Sounders midfielder Steve Zakuani was helped from the Starfire practice pitch this morning with an ankle injury -- right ankle, I believe.

After sitting on the bench for 20 minutes or so, Zakuani was taken from the field on a cart.

As he was getting onto the cart, he seemed clearly unable to put weight on the ankle. However, no diagnosis or prognosis was immediately available.

Meanwhile, the club also announced that forward Kevin Forrest has been placed on waivers.

Forrest, 24, did not play in any MLS games but he scored the lone goal in Seattle's U.S. Open Cup play-in game against Colorado. He had signed a senior developmental player contract March 24.

Sounders FC general manager Adrian Hanauer said today that the 1 p.m. kickoff of Sunday's game against Colorado won't be changed, despite it's conflict with the Confederations Cup final.

However, Hanauer said the team is working on ways to mitigate the conflict for fans and that an announcement will be made soon. And meanwhile, prostamerika.com is reporting this.

Here's a story I wrote this morning on the Sounders' reaction to the USA's win over Spain yesterday.

What comes next is learning the Americans' opponent: either Brazil or South Africa, who meet this morning at 11:25 on ESPN.

Unfortunately, that conflict with my time at Sounders practice today, so I'll be DVRing the game like a lot of you and getting to it sometime after the fact.

Meanwhile, I'm creating this spot for any of you who want to discuss today's match -- before, during or after -- and, of course, the one coming up on Sunday.

This news just in from Sounders FC:

The Seattle Sounders FC announced today that the U.S. National Team has called in midfielder Brad Evans for the CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Evans will join the national team for training next week in Seattle. The U.S. faces Grenada in its first Gold Cup group match on July 4 at Qwest Field. Kickoff is 6 p.m. PT. That game is preceded in the doubleheader with a match featuring Honduras and Haiti at 4 p.m. PT.

This will be the first Senior National Team selection for Evans, 24. He was with the U-20 National Team at the 2005 FIFA Youth World Championships.

The U.S. will also play Honduras in Washington, D.C., on July 8 and Haiti at Foxborough, Massachusetts, on July 11. Quarterfinal games are July 18 and 19 in Philadelphia and Dallas, respectively. Semifinals will be July 23 in Chicago and the Gold Cup final is July 26 in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Evans has started 14 games for Seattle and ranks second in minutes (1249). He has scored two goals and added an assist. He becomes the second Sounders FC player called for Gold Cup duty. Tyrone Marshall will represent Jamaica.

The Sounders train later this morning. I'll try to get Evans reaction then.

Meanwhile, I talked a little yesterday to Jarrod Smith and Tyrone Marshall about their national team callups -- New Zealand and Jamaica respectively. Some of that here.

Colorado scored late for a 1-1 draw with Dallas last night.

That let the Rapids salvage a point in the standings, but kept them a point behind Sounders FC in the MLS Western Division standings going into their head-to-head meeting Sunday at Qwest Field.

Here's the game report from the Denver Post.

Portland still appears on the road to MLS, but it seems to be a bumpier road than anyone expected when the city and league held the expansion announcement celebration in March.

Bringing PGE Park up to MLS standards while trying to figure out what to do with the Triple-A Beavers is proving to be a puzzle whose pieces are not yet all in place.

However, the city council has agreed to separate the issues -- working on the Timbers' home as one issue and the Beavers' home as another. And that should help. Although the Sept. 1 deadline for MLS still looms.

Here's the latest from The Oregonian.