While the MLS Cup winners can still be heard celebrating, MLS has wasted no time in trying to keep fans hooked for the 2009 season. Today the fixtures for the first three weeks have been announced, and they're detailed below. The nickname "First Kick" I find to be rather dull and gimmicky. It's just the [. Click to continue reading...

Given that the MLS Cup was just a little over a week ago, you might think that everybody in the league would be taking a little breather. Not so much. Here are links to a few of the rumors and newsy bits that are floating around this week. (And be sure to [...] Click to continue reading...

With over 18,000 season tickets sold and a passionate crowd sure to show, MLS and ESPN seem to have made a safe bet to showcase the league's newest club.

While the preliminary schedule will not be released until tomorrow, some info is leaking out.

We learned about this when we were sent an email from a good friend of ours, Sounder at Heart. Click to continue reading...

According to this article in the Seattle Examiner, the Sounders tickets will be at a TFC like premium by the time the 2009 season kicks off.

Here is an excerpt:

Professional soccer in Seattle is going completely the opposite direction of the local and especially the national economy.

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As Ives reported Tuesday, there was indeed a salary increase clause in Marco Pappa's contract with MLS that would have made him much more expensive had he moved clubs. One has to wonder whether Frank Klopas had the foresight to make sure such a clause was included in the deal with the expansion draft in mind, or if it was simply standard MLS loan-deal boilerplate.

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As far as expansion drafts go, it is tough to say that Seattle Sounders FC had a great one.

Sure, the newest MLS expansion team scored some gems, including a bona fide target striker and some quality midfield threats, but the Seattle braintrust missed the mark on several of its picks, leaving you to wonder if soon-to-be head coach Sigi Schmid really did play a key role in the selections (you would think he did considering the selection of Schmid favorite Peter Vagenas.

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As far as expansion drafts go, it is tough to say that Seattle Sounders FC had a great one.

Sure, the newest MLS expansion team scored some gems, including a bona fide target striker and some quality midfield threats, but the Seattle braintrust missed the mark on several of its picks, leaving you to wonder if soon-to-be head coach Sigi Schmid really did play a key role in the selections (you would think he did considering the selection of Schmid favorite Peter Vagenas.

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Had this sent to me by email, but it's been confirmed by Ives that the Wizards lost defender Tyson Wahl to the Seattle Sounders. He was one of the players on my list that I thought the team could lose. Wahl started 16 games for the Wizards last season, splitting time with Aaron Hohlbein as Jimmy Conrad's partner in the center of defense. Click to continue reading...

FIRST ON SBI

 

                                                                          Photo by ISIphotos.com

Former Houston Dynamo striker Nate Jaqua was one of 10 players chosen in Wednesday's MLS Expansion Draft for Seattle Sounders FC, sources with knowledge of the list told SBI on Wednesday afternoon.

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FIRST ON SBI

 

                                                                          Photo by ISIphotos.com

Former Houston Dynamo striker Nate Jaqua was one of 10 players chosen in Wednesday's MLS Expansion Draft for Seattle Sounders FC, sources with knowledge of the list told SBI on Wednesday afternoon.

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While we may not have time to do full stories on each of the goings on, we will be keeping you updated as we find out news, close to real-time via our Twitter feed. So get on the case and join us by subscribing to it.



UPDATE: Here is the list -

Nate Jaqua, Houston Dynamo (14 games, 11 starts, 4 goals, 4 assists)

Brad Evans, Columbus Crew (26 games, 18 starts, 5 goals, 1 assist)

Stephen King, Chicago Fire (20 games, 8 starts, 2 goals, 1 assist)

Jeff Parke, New York Red Bulls (24 games, 23 starts)

James Riley, San Jose Earthquakes (24 games, 23 starts, 2 assists)

Khano Smith, New England Revolution (23 games, 18 starts, 2 goals, 3 assists)

Jarrod Smith, Toronto FC (20 games, 6 starts, 1 goal)

Nathan Sturgis, Real Salt Lake (3 games, 2 starts)

Peter Vagenas (Los Angeles)

Tyson Wahl, Kansas City Wizards (16 games, 16 starts)
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Just received in our inbox from our good friends at RojoMania.comAs we awit our first bit of real news from the MLS Bodysnatchers Expansion Draft, we got an interesting email which stated simply: "If Sigi takes the 2 million then Carlos Ruiz and Marco Pappa follow."An english translation of the above is:Carlos Ruiz and Marco Pappa Will Go Today in The Major League Soccer Expansion Draft after Toronto and the Fire left them:Unprotected! Click to continue reading...

Sigi Schmid may be on the way to the Emerald City.

Well, the offseason just got more interesting.

According to this report in the Columbus Dispatch the Columbus Crew are massively ticked off with newcomers Seattle Sounders trying to steal their championship winning coach and they have accused the Seattle club of tampering, in essence tapping up Sigi Schmid before his contract was up. Click to continue reading...

In about an hour and a half, we'll know for certain whether or not the Fire organization has managed to give away another quality player in that oh-so-MLS institution that we all know and love, the Expansion Draft. If your eyes are rolling like mine are, you recall the loss of Honduran international Iván Guerrero to San Jose at the end of last season.

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Well, the MLS season is now officially over. Once again, congratulations to the Columbus Crew on winning their first ever MLS Cup title. While things will slow down here on the pitch, MLS Offside isn't going anywhere. There will be plenty of action to report as players move, an expansion draft takes place, the Super [. Click to continue reading...

