Let's Talk Sounders

Fiiiiiinallyyyyy I have come back to JerseySounder...Ok, I'm sure most of you probably didn't even notice I was gone, but I was indeed on vacation for 10 days. I went with the entire family to Oahu and while I was able to post once about the Women's World Cup, I have been mostly out of the loop when it comes to sports and blogging. What a better way to get reacquainted than to talk about my beloved Sounders...so let's get started

1. Are you serious? I am gone for 10 days and I miss 10 goals? Seriously, what happened to this team that couldn't score goals. First a 3-2 win at Portland, then a 3-1 US Open Cup win against LA and topped off with a 4-2 win against Colorado. When will we ever see 10 goals in 3 games again from this team? Of course, if you look at the scores just a little closer, you see that they also gave up 5 goals in the two MLS games. Now I know - Colorado put a 4-spot on NY last night and Portland scores goals at home (ok, they actually didn't score as both were own goals), but one can't feel real comfortable about what is going on in the defensive end right now. I asked my boy Irish Mike if I should be worried moving forward and he said mostly it was just bad clearances and unlucky bounces. I get the sense that I shouldn't be worried, but I will keep my eye on it.
   
   
2. The streak is now up to 6-0-3 in the past 9 games. After 22 games, the team is now at 38 points, which is only 6 less than they had in 2010-clearly this team is going to make the playoffs. Their recent form has everyone starting to think about Supporter Shield, but let me be the voice of reason. The Sounders will have to deal with schedule congestion if they are able to make it past San Francisco in the opening round of CONCACAF Champions League. They are going to have their depth tested and certainly won't be keeping this streak up. LA (+4 in points) or RSL (-8 points, 5 games in hand) are the clear favorites.
   
   
3. Let's look back at some previous comments of mine:
   
   --On May 27 I said, "At the current time, there is something fundamentally wrong with this team. I am not saying we won't make the playoffs, but right now we're not good. We have some major fixes to make." I know I was right at the time, but I also knew we would sort things out. Still, let's not get caught up to much in our current form - we had a wonderful surge at the end of last year only to flop in the playoffs.
   
   --On June 20 after his goal against Toronto, I said about Montero, "This is exactly what makes Fredy Montero so frustrating. He can mope around the field, be out of rhythm and go 6 games without scoring a goal...and then on the turn of a dime he can be totally brilliant...One goal isn't enough to erase his play in many other games, but for one week it gives us hope and a chance to remember what exactly Montero can be. He can be inconsistent and he can be brilliant. For all we know this will lead to him a 10 game stretch like he had in 2010 where he put in 7 goals...or if could have been a singular blip in an otherwise lackluster performance." Since that game he has 3 MLS goals (including single handedly winning the Portland game) and 1 Open goal in 5 total games. His mid-summer streak might be on again.
   
   
4. My sources say that we will be making a signing during the current transfer window. I have no other information, but unless the team makes some moves to dump salary, any signing will be a minor one. Simply put - we have salary cap issues. The consensus remains that we need a striker who can score goals in the league, and in order to get that we are going to have to give up something. Here are some of the rumors I have read recently:
   
   --Nate Jaqua to Portland for Kenny Cooper. This would definitely test our hatred for the Timbers. Most fans are on the Hate-Nate bandwagon and would gladly get rid of him...but doing business with our rival? It might not sit well. As for this guy, I think I would be ok with it. Cooper is a bit of a looper (thanks Mike), but he makes less than Jaqua and is a much better player.
   
   --The poo-poo platter of Fucito and Estrada/Montano to Toronto for Nathan Sturgis. You can never have too much midfield depth, but why would we trade away a forward for a back-up midfielder when we already have Evans, Carrasco and Neagle providing us some depth?
   
   --Fucito to anyone- apparently he is in Sigi's doghouse and probably done with the team. Sad. I like him, but he can really only play one role.
   
   --Australian international Lucas Neill to sign with Sounders, prompting the trade of one of our central defenseman like Patrick Ianni. Personally, I would like to stay away from this. We don't need a high priced DP in defense. You can get by in MLS with solid, veteran defenders from the US. Where we need creativity and flare is on offense.
   
   
5. Sanna Nyassi with a hat trick last night for Colorado. A week after my cousin Jason was bitching about him running and not passing, he shows us why he is spectacularly frustrating.
   
   
6. What can you say about the United game? Sigi decided to play all of his players and we paid for it. The bottom line is that United's second team would be the best team in MLS so putting 6 on the board against our second and third units isn't surprising (although to be fair, they also had Rooney, Park, Anderson and Ferdinand out there in the second half as well..). For me, it was a disappointing decision because I honestly thought our first team could hang in there with United. They showed that by creating several scoring chances and being only down 1-0 at halftime. With no game until Champions League on Tuesday I would have liked to see them go 90. With that being said, Sigi decided it was a friendly and that his young guys would benefit from the experience. Who knows if they did get anything...and for those who want to kill Boss today - STOP. Watch the 6 goals again and tell me what he could have done better. Our defense - Scott, Graham and Tetteh got massacred.
   
   
7. Fredy, here is my plea. Please cut off that rat tail. I don't care if you are scoring goals - you are embarrassing our team.
   
   
8. The Tanzanian trialist came uber close to scoring the lone goal late in the game. There is not much to say as he only had about 15 minutes in a 6-0 game, but I couldn't help think what was going through his head when he entered the game. I assume playing in the US is better than in Tanzania, but man, that score line hurt. The other interesting thing about his appearance was the simultaneous Tanzania tourism billboards around the stadium and the halftime address given to the crowd by the Tanzania president. It was just sort of surreal.
   
   
9. Finally, in an attempt to puff our chests (and try to forget the actual score), here is what United had to say about the city and our crowd after the game..
   
   --Sir Alex Ferguson: (On the atmosphere of the game...) "It was brilliant. The pleasing thing for me was the number of fans all mixed together. That was like the old days of England and Scotland, when fans could mix together and no trouble. I don't know if we could ever get back to that, but it was a pleasure to watch that tonight. The atmosphere was always good. The Sounders' support is fantastic. It's a plus-point that, it's a big plus-point, to see fans mingling together and enjoying it."
   
   --Rio Ferdinand: (General thoughts on the team's time in Seattle...) "Very good. Great support. Good people. They looked after us and we had a great time. And they're genuine football fans. (On differences between this trip and the 2003 trip...) "They're just genuine football fans that come here to support football and their team. The Sounders have great support."
   
   --Ryan Giggs: (On general impressions of his time in Seattle...) "I've enjoyed it. Their fanatical fans really. I think we witnessed that tonight and we've witnessed it all week. You got told that the Seattle fans are the best in the MLS and I think we witnessed that tonight."
   
   --Anders Lindegarrd: (On the crowd at Century Link Field...) "It was very noisy. It was difficult to communicate. It seemed to be a great crowd. It must be fantastic for the team here to get that kind of support...that is very impressive."