One more note from the Sounders' 1-1 draw with LA.

At one point in the second half of the chippy game, did anyone else notice Sounders midfielder Freddie Ljungberg point what appeared to be a hand sign at one of the LA players?

It happened to be a finger I had never before seen pointed in anger: an extended pinky. So after the game, I asked Ljungberg if that's some sort of obscene gesture in Europe.

He laughed. No, he assured me. Then he explained that he had been frustrated by the player taking what he thought was a dive after minimal contact. So Ljungberg said he extended his pinky finger and told the player, "You must be about this skinny if that little bump knocked you down."

One final reminder that tickets for Chelsea's game against Sounders FC go on sale at 10 o'clock this morning.

Call 1-877-MLS-goal or visit www.soundersfc.com.

The game will be played July 18 game at Qwest.

This could be the start of a beautiful rivalry.

Teams from Seattle and LA have had their share of those, and there was no mistaking the hard feelings today as the Sounders and Galaxy rumbled to a 1-1 draw. Here's a photo gallery from TNT photographer Peter Haley. Here is columnist John McGrath's take on the draw.

The key moment was a scuffle in the 57th minute, which involved several players and resulted in James Riley being sent off with a red card and the Sounders playing a man down, while LA seemed content to take its point and go home ... an attitude that coach Sigi Schmid seemed to hold in low regard.

“I’m very proud of our team from the standpoint of playing a man down and still trying to go for the win," Schmid said. "Whereas, the opponent was a man up and they were very content to tie the game take it to 90 minutes. I’m very disappointed in the ejection and I’m disappointed in the refereeing.”

As for that Riley, he seemed surprised that he was sent off -- or that he was the only player sent off. But he had no excuses.

“I take full responsibility,” Riley said. “It’s a red, so it’s a red. Obviously, people have their different interpretations, but I’m disappointed that I let my team play (a man down for) 30 minutes. We thought we let two points slip away."

Both goals already had been scored by the 57th minute when possession turned to Seattle. However, L.A.’s Gregg Berhalter grabbed the ball and held it, preventing the Sounders from restarting play.

Riley tried to take the ball, and a scuffle developed involving several players. At one point, Los Angeles’ Mike Mcgee grabbed Riley, and Riley responded by swinging his hand toward the back of Mcgee’s neck. It wasn’t quite a punch, and Riley initially drew only a yellow card. But after the referee conferred with his assistant, it was upgraded to red.

“It was definitely not a punch,” Riley said. “I was just trying to grab him because I thought he came in from behind me. But again, I take full responsibility. By no means do I ever intend to strike any player in the face or anywhere. That’s definitely not the intent, so I want to make that clear.”

Schmid had more criticism for the Galaxy than for Riley ... and far more for referee Tim Weyland.

“I guess (Berhalter) thought it was his free kick, I don’t know,” Schmid said. “Maybe he was momentarily confused or dazed, and the referee was confused and dazed. There ended up being a melee and a scrum. That’s about all I can say right now. I’ve known the referee for a long time. When I was coaching in college we were allowed to list a couple of referees who would not be put on your games. He hasn’t refereed many games that I’ve coached. The assistant referee told the referee that in his estimation it was a red for violent conduct. The other ref told him something else, but he chose to ignore that piece of advice. I’ll let you draw judgments on the refereeing.”

Either way, Riley was sent off and the Sounders played the final 33 minutes one man down. Riley also will have to miss Seattle’s next game, Saturday at FC Dallas. He also picked up his third yellow card of the season, and will be suspended for another game if his total reaches five. (All of this seems especially amazing to me because of the pitch, Riley is the nicest guy in the world.)

Riley becomes the third Sounder to pick up a red card this season, following goalkeeper Kasey Keller and leading scorer Fredy Montero, who served his one-game suspension Sunday. The Sounders are 0-1-2 in the three games they have played shorthanded.

By settling for one point Sunday, they lost ground to Western Conference leader Chivas USA, which added three points with a win over Real Salt Lake on Saturday.

Here's the game summary:

Scoring Summary:
SEA -- Sebastien Le Toux 1 (Nate Jaqua 3, Steve Zakuani 3) 22
LA -- Alan Gordon 2 (Mike Magee 1) 35

Los Angeles Galaxy -- Donovan Ricketts, Tony Sanneh, Gregg Berhalter, Omar Gonzalez, Todd Dunivant, Stefani Miglioranzi, Jovan Kirovski (Chris Klein 63), Dema Kovalenko (Edson Buddle 84), Mike Magee, Alan Gordon (Eddie Lewis 76), Landon Donovan.