It's almost time for another one of those wonderful expansion drafts. This year the 14 current MLS teams will help stock the Seattle Sounders FC. Today teams had to turn in their list of protected players to the league. The Wizards list has now been published on Hillcrest Road. The only surprise on that list is a big one, Carlos Marinelli. Click to continue reading...

And our good friends GoalSeattle naturally have the scoop. Sweet looking kits if you ask us. Kinda spoils the whole Seattle Kit Unveiling, Celebrity Fashion Show, song and dance thing. We were going to cover it live but our requests for a press pass went ignored (still mad at us for discovering and revealing public trademark records for lame Seattle names like Union and Alliance forcing an uproar and write-in choice no doubt), so we thank Goal Seattle for coming through with the goods early so you can see what the kits look like before anyone else. Click to continue reading...

This comes to us from our friends, GOAL! Seattle who have the full story and had a fan-reporter on the scene taking photos and video (shown above). Local Seattle station NBC KING5 also had reporters on scene and their video is here.

The winner will be named after the SuperBowl broadcast next year. Click to continue reading...

An old picture resurfaces.

We were sent this by a season ticket holder:

MLSR will try to cover this event.
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We received this rumor earlier today by email and have been trying to confirm part of it. We do know that one of our contributors did witness a pretty bad fight between Preki and Galindo and we were told he was in the doghouse. Anyway on to the rumor:

Hello MLSRumorsI hope to be able to contribute to your site by telling you that Mikel Gallindo, and Panchito Mendoza will not be back next season.

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Photo by ISIphotos.com

Good afternoon folks. It is that time again. I bet you thought you would never see the second half of the most recent Q&A answers. It only took me a month to get back around to them, but I am committed to finishing them off this week and this is the first part of that (i think it's safe to say there will be two more parts instead of one to cover the record-breaking number of questions).

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Synchronicity.

That's the word that best describes the following article appearing on the same day the "Obama '08 Soccer Supporter" T-shirts went on sale. You can nab one below before they are gone. And they are selling quite well.... Simply enter coupon code 3OFFZAZZLETS at the checkout through till November 5 for $3 off. Click to continue reading...

There were flashbulbs and shiny white corporate grins and glistening company logos. The head of Vulcan Sports and Entertainment spoke confidently about dreams coming true, shaking the epicentre of North American soccer and sold-out stadiums. Famous US showbiz blogs began frantically digging around for semi-nude pictures of the MLS' newest star player modelling Calvin Klein boxer shorts. Click to continue reading...

This is live video brought to you courtesy of one of our MLSR correspondents and powered by Qik.com. You may leave comments or questions in the Chat on Qik.com. Click to continue reading...

Image courtesy of Daylife

It was all made official today. Seattle Sounders FC unveiled Swedish winger Freddie Ljungberg as their designated player for 2009.

With 18,000 season tickets sold and veteran American keeper Kasey Keller, Sounders FC is, on paper, having the best start than any expansion club to date. Click to continue reading...

So in my email today, I got an invite to the fan meet-up with Seattle Sounders FC's new Designated Player. And who is that new Designated Player? None other than Swedish international Freddie Ljungberg. Because Seattle truly needs more underwear models. "We looked far and wide for a designated player who would [. Click to continue reading...

(Summary is not available.) Click to continue reading...

It's official. We were just sent this by a Sounders season ticket holder who received it by email. As mentioned before we will have live video coverage of all the days events.

You are invited to meet the Sounders FC's Designated Player at the Wells Fargo Club Level at Qwest Field. Tuesday, October 28th at 5:00pm. Click to continue reading...

More on this story courtesy of GOALSeattle.com.


Join us here at MLSR where we will be providing live coverage of the league's newest Designated Player's official unveiling. Click to continue reading...

Reports out of Sweden have Seattle Sounders FC's Freddie Ljungberg making $2.5 million dollars per year.

Not a bad pile of coin.

This will move him into the position of the third best paid player in MLS. Coming in just below Cuauhtemoc Blanco's $2.7 million and just above Marcelo Gallardo's $1. Click to continue reading...

We received the following earlier today by email:

Hallo, I can tell you that Freddy Ljungberg is on his way to Seattle on KLM airways flight 6105, it is an Airbus A330 Seres 200. You may want to have someone there to take pictures of him when he arrives in the international terminal.

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Another season is getting closer to an end, and that means another team is looking towards coming into the league next year. Seattle Sounders FC will be entering MLS next year, which means we'll be having another expansion draft to give Seattle a few players currently in MLS. Yesterday, MLS came out with the rules for this year's expansion draft, and they are not much different than previous years. Click to continue reading...

Image courtesy of Daylife

Seattle Sounders FC are apparently set to unveil their designated player for their inaugural season in 2009. Click here for more details.

Seattles' DP will likely going to be a Freddy - either Colombian Freddy Montero, or Swede Freddie Ljungberg. Click to continue reading...

We have it on good authority that this deal will be announced next week and that Freddie Ljungberg will be Seattle's first Designated Player. There will be a special announcement made at 5pm, Tuesday October 28, at Qwest Field West Club Lounge as posted on a local soccer pub's events calendar. Click to continue reading...

Fancy yourself a footballer? Got what it takes to play in MLS? Well then the Seattle Sounders may want you. It is not uncommon for MLS clubs to have open tryouts but this one has a twist. It will be filmed for a reality TV series.

Here's the mailing be sent out by the Sounders. Thanks to the reader who forwarded to us:

Sounders FC to Host Open Tryouts in November
Winner will be awarded a roster spot on inaugural squad

Seattle Sounders FC will host open tryouts in Spokane, Tukwila and Yakima during the month of November.

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