Soren Andersen, The News Tribune's terrific film critic, is reports that two Seattle Sounders will appear at next month's Gig Harbor Film Festival to introduce one of the movies: 2007's "Her Best Move," about a teen soccer phenom named Sara competing for a spot on the U.S. Women's National Team. The festival opens Sept. 12 at the Uptown multiplex theater, 4649 Point Fosdick Drive NW.

The players haven't been announced yet, but they will sign autographs and talk with fans.

Here's the full blog item.

Sebastien LeToux scored the game-winning goal Sunday as the Seattle Sounders defeated the Carolina RailHawks in USL action in Tukwila.

“Scoring four is great, scoring more than the opposition is great, so this is a great day,” coach Brian Schmetzer said through a Sounders press release. “I haven’t been around too many soccer matches where the visiting team scores three and loses. They gave up those two goals (two minutes apart in the second half), and I watched their players as they walked off, and they were gutted.”

A full game report is available at the Sounders' website.

The Seattle Sounders (8-8-9) meet the Carolina RailHawks (6-9-9) at 7 p.m. Sunday at the Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila.

This is Carolina's only visit this season, after the Railhawks defeated and tied the Sounders in previous meetings in Carolina.

A full game preview is available at the Sounders' website.

And here is a look at the playoff implications, taken from a Sounders news release:

PLAYOFF OUTLOOK
The Sounders are in sole position of fourth place in USL-1 with 33 points. The remaining five games are at Starfire against: Carolina, Miami (Sept. 6), Montreal Sept. 10), Atlanta (Sept. 13) and Vancouver (Sept. 20). Puerto Rico (44 points), Vancouver (42) and Charleston (36) are standing one, two and three. With pivotal playoff implications on the line, Atlanta and Rochester, both sitting just one and two points back of Seattle, face off in back-to-back contests this Saturday in Rochester and next Saturday in Atlanta. Montreal and Portland are currently tied for the seventh and the final playoff spot (28 points), while Carolina's victory Sunday was enough to draw level with Minnesota for eighth (27 points). Miami currently is last (24 points), but with seven games remaining have hopes of climbing into playoff position.

The USA men won a rough World Cup qualifying match on the road last night.

Meanwhile, here's the Sounders' report on their scoreless draw with the Whitecaps last night:

The Seattle Sounders and Vancouver Whitecaps played to a 0-0 draw Wednesday night at Starfire. Chris Eylander made seven saves to secure the clean sheet and help earn the Sounders a point.

The tie moves the Sounders into sole position of fourth place in the league standings with 33 points, and provides a bit of momentum after losing two consecutive games last week (1-3 at Minnesota, 4-3 in penalties after 1-1 tie following regulation and 30 minutes of overtime play; and 3-0 at home to Puerto Rico). Vancouver remains in second place with 39 points. Seattle has five games, all at home, and 15 potential points remaining to secure a top seven position and a playoff spot.

Next up for the Sounders is a Sunday night game at Starfire against the Carolina Railhawks. Kickoff is set for 7:00 pm.

More info is available at the Sounders' website.

A soccer choice tonight: Sounders at home to Vancouver, or US Men's National team in World Cup qualifying match on ESPN2.

Here's a preview of the national team's game vs. Guatemala.

Here part of the Sounders' news release previewing their match:

The Seattle Sounders (8-8-8) host the Vancouver Whitecaps (11-6-5) Wednesday, August 20 in the second of three matchups with their rival to the north. The Cascadia Cup match is set for 7 pm PT at the Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila.

The Sounders are tied for fourth place with Atlanta (32 points), and have played more games (24) than anyone else in the league. Seattle has six games and 18 potential points remaining to secure a top seven position and a playoff spot. All of those games will be at home beginning with Wednesday's showdown against rival Vancouver. Last Sunday's contest at Minnesota was Seattle’s road finale for the regular season.

“The game on Wednesday, regardless of its importance in the Cascadia Cup standings or the fact that Vancouver is the second place team in our league and we’re below them in the standings or even the fact that we’ve been rivals since the late 70’s; in spite of all those factors, I really don’t have to do a lot to get my players motivated,” Coach Schmetzer said. “After the game we had last Friday (3-0 loss to the Puerto Rico Islanders) the motivation is going to come from themselves and, really, the coaching is just setting the right lineup for the game.”

