The Seattle Sounders season -- and the franchise as the area has known it for decades -- came to an end Sunday as the team fell to the Montreal Impact 3-1 in the quarterfinals of the USL D-I playoffs. That margin gave Montreal a 4-3 aggregate score over the two games and sends the Impact on to the semis.

More details are available at the Sounders' website.

These Sounders won four championships in 15 seasons in Seattle.

Next season, the torch will pass to Seattle Sounders FC, the newest expansion franchise of Major League Soccer.

Today's deciding game of the Seattle Sounders' playoff pairing with the Montreal Impact will be shown live on USLlive.com. Kickoff is 2 pm live on USLlive.com.

The Sounders won the opening match, 2-1. That one-goal advantage carries over to today's match and the total-score winner advances in the USL playoffs.

More details at the Sounders' website.

The Seattle Sounders opened the USL playoffs with a 2-1 win over Montreal on Friday night at Starfire, taking a one-goal lead in the two-game total-goals series.

That means a Sounders win or tie in the secoind match, Sunday afternoon at Montreal will send them on to the USL semifinals. If Montreal wins by more than one goal, the Impact advances, and if Montreal wins by exactly one goal, the teams will play series overtime to settle it.

More details are available at the Sounders website.

The Seattle Sounders (10-10-10) meet Montreal (12-12-6) in the first of a two-match, home-and away, aggregate goals USL first division quarterfinal at 7 p.m. Friday at Starfire.

Tickets are $15 at the gate, and the first 1,000 fans will receive a Sounders bobblehead. They also will see what just might turn out to be the final home game in the long history of the franchise.

Details at the Sounders website.

The Seattle Sounders will open their final USL playoff run Friday, hosting the Montreal Impact at Starfire.

The second game of the total-score series will be played Sunday in Montreal.

More information is available at the Sounders website.

The Seattle Sounders lost their final regular season game -- and the Cascadia Cup -- with a 3-2 loss to Vancouver on Saturday before more than 4,000 at Starfire.

What was not settled was Seattle's position for the upcoming ULS playoffs. Here's a quick roundup from the Sounders:

Final playoff positions will come to light following Montreal’s match (Sunday) against Puerto Rico as seeds 3-6 (Charleston, Montreal, Rochester and Seattle) are still to be decided. With their tie against Atlanta, Puerto Rico clinches the Commissioners Cup and a first-round bye. Vancouver takes second place; Minnesota seventh…

And a little more season-ending business:

After the match, the Sounders players were presented with the Kell’s People’s Choice Awards. Recipients included: Kevin Forrest for Rookie of the Season, Sebastien LeToux for Offensive Player of the Season, and Chris Eylander for Defensive Player of the Season as well as the Most Valuable Player.

A full game report is available at the Sounders website.

Game Summary:
Sea- Eylander; Sakuda, Rodriguez, Jackson, Scott; Treschuk, Gardner, Kante, O'Brien; Levesque, Le Toux.
Van- Nolly; Sancho, Martin, Clarke, Charles, Kindel; Moose, Gage, Nash, Valente; Sebrango, Addlery.

First half -- 1, Sea: Le Toux, from Levesque, 10 minute.
Second half -- 2, Van: Addlery, from Charles, 54 minute. Van: Moose, from Nash, 57 minute. Van: Clarke, from Sebrango 67th minute. Sea: Sakuda, from Nyassi, 69 minute.

The Seattle Sounders play their final regular season game -- ever -- Saturday night at Starfire against an old rival -- which in these nostalgic days means an old friend: the Vancouver Whitecaps.

And fittingly at stake is this season's Cascadia Cup. Here's the breakdown from the Sounders:

CASCADIA CUP
The Cascadia Cup will be on the line Saturday in a tiebreaker game for the northwest derby, now in its fifth year. Vancouver won the competition in 2004 and 2005 with Seattle hoisting the cup in 2006 and 2007. With one game remaining, the Sounders will have to beat Vancouver to win the cup for the third consecutive year as Vancouver is two points ahead (10) of them in the cup standings.

Also, more information from the Sounders' website.

And here's a view from north of the border.

