The Washington Post soccer blog reports D.C. United meeting goalkeeper Josh Wicks today and then putting out the following statement:

"D.C. United team executives and technical staff met today with Josh Wicks. During the meeting, it was expressed that his behavior in last night's U.S. Open Cup final was unacceptable and that he will be subject to internal discipline."

Wicks, of course, intentionally stomped the fallen Fredy Montero moments after the game's first goal. Wicks received a red card, but heatedly argued with the referee and fourth official before leaving the pitch.

They say that to the victor go the spoils, and a couple of Sounders' spoils of victory from the U.S. Open Cup are -- of course -- the cup itself ... and probable entry into the next CONCACAF Champions League.

Since that obviously will be a new competition for this franchise, here's a little background on CONCACAF Champions League from Wikipedia.

Here's the official CONCACAF Champions League site.

And here's a look at this season's D.C. United schedule ... just to give an idea of how Champions League impacts and intertwines with the MLS regular season and other competitions ... including U.S. Open Cup.

As for the cup itself, the Sounders are still making plans to show off their first trophy. They haven't yet decided on where it will be permanently kept. However, they are giving some thought to touring it around a bit. And you can pretty well count on it being displayed somehow at the Sounders next home game: Sept. 19 vs. Chivas USA.

Final: Sounders win, 2-1. With goals from Montero and Levesque. D.C. ends up with 10 men, as goalkeeper stomps Montero after first goal.

Here's a game report. And more from MLSnet.com.

Here's some comment and fan discussion from the Washington Post soccer blog.

Here are some early quotes lifted from the FSC postgame interviews. (Note the theme of praise for Sounders fans...)

KASEY KELLER
We’re having a good time. Unfortunately we have had a little bit of a slip in the league recently and we haven’t picked up as many points. But this is going to go a long way. Anytime you can pick up silverware in your first year in the league is tremendous. I’m proud of the guys today because we came to DC – it’s a great stadium, it’s a great place to play – and we got the job done. We made it a little harder on ourselves there at the end than we needed to, but it’s OK. We won the game.

Look at our fan support. We brought several hundred, which is tremendous. They were loud the whole game. We owe a lot to them. Just keep coming and keep supporting us because we’re proud of what the teams and the clubs and the fan clubs have done.

SIGI SCHMID
Obviously you dream about things like that but you’re not sure that it’s going to happen. But this organization is tremendous. Our fans have been tremendous. To be able to bring back the trophy and to qualify for CONCACAF Champions league next year is I think so great for our fans. ... Certainly this is something that we can take back, it’s something tangible, it can be a defining moment for our team and something we can build on

ROGER LEVESQUE
It was all Sebastien Le Toux, all his hard work and effort and determination throughout the game. He won the ball from their center back, took a touch on the end line and I just made it to the back post. I was going to do everything I could not to let that slip by.

ADRIAN HANAUER
It’s a lot of pieces coming together: It’s commitment from ownership, management, the coaches, hard work, selecting some good players, and the guys have worked their butts off all year. And then the final component – which obviously you can here in the background – is our fans. They’ve been tremendous this year and I could tell that they were lifting our team throughout this game. They’re’ the reason we’re here.

On the pregame controversy: Whatever we can do to raise the profile of the tournament … But Kevin and I are good friends. It’s water under the bridge. Obviously we got the result here, so in hindsight it doesn’t mean much.

FREDDIE LJUNGBERG
I think it’s important. If anyone saw the game we played against Toronto on the weekend, we were very nervous. I think a lot of people haven’t been in this situation with a lot of pressure – we have to make the playoffs and it’s a bit tight. After today maybe now they will be a bit more calm. We have some silverware and now we can just enjoy ourselves.

We have amazing fans. You look here, we almost have more Seattle fans than D.C. fans.

Here's are some DC quotes regarding the Wicks red card:

Josh Wicks
It was a mistake on my part and I’ve got to learn my lesson. The fourth official made a call and the ref made the final decision. That was it. I’ve got no excuses for it. Tremendously, very, very disappointing.

