Here's my game story.

The bottom line Sounders reaction was that this was a learning experience. It was perhaps the best team in the world against an MLS expansion team, and it looked it.

“I think tonight was a good lesson,” Sounders coach Sigi Schmid said. “We’re realistic. We know where we’re at, and we’re also an expansion team that’s starting to get to know each other, and I think there were certain guys who stepped up and played well.”

Schmid made the point that this was a tougher game for Seattle than their 2-0 loss to Chelsea because this one comes at midweek between league games, whereas the Chelsea game came on the Saturday of an off week.

However, Barca also looked more impressive than Chelsea did that night.

“You have probably the best attacking player in the world of the past six, seven years in Henry, and the future best attacking player in the world on the other side in Messi,” Sounders keeper Kasey Keller said. “And not to mention the rest of the cast isn’t too bad either. The movement off the ball, the first touch, it was just an absolute lesson, and hopefully a pleasure for the fans who got to see how the best team in the world.”

If the Sounders -- and the crowd -- left impressed with Barca, Barca went away impressed with the crowd of 66, 848, the largest ever to watch a soccer match in Seattle.

“Usually the crowd is cheering us on, happy to see us and they wear the Barcelona jersey,” Thierry Henry said. “The fans were happy to see us, but also they wanted their team to win and they came to support their team. That’s what you do when you support your team, so it was kind of nice to see that to be honest.”

Messi is considered among the top handful of players on the planet. And lined up against him was Leonardo Gonzalez, making his Seattle debut after concluding duty with the Costa Rican national team.

“I thought (Gonzalez) did some good things for us offensively,” Schmid said. “I thought he got forward at times. You could see his passing that he could provide for us. Obviously, he got done by Messi on that goal, but as I said to (assistant coach) Brian Schmetzer, I said, ‘Messi’s done a few other guys that make more money than Leo.’”

FCB outshot Seattle, 25-4 and put 11 shots on goal to Seattle's one.

“I knew (Seattle) was a very dynamic team with a strong attack, particularly players like (Jaqua, Ljungberg and Montero),” Barca coach Pep Guardiola said. “I knew about their 4-1-3-2 tactic structure, and my objective was always to move a lot and make the other team move a lot as well in the middle so we could take advantage of outside. Of course, I’m very happy with the result.”

Sounders return to league play Saturday at Real Salt Lake.

Final: A Pedro Rodriguez goal in the 89th minute gave Seattle it's second 4-0 loss of the week ... although Barca seemed better than San Jose.

Attendance: 66,848, the largest eve to watch a soccer game in Washington. (Topping by 18 the previous record of 66,830, which watched Real Madrid and DC United.

=> Read more!

Just got this release from MLS regarding the former Tacoma Stars star:

The Major League Soccer Disciplinary committee fined Chivas USA head coach Preki Radosavljevic $1,000 for inappropriate conduct directed toward match officials immediately following Chivas USA’s 3-1 U.S. Open Cup loss to the Charleston Battery on June 30.

As one of the League’s official Charities of Choice, the US Soccer Foundation is the recipient of all player fines at the end of each season. Those fines are added to the Foundation’s Annual Grants Pool from which the Board of Directors awards grants to soccer clubs and organizations that serve economically disadvantaged children in urban areas. To learn more about the Foundation, please visit www.ussoccerfoundation.org.

It's gameday. For those of you planning to watch from home: Barcelona-at-Sounders kicks off at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN2.

For those of you going: The Sounders are reminding that 67,000 soccer fans will be heading into downtown Seattle just as who-knows-how-many downtown workers are heading out. So they recommend that you plan to arrive early. And they're opening the gates two hours before kickoff for those of you who do.

Here's my story from today's paper looking at whey these crowds of 60, 70, 80, and even 90,000 American soccer fans are turning out for international friendlies, while MLS is averaging 15,000 for it's regular season games.

Here's a really nice John McGrath column on what makes Barcelona special on and off the pitch.