youtube.
- DeRo is living the dream back home.
- Pat Onstad is feeling good at 41 years of age. I want to see Pat play until he's 50!
- DC United fans rallied for a new stadium. And then we had the age old "Not in my backyard" crew out in opposition.
- Jimmy Conrad, quote machine.
- Austin grabbed a solid rookie defender in Lyle Adams.
- The Puerto Rico dream ride continues on as they defeated Cruz Azul 2-0 at home. I'm betting that they don't pull a Montreal choke job in the return leg.
The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author, and not necessarily those of the Rochester Rhinos or SoccerSam.com. Feel free to send any comments or complaints to news@soccersam.com. James promises to read (but not to respond) to all of them