Coach Tom Soehn
I didn’t see it, I’ll have to wait and see it on the replay but some of the guys said that they saw it. Whatever, the players don’t come before the team, he has got to be smarter than that. Anytime you’re shorthanded you’re not setting yourself up to be successful.

Midfielder Ben Olsen
We have to stay focused and be composed after goals happen. But that wasn’t the story of the game I don’t think. I think we were under the gun a lot and I give them a lot of credit, they’ve got some pretty talented guys, pretty dynamic players up top and it’s a long night if you’re going to try to play even number. Against a team like that we have got to be pretty prefect in that type of situation. Give them a little credit, congratulations Seattle. But on the day we had some good stuff too. If some balls bounce our way, maybe we sneak a goal and things change. I don’t think it was a terrible performance from us, I thought there was some good stuff. It just wasn’t our night.

=> Read more!

Seattle Sounders FC goes for its first trophy tonight: the U.S. Open Cup against defending Cup champion D.C. United at (one-third full) RFK Stadium.

The game is on Fox Soccer Channel, and if you don't get that -- or are just feeling social -- there's a list of places to watch in a post below. There's also a pretty good debate about the importance of this game compared to, say, the Sept. 12 league game back at RFK.

Feel free to pick up that discussion down there or pick it up here. I'll keep this post open until just before kickoff, and then open a new running post for in-game and postgame discussion.

Meanwhile, here's the TNT's preview coverage.

And a look from the MLS site.

And more from The Cup site.

The U.S. Soccer Federation has finally given its most detailed explanation yet on why it awarded the U.S. Open Cup final to D.C. United’s RFK Stadium, rather than to Qwest Field.

“It’s pretty simple,” said Neil Buethe, USSF senior manager of communication. “We reviewed both bids from Seattle and D.C. United and there was a number of things that made our decision to choose D.C. in the end. The first one was that D.C.’s bid was better financially. But we also looked at other aspects, and one of them was the timing of the game. Due to timing of the game that was in (Seattle’s bid) there could potentially be TV issues if it’s earlier in the day. Another is the playing surface: Obviously, natural grass is preferred. Not that that cancels out a team like Seattle that doesn’t play on natural grass, but it is something that is considered. And then obviously things like football lines and how it looks on TV is also taken into consideration.”

The problem is, none of that is really as simple as Buethe implies up top.

For one thing, the issue about football lines is fully beside the point, since neither surface has visible football lines during soccer matches. And while Buethe gave me a follow-up call to acknowledge that, D.C. United and US Soccer had implied previously that they had indeed expected Qwest to keep its soccer lines once the NFL season began.

However, even dismissing that, Sounders general manager Adrian Hanauer also wasn't any more impressed about how his proposed afternoon kickoff affected the TV plans. He said he had received assurance from the federation that Fox Soccer Channel had approved the afternoon kickoff he had proposed for Qwest. And he added that he would have sought a later kickoff if the earlier time had been identified as a problem.

Finally, Hanauer said even the financial portions of the bid can be subjective because bids often combine guaranteed minimums with a percentage of the take, which can’t be known in advance.

“That circles back to my earlier comments about transparency,” Hanauer said. “I don’t understand why they couldn’t release the bids. Then everybody could see why one was chosen over another. And/or I think it would be nice if they would publicly publish the full criteria by which they make their decision. I’m still not sure that I understand it.”

We're down to the final day and hours before the Sounders play in the U.S. Open Cup final at D.C. United.

The game in only on FSC -- not FSN but FSC, the Fox Soccer Channel. So, heads up. But if you don't have that channel as part of your cable or dish package, the GoSounders.com website has created this ever-growing list of public places where you can watch the game. Included is Doyle's in Tacoma.

Meanwhile, here's an early preview of the match:

SEATTLE SOUDNERS FC
AT D.C. UNITED
4:30 p.m. Wednesday