Wow, a collision of my two beats ... here's a news release from UW:

Former University of Washington women’s soccer standouts Hope Solo and Tina (Frimpong) Ellertson were both allocated to the St. Louis franchise of the Women’s Pro Soccer league Tuesday during a ceremony at the Sports Museum of America in downtown Manhattan.

Solo, who recently led the United States to gold in the 2008 Olympic Games, and Ellertson were among 21 U.S. National Team members who were allocated to the seven teams in the new WPS league, which kicks off its inaugural season next spring.

More information is available at Gohuskies.com.

And here's the WPS website.

The Seattle Sounders clinched a spot in the coming USL First Division playoffs behind a Sebastien Le Toux goal that gave them a 1-1 draw Saturday at Starfire.

And that's all they needed to go into the playoffs where they will seek a fifth league title.

Details at the Sounders' website.

The Seattle Sounders (10-9-9) play the Atlanta Silverbacks (8-11-8) at 7 tonight, still looking to nail down a playoff spot with two regular season games remaining. (The finale is next Saturday vs. Vancouver.)

A win or a tie in either game sends the Sounders back into the playoffs to defend their USL first division title.

Details at the Sounders' website.

The New York Mets baseball team is moving into a new ballpark next season, and the owners have expressed interest in buying into Major League Soccer.

MLS has a long-stated interest in placing a second franchise in New York, and a league spokesman said the Mets plan could be considered for 2011 expansion.

Here is a more complete report.

The Seattle Sounders lost, 2-1, Wednesday night to Montreal. However, the door to the USL playoffs remains wide open for a Sounders team looking to defend its title. Details here.

Meanwhile, the U.S. men's national team won again in World Cup qualifying, 3-0 over Trinidad & Tobago. Details here.

After opening World Cup qualifying with two road wins, the U.S. men's national team hosts Trinidad & Tobago at 5 p.m. today in Bridgeview, Ill. The match will be broadcast live on ESPN2.

More information at ussoccer.com.

The Seattle Sounders (10-8-9) take on the Montreal Impact (11-10-5) at 7 tonight at Starfire.

Details available at the Sounders' website.

The Seattle Sounders pounded Miami 3-0 on Saturday night, moving closer to assuring themselves of a place in the USL First Division playoffs.

Now, 10-8-9, the Sounders moved to fourth place in the standings, and clinch by beating Montreal on Wednesday at Starfire.

More information is available at the Sounders' website.

Meanwhile, here's an interesting Web site that attempts to calculate the team's chances of making it into the playoffs.

Seattle Sounders FC has signed its third player -- Gambian youth international midfielder Sanna Nyassi -- and loaned him to the USL Sounders.

Nyassi will be available immediately and could play Saturday when the Sounders the Miami FC Blues at Starfire.

Here's part of the scouting report from the USL Sounders.

Nyassi brings pace and skill to the Sounders midfield in addition to international experience playing in Gambia’s U-17 and U-20 national programs. He is also the twin brother of New England Revolution midfielder Sainey Nyassi who has scored two goals and one assist while starting 14 games in his rookie campaign with the Revolution.

“Speed, speed, speed, that’s what he brings and I’m hoping that that translates to excitement and goals,” Coach Schmetzer said. “Growing up in Gambia with his talented twin brother, Sainey, has given him some mental and physical toughness as well.”

A native of Bwiam, Gambia, Nyassi earned three caps playing for the Gambian U-17 national team in the 2005 U-17 world championships as well as earning two caps for the U-20 national team in the 2007 U-20 FIFA Championships.

Before coming to Sounders FC, Nyassi was on trial with the New England Revolution last summer. He played for Gambia Ports Authority FC from 2004-2007 and scored the game-winning goal in the 2007 Gambia FA Cup final.

Nyassi, a 19-year-old midfielder, becomes the third player signed by Sounders FC, joining American goalkeeper Kasey Keller and French forward Sebastien Le Toux. Sounders FC begins its inaugural MLS season in 2009.

Seattle Sounders FC has released some highlights from Adrian Hanauer and Chris Henderson regarding the status of the head coach search.

