Here's my game story. (And here's the game story from the Toronto Star.)

Here's a look ahead to the U.S. Open Cup final on Wednesday. (And some on Ljungberg's card.)

And a look at yesterday's MLS action, and today's.

Sounders postgame: No one called it a good draw. Everyone admitted they were lucky not to be three goals down in the first half, and that if they would have actually finished one of their late opportunities that this would have been a stolen three points.

Schmid kept the team behind closed doors for more than a half hour after the game, but he seemed to imply that his yelling needs to be complemented by more locker room leadership.

Ljungberg seemed not to make of the team following what he considered maybe its best games of the season last week in Houston with this clunker today.

Montero said he was disappointed to have been pulled so early. Schmid said he was looking for someone to provide more energy.

Tyrone Marshall said he has a hamstring injury and is probably no better than 50-50 for the Open Cup final on Wednesday.

Here's Kasey Keller's take, which touches on a whole lot of the postgame themes at once:

"It’s been a little bit of a theme in the last few home games, which we’re obviously disappointed about. But I think if we look at some of the positives, we very comfortably could have been down two or three at halftime. The second half we definitely changed some things and looked more dangerous and somehow got a point out of it. We definitely had chances to steal it at the end, so there are some positives out of this game. But we want to be obviously an attacking team that makes things exciting for our home fans, and it just hasn’t happened the last few games. I heard part of the press conference where Sigi said it’s something we truly have to find what’s going to work and if it hurts some people’s feelings, it’s tough. It’s a time of the year when you have to get your form right to go into the playoffs and right now we’re not even a playoff team. We don’t have that form to even make the playoffs. It’s something we have to change quickly. But now it’s a great opportunity to win a cup game and get into a very cool competition for next season for our fans, so we need to focus on that right now and when this gets out of the way we have a little break and then we have to be truly focused on getting back into the form we need. We only have two home games left, now we’re putting a little more emphasis on what we have to do on the road as well. But we’re very disappointed over our last three or four homes games, that’s for sure."

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It's game day, and the third-to-last home game of the regular season kicks off at 1 p.m. at Qwest. It's also on Channel 5, and on CBC.

Three home games remaining means that the Sounders can reasonably get from their current 33 points to a probable playoff safe zone of 40 points just by taking care of business at home: seven points out of these home games (Toronto, Chivas, Dallas) and they reach a point total that's usually high enough to qualify. (More on that in a day or two.)

But with a loss today -- even a draw -- then they'll probably need to pick up some points on the road (DC, NE, Columbus, KC). They're certanly capable of that, but they make things a lot easier on themselves with three points today.

Plus, today could be a two-fer, because a Sounders win today not only gets Seattle three points, but it denies any to Toronto, also a contender for one of the eight playoff spots. If the Reds win, they pull even with the Sounders in the MLS standings.

Here's my story from today's paper, looking mostly at Toronto and Seattle as the off-field successes they are.

Here's the Toronto Star's soccer coverage.

You can also keep track of other MLS action today here. The highlight should be Chivas USA-LA Galaxy at 8 (ESPN2). And then there should be another good one at noon Sunday: Houston-Colorado.

And a couple of other notes:

Before the game I'll be part of a soccer roundtable hosted by Matt Gaschk on KJR, originating from Jimmy's on First. That segment runs from 11:30-noon. If you're in the area, it'd be great to put a face to a screen name. If not, you can listen in on 950-AM or online at the KJR Website.

The Washington State Department of Transportation reminds Sounders fans about extra possible congestion around Qwest Field due to ongoing construction and also because of an evening Mariners game against the Kansas City Royals.

Their suggestions:

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