The Commissioner’s Cup for best regular season record is within Vancouver’s grasp, and the team looks to draw level with the Puerto Rico Islanders for the league lead (41 points).

Wednesday's game will be the 82nd match-up between the two Pacific Northwest clubs, with their first meeting coming back in 1994. The Sounders lead the overall series with a record of 43 wins, 24 defeats, and 14 draws. They also lead the all-time series of results against the Whitecaps in Seattle with 24 wins, eight defeats, and six draws.

CASCADIA CUP
Currently the Sounders sit atop the Cascadia Cup standings with seven points and two games left to play, both against Vancouver at home, including the final match of the season and of the storied rivalry on September 20. The Portland Timbers, with four points, are all but out of the running for the Cup and will be playing for pride when they meet the Whitecaps this Friday at PGE Park. Seattle will be hoping for a Timbers upset.

The Seattle Sounders have announced a friendly match Sept. 2 at San Jose against the MLS Earthquakes.

Kickoff is 7 p.m. at Buck Shaw Stadium.

The match comes in the middle of a 13-day break in their league schedule.

The opponent is a special one. The Sounders' rivalry with the Quakes goes back to NASL days. And this is a preview of a rivalry that will be born again next season, as the Quakes will be the nearest MLS rivals for Sounders FC; their expansion big brothers, since they got a one-season head start in MLS; and they will represent the only MLS teams playing with their old NASL names. And, of course, both will compete in the MLS Western Division standings.

“We look forward to our friendly against the Earthquakes,” Sounders general manager Bart Wiley in a press release. “The match falls in a great spot on our schedule and will give us yet another chance to test ourselves against an MLS side.”

More from that release:

The Earthquakes are playing in their first season back in MLS after suspending play for two years at the end of the 2005 season. The Quakes are currently in last place in the western conference but have had some success in the last month going undefeated since July 5 and beating the LA Galaxy in their last match on Aug. 3.

The Sounders and Earthquakes have squared off six times with Seattle holding a 3-2-1 lead in the series. Two of the Sounders victories came via penalty kick shootouts after ties in regulation. All six previous games took place in Washington State. The last time the two sides squared off was on August 5, 2003 in the U.S. Open Cup when the Sounders defeated the Quakes 1-0. The previous year, on July 17, the Earthquakes defeated the Sounders 4-3 in overtime in the Open Cup with goals scored by Ronnie Ekelund (2), Dwayne De Rosario, and Ariel Graziani.

Four current Sounders players have ties to the Earthquakes. Roger Levesque spent three seasons with San Jose from 2003-05, while Leighton O’Brien played four matches in his career for San Jose. Kevin Sakuda was a 2002 Earthquakes draft pick, and Noah Merl was a 2005 Supplemental Draft pick. Merl also played in reserve games for the Quakes in 2005.

More at seattlesounders.net.

Several reports indicate that former national men's team coach Bruce Arena is going to be the next coach of the LA Galaxy.

(And therefore, not the first coach of Seattle Sounders FC.)

Seattle Sounders FC passed another milestone Thursday on their way to their inaugural season, signing veteran goalkeeper Kasey Keller (see post below).

So, what next?

FC general manager Adrian Hanauer said that the Sounders were first in line for the signing of Keller because as an expansion team they had first rights in the MLS allocation of national team players returning to the league. Having taken Keller, they now move to the bottom of that allocation list.

However, the signing doesn't hurt the Sounders' signing abilities in any other ways. They can, for example, still can make a high-profile designated player signings... and in fact, they seem interested in doing so if they can find the right guy.

Who's the right guy?

Here's Hanauer: “We remain out there looking and prodding and trying to find probably an attacking player that would fit that mold. ... If we can find the right player for the team with the right chemistry and again that pride and everything that is important to us, other than just a mercenary player, then it certainly is out there as a possibility. … It’s not a definite, but if an opportunity is out there that fits, we will not be shy about it."

Even aside from another high-profile signing, Hanauer still has a long to-do list, highlighted by naming a coach and filling out his roster. He is, in fact, heading down to South America on another scouting mission in just a matter of days.

