Here's my game story.

Two main postgame issues:

First: Montero wasn't supposed to take the PK.

Second: Gulp.

First things first: Coach Sigi Schmid said Fredy Montero wasn’t supposed to take the penalty shot, but that the man he had assigned to take it deferred. Schmid wouldn’t name the player -- although he'll clearly hear about it at training Friday.

“There was a player designated to hit the PK,” Schmid said. “He needs to stand up and take responsibility for that. I haven’t blown up about it yet, but I’ll blow up tomorrow.”

Montero said that an interpreter that he was offered the chance to take the kick and that he wanted to because he is the team’s leading goal-scorer.

(Montero also picked up a yellow card tonight, pushing him to five on the season and therefore meaning he'll have to sit out the Sounders' next game.)

However, the bigger issue is that this sunny season with the Sounders as the darlings of American soccer is taking on a few clouds. Kasey Keller came the closest to pointing out that this team is in a race for the playoffs and that it can't afford to come up empty at home against .500 teams.

“It’s time to truly to see if we are a playoff (team) and a contender in this league,” Keller said. “This is the time when you need to start getting your form to get into playoffs. Nothing would be worse for me to have as good a season as we’ve had and then let it fizzle out at the end.”

The Sounders have come away with three points only once in their last five games, and they've been shutout in all four of the non-victories. Tonight's result kept Seattle (8-6-8, 32 pts.) in fifth place in a league where the top eight teams make the playoffs. (They are certain to drop one more spot Saturday, if either club can get three points out the Chivas USA-Toronto FC game.) Five of Seattle's remaining eight games are on the road, starting Sunday at Western-leader Houston.

“Every time we play at home we want to win,” coach Sigi Schmid said. “For the most part I thought we carried the game, but at the end of the day you’ve got to score goals.”

The Sounders ended a club-record 335-minute scoreless streak last week in Los Angeles. However, it proved to be a brief reprieve as Seattle fired 11 shots against the Revs -- none on goal.

“It looked like we could have played maybe three or four games tonight and not scored,” Keller said. “It’s difficult. I thought maybe after the win at L.A. we wanted to maybe get a good run going. We have so few home games left we truly wanted to take advantage of it. I think sometimes when you have a pretty good home record, you’ve got great fans, sometimes you take things for granted a little bit like you’re going to show up and it’s just going to go your way.”
Both teams started with aimless offenses featuring lots of high 50-50 balls being volleyed about.

Fittingly for this lost night, the most upbeat pregame storylines didn’t pan out either: Sainey Nyassi started for New England, but was subbed out in the 68th minute. Sanna Nyassi came on for Seattle in the 69th minute.

Oh yes, and one more thing. As I sit here in the press box, a crew is on the pitch wiping off the soccer lines, which are soon to be replaced by the American football lines and numbers for the Seahawks first home game of the new season on Saturday.

The Sounders have always said they're serious about keeping a pristine pitch for MLS games. But there are concerns about what they call "ghosting" -- faint lines, numbers and logos remaining faintly visible despite best efforts to erase them.

I guess we'll have to wait for Toronto's visit on Aug. 29 to find out.

=> Read more!

Seattle has survived as the USA bid committee has cut its field to 27 cities still in the running to host games if FIFA awards the 2018 or 2022 World Cup to this country.

Both Qwest Field and Husky Stadium remain among the contending venues.

More information here.

It's gameday, and with it comes a look at the only MLS opponent the Sounders haven't yet faced: the New England Revolutions.

It's a big game for both teams in what is a very clusterned MLS playoff race: the Revs trying to climb in, the Sounders trying to build a little breating room and get back into that No. 2 spot in the West.

While passing time until kickoff (7 p.m., ESPN2), here's my preview story from today's paper.

Here's a nice package from Monique Walker of the Boston Globe, the rare visiting writer who made the cross-country trip.

Here's her main story, an overview on what has made the Sounders the expansion success story that they are. In her secondary story, she looks at the similarities and differences of the Sounders and Revs, who each play in NFL stadiums.

Meanwhile, here's a look at the staggering San Jose Earthquakes, who are the anti-Sounders expansion model in a lot of ways. Their most recent bad news is that their plans for even a small no-frills stadium of their own seem to have ground to a halt.