Updates on news, views and developments of the South Sound soccer scene.
Contributors:
Don Ruiz joined The News Tribune in 1988 and has been covering sports since 1999. He is a long-time recreational soccer player and has covered the 1999 Women's World Cup championship game and a variety of international, national and local soccer matches. E-mail Don.Jon Billings is the director of communications for the Tacoma Tide. He'll be providing news, notes and updates on the Tide. E-mail Jon.
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The Sounders went through a relatively light practice session this morning at Starfire. (Here's my story from the Monday paper.)
The main news was coach Sigi Schmid indicating that he's going to go with a league-like lineup now that the club's first trophy is just two wins away. (However, it could be that Freddie Ljungberg's 74 minutes against Chelsea signals that he'll be inactive for the Tuesday competition, which limits clubs to five foreign players.)
Schmid said he thinks his team will be able to put the excitement of the Chelsea game behind them and turn their attention appropriate to Houston.
He also said the Sounders should have an advantage because Houston is coming off of a league game three time zones away: A 1-1 draw in Toronto that moved the Dynamo four points ahead of Seattle in the MLS standings. Then that was followed by a cross-continent flight to Sea-Tac today.
The Sounders had it easier, playing at home in a friendly match offering the advantage of unlimited substitutions.
That allowed Schmid to limit the minutes of 10 of his starters – one for each reserve available. The lone Sounder to play the full 90 minutes was defender Tyrone Marshall, who Schmid selected because Marshall’s duty with the Jamaican national team had given him the longest rest preceding the Chelsea game.
What a swirl of soccer this weekend is.
Next up is the Tacoma Tide season ender at 1 p.m. today at Curtis High School. The Tide is out of playoff contention, but this is a meaningful game in that it is a derby: vs. the Kitsap Pumas with the Narrows Bridge Bell at stake.
Then Chivas USA -- who is right behind Seattle, for now -- visits New England this afternoon; while league-leader Houston picked up a single standings point yesterday in Toronto. Here's a link to more information on both of those games.
And then there was that really entertaining USA extra-time win over Panama (where my "Ruiz" comes from) yesterday in CONCACAF Gold Cup.
And of course, there's still a nice buzz in the air from yesterday's Sounders game (Here's my game story, a secondary piece on Federal Way's Lamar Neagle and the other two guys who made their Sounders' debuts against Chelsea, and a photo gallery from the TNT's Janet Jensen.) and some building anticipation for the Open Cup semifinal on Tuesday against the Dynamo and the return to league play Saturday against the Fire.
Sounders are practicing this morning, so I'll be back after that with some highlights.