Here's Hanauer again: "We will continue to be opportunistic. We’re not going in any particular order. Certainly we still have coaching decisions to make and we’ll continue working on player issues as well. But we’re in no rush. We have almost eight months until the start of the season. We don’t need to have everyone signed by September.

He said the coaching search will pick up in September and October, as the current MLS season nears its close. Hanauer agreed that could be read as a signal that they have some interest in an existing MLS head coach or assistant.

Meanwhile, he said signing a keeper like Keller can't do anything but increase the pool of coaches interested in the job.

"I think the more quality players we have on the roster and ready to play, the more attractive it becomes," Hanauer said. "There are more pieces to the puzzle that make sit attractive: the passion, as Kasey mentioned, the way people have embraced the team here, makes it extremely attractive. We are through the grapevine hearing of a lot of coaches who would be interested in coming to Seattle."

I asked Hanauer if the signing of a 38-year-old keeper who plans to play only a couple of more seasons would affect who the Sounders would try to sign as a No. 2 keeper.

He initially said no, but then quickly turned the conversation to USL Sounders' keeper Chris Eylander.

"We signed Kasey because we think Kasey is a spectacular goalkeeper and a great signing for the club," Hanauer said. "Where we go from here will be dealt with independently.

"It goes without saying that Chris Eylander is a great young talent with the USL Sounders and we sat down with Chris a week ago and told him this was likely to happen. I hope in my heart that we are able to sign Chris as well and Chris gets a chance to develop and learn from arguably the best goalkeeper in U.S. history."

There have been longtime assumptions that Eylander seemed a logical signing for FC, so Hanauer said he gave Eylander early notice last week that the Keller signing seemed likely.

"Of course, (Eylander had) a little bit of mixed feelings," Hanauer said. "Chris is a spectacularly talented young goalkeeper, he’s had a lot of interest from MLS, arguably could be a starter in MLS. But again, the opportunity to work with a guy like Kasey could make him a lot better for another … 15 years of his career."

Seattle Sounders FC just handed out the press release officially announcing goalkeeper Kasey Keller of Olympia as their second player signing.

GM Adrian Hanauer calls Keller "arguably the top goalkeeper that the United States has ever produced." Keller has appeared in four World Cups and has 102 international caps and 53 wins for the national team, including 47 shutouts. He has played in England's Premier League, Spain's La Liga and Germany's Bundesliga.

Keller comes to the team through MLS allocation. Financial details are not part of this media release.

However, the deal is for two years, and perhaps the most interesting information to come from the news conference was Keller's stated intention to play for perhaps two more seasons and then remain with the franchise in some capacity forever.

"The spirit of the agreement is two years, and then we'll take a look," general manager Adrian Hanauer said. "Coaching and everything is out there and open."

This is from the Olympian, one of our sister papers:

Kasey Keller is coming home to play soccer.

Keller, who grew up in Lacey and has played soccer in Europe since 1991, will be introduced Thursday as the new goalkeeper for the Seattle Sounders MLS team.

He's expected to sign a two-year contract, allowing him to finish an illustrious career in his home state. The Sounders FC MLS team begins play next spring.

“We’ll, I’m not officially with them. So, until it’s official I can’t make any comment,” Keller said in a phone interview this morning from Seattle.

Keller, a product of North Thurston High School, will announce his contract agreement at a press conference with the Sounders Thursday.

Keller’s father, Bernie, was excited about the news.

“I’m glad. It’s really exciting for me to have him back,” Bernie Keller said. “I got married a week or so ago and he was my best man. That was pretty cool in itself. Being able to see some of his games again will be fun. And just having him available to do things we haven’t been able to do for years.”

Keller has wanted to finish his playing career in the United States.

Keller has played in Europe since 1991, playing in England, Spain and Germany.

After four seasons at the University of Portland, where he was an All-American and reached the Final Four, he signed with Millwall in England’s second division in 1991.

The Charleston Battery will meet DC United for this year's US Open Cup.

The Battery eliminated the Seattle Sounders on penalty kicks Tuesday in an all USL match, while United defeated the New England Revolution, 3-1, in an all-MLS match.