Substitutes Not Used: A.J. DeLaGarza, Bryan Jordan, Josh Saunders, Josh Tudela.

TOTAL SHOTS: 6 (6 tied with 1); SHOTS ON GOAL: 2 (Alan Gordon 1, Chris Klein 1); FOULS: 16 (Gregg Berhalter 4); OFFSIDES: 0; CORNER KICKS: 8 (Landon Donovan 8); SAVES: 1 (Donovan Ricketts 1)

Seattle Sounders FC -- Kasey Keller, James Riley, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Tyrone Marshall, Nathan Sturgis (Zach Scott 72), Brad Evans, Osvaldo Alonso, Freddie Ljungberg, Steve Zakuani (Sanna Nyassi 73), Nate Jaqua, Sebastien Le Toux (Stephen King 87).

Substitutes Not Used: Chris Eylander, Taylor Graham, Patrick Ianni, Tyson Wahl.

TOTAL SHOTS: 7 (7 tied with 1); SHOTS ON GOAL: 2 (Sebastien Le Toux 1, Steve Zakuani 1); FOULS: 11 (Freddie Ljungberg 3); OFFSIDES: 4 (Nate Jaqua 3); CORNER KICKS: 5 (Freddie Ljungberg 5); SAVES: 1 (Kasey Keller 1)

Misconduct Summary:
LA -- Alan Gordon (caution; Reckless Foul) 32
SEA -- Brad Evans (caution; Dissent) 45
SEA -- James Riley (ejection; Violent Conduct) 57
SEA -- Freddie Ljungberg (caution; Dissent) 58
SEA -- Jhon Kennedy Hurtado (caution; Dissent) 59
LA -- Landon Donovan (caution; Dissent) 61
SEA -- Nate Jaqua (caution; Reckless Tackle) 80
LA -- Stefani Miglioranzi (caution; Reckless Tackle) 83

Referee: Tim Weyland
Referee's Assistants: -Darren Clark; Emiliano Monje
4th Official: Yader Reyes
Attendance: 29,025
Time of Game: 1:50
Weather: Partly Cloudy-and-55-degrees

Thanks for the comments that are in so far. More always welcome.

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Today's game between Los Angeles and Sounders FC is sold out, like all those that came before it. It can be watched on KONG 6/16 at noon.

However, a variety of other Sounders tickets are on sale or about to go on sale for those planning ahead:

US Open Cup: The Sounders will host the Colorado Rapids in a U.S. open Cup play-in match at 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 26 at Starfire Sports Stadium in Tukwila. Tickets are now on sale, All are general admission: $15 for covered grandstand seating and $10 for uncovered bleacher seats. Information is available at SounderFC.com.

CONCACAF Gold Cup: The two-time defending champion USA will play a first-round match of the 2009 Gold Cup on Saturday, July 4. The U.S. will face Grenada at 6 p.m. in the second match of the Gold Cup double header. The first match will pair Haiti and Honduras at 4 p.m. pt. for ticket purchases and information visit www.ticketmaster.com, www.GoldCup.org and www.Copaoro.org.

Chelsea: At 10 a.m. Monday, tickets will go on sale for the Sounders' July 18 game against English Premier League side Chelsea. Call 1-877-MLS-goal or visit www.soundersfc.com.

Barcelona: Announced just this week, the Sounders will play FC Barcelona at Qwest Field on Aug. 5. Tickets for that game go on sale June 15.

Partial plan: By the way, the Sounders have still have available some partial season ticket plans, which include the Chelsea and Barca games.

Here's a bit from the Sounders that puts their attendance run in perspective:

Seattle has played to capacity crowds in each of its first four matches on the Xbox pitch at Qwest Field, and the Galaxy game marks the fifth
sellout. More than 118,000 fans have watched the first four home Sounders FC games. A throng of 32,523 had watched the inaugural home match versus new York. the last three home games have also
sold out: real salt lake (28,548), Kansas City (28,746) and San Jose (28,838). In addition to this week’s game with the Galaxy (May 10), the next four dates are also sold out: Columbus Crew (May 30), San Jose (June 13), D.C. united (June 17) and Colorado Rapids (June 28). Stadium capacity for the remaining MLS matches is listed as 27,700. The
average attendance through four home dates is 29,664.

By the way, this might be the week that the Sounders announce they are opening up some additional seats in the south end zone to create some additional ticket availability for the remaining regular-season matches.