Additional information will be posted on the Sounders FC website. But here's an early look provided by the team:

“The process is accelerating,” says general manager Adrian Hanauer. “The previous few months have been the research and discussion part of our process to figure out what type of coach we want. We’re now entering the phase of going out and actually contacting those individuals, contacting teams to ask for permission to speak to coaches currently under contract, and trying to organize interviews.”

Together with technical director Chris Henderson, Hanauer has put together a group of candidates.

“It’s a pretty strong list and when I look at the list of names. I don’t think we can go wrong with any of them,” Henderson says.

Hanauer knows that many candidates are connected to clubs now entering a critical point in their respective seasons, and he plans to be respectful of those relationships.

“We are very sensitive to coaches currently working for other people,” he says. “We don’t want to put them and their teams in an awkward situation as they’re playing in their competitions.”

Hanauer and Henderson have a clear sense of the qualities they seek in an individual: Character, a strong résumé, a philosophy and goals for both himself and the team.

“We want to hire people who do things the Sounders way, based on character. It’s much like the way the Seahawks have done it,” Henderson says.

Coaching prospects must understand and embrace Major League Soccer’s system of player movement and acquisition. “Given the salary cap, coaching in MLS is slightly unique and requires a certain mentality,” contends Hanauer. “We will hire a coach who is willing to put in the hard work necessary to creatively put a winning side on the pitch.”

The coach will be responsible for not only the first team, but also replenishing talent from within the club by developing younger players.

The only confirmed candidate is Brian Schmetzer, now in his seventh season as the head coach of the Sounders USL team. Seattle has won USL Division 1 championships in two of the past three seasons.

“Not only has Brian proven his character but his coaching resume has been excellent,” states Henderson.

As for the announcement of who gets the Sounders FC first coaching job, Hanauer indicates it could come relatively soon.

“We should have a coach in place, anywhere from the middle of October until the day after MLS Cup (Nov. 23).”

The city of Portland today launched a campaign to bring Major League Soccer to town, which will require the bankshot of also creating a new baseball park for the Triple-A Portland Beavers baseball team.

Here's part of an Associated Press report:

Merritt Paulson, who owns the Portland Timbers soccer team and the Portland Beavers minor league baseball team, is leading the effort to attract an MLS franchise. He was joined by Portland City Commissioner Randy Leonard and other community leaders in announcing the campaign.

Under the plans, a new stadium would be built in southeast Portland for the Beavers, the Triple-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres, who currently play at PGE Park.

PGE Park would in turn be renovated to fit the needs of an MLS team. The combined cost of the projects would be about $75 million.

While full details of financing are not necessary in the initial bid, the city must show its commitment to back a team, Paulson said.

“It’s going to be tough. It’s going to be a tight timeline,” Paulson acknowledged. “But I’m confident we can get it done.”

Paulson would own the team, at a cost of $40 million, he said. The new stadium and the renovations to PGE Park would be funded through bonds to be paid for by ticket taxes.

The proposed site of the new 8,000-9,000 seat ballpark, called Lents Park, is already owned by the city.

“It does require the full faith and credit of the city to back those bonds,” said Leonard.

He said the economic benefit to the city would outweigh the risks.

“I am very comfortable that it will pay for itself,” he said.

Seattle, of course, will jump into MLS next spring. An expansion team will begin play the following spring in Philadephia. And that leaves Portland in competition with other MLS hopefuls such as Atlanta, Las Vegas, Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver, and a second New York franchise.

More information is available at a couple of Web sites: one primarily devoted to Portland getting an MLS team and another aimed at the new Beavers ballpark.

Currently, the USL Timbers and PCL Beavers share PGE Park in downtown Portland.

The Seattle Sounders of the USL the San Jose Earthquakes of MLA 2-1 in a Tuesday night friendly at Buck Shaw Stadium in San Jose.

The result moved to Sounders to 2-1 this season against MLS competition.

However, the next time the Sounders play an MLS team, they will be members of Major League Soccer themselves. And San Jose is likely to be an early rival.

A full report on last night's game is available at seattlesounders.net. And here's a version from the San Jose Mercury News.

The Sounders return to USL play at 7 p.m. Saturday, hosting the Miami FC Blues at Starfire.