Here's a running blog account of the Sounders disappointment in South Carolina.

The Seattle Sounders meet the Charleston Battery at 4:30 this afternoon in the semifinals of this year's US Open Cup.

There's no local TV, but the game in available for free online at usllive.com. Also Emerald City Supporters have organized a viewing party at Atlantic Crossing Pub, 6508 Roosevelt Way NE Seattle.

If Seattle wins, the Sounders will host the final at Qwest Field against the winner of tonight's DC United-New England Revolution match.

Here's the information from the Sounders' Web site and a preview from the Charleston side.

Seattle Sounders FC is inviting its fans to attend what it is calling "a special player announcement" at 2 p.m. Thursday at Qwest Field. The invitation goes on to call it a "historic event as the Sounders FC adds another to their 2009 roster."

Fans can park in the north lot of Qwest Field, and enter the stadium through the NW VIP gate where they will be directed to the field.

Youth players are encouraged to wear their team uniform, as there will also be an informal clinic led by members of the Sounders FC staff.

This was passed along to us from TNT baseball writer Ryan Divish, who besides having a sick sense of humor, is a massive soccer fan.

Here is a good ESPN preview of the US Open Cup semifinal matches, coming up Tuesday.

And this week we received word that if the Sounders advance past Charleston to the final, that championship game against either D.C. United or New England Revolution will be played at Qwest Field.

“We’re ecstatic to have the chance to host the U.S. Open Cup final in what is the final USL season for the Sounders,” Sounders general manager Bart Wiley through a media release. “Of course, we have work to do and a tough game in Charleston but we’re confident we can get back to Qwest and play an Open Cup final.”

Details at the Sounders' site.

A season-high crowd of 12,000+ at PGE Park witnessed a relatively comfortable win for the away side in the last regular-season clash, for now, between the Northwest rivals.

Seba LeToux got what proved to be the winner at 20 minutes, and then the Sounders got the man advantage when Scot Thompson was sent off in the 33rd for serious foul play. Boaz Herzog's report in The Oregonian is here.

Reports of the death of the rivalry, however, are clearly premature. There will be U.S. Open Cup meetings, and "friendlies," after the Sounders go up next season – and if Portland can get its act together they'll get a side up in the top league soon as well.

There'll be other meetings, for sure. But until then it'll be the Timbers fans who'll be left to grind their molars.

The Seattle Sounders-Portland Timbers soccer rivalry ends -- or perhaps only pauses -- tonight at PGE Park in the Rose City.

The last scheduled meeting of the USL teams kicks off tonight at 8 p.m., and fortunately it will be televised on FSC.

Here's a look at the meaning of the evening from the Oregonian.

A goal by Stuart Holden pushed the USA past Japan, 1-0, and to the top of their group last night as the Red, White and Blue began its Olympic competition.

Here's a good report from U.S. Soccer.

The USA women already have lost to Norway in their Olympic opener, and the US men are preparing to go tonight.

Here's a report on the women's game.

And here's a look from Fox Sports at the challenges facing the USA teams.

Seattle Sounders’ goalkeeper Chris Eylander and midfielder Josh Gardner have been named to the USL Team of the Week.

(And speaking of Eylander, Mark Moschetti has a fine story at PNWLocalNews.com on his chances of being promoted to the MLS Sounders.)

Here's part of the USL release from the Sounders:

Eylander made seven saves in the Sounders 2-1 victory over the Puerto Rico Islanders on Friday night which gave Seattle its second straight victory in league play. Eylander was under pressure the entire game as the Islanders out shot the Sounders by a 12 to 5 margin. Eylander’s efforts turned back the Puerto Rico attack and allowed Seattle to end the Islanders five game win streak.

Josh Gardner netted the winner in the 60th minute of Friday’s match. The play started with Sebastien Le Toux receiving the ball on the right side of the 18 yard box and firing in a shot that hit the far post. Gardner collected the rebound and chipped it up over keeper Bill Gaudette for his fourth goal of the season.

Next up for the Sounders is a trip to Portland to take on the Timbers on Thursday at 8 pm (PT) in the final USL regular season meeting between the two rivals. Catch all the action on Fox Soccer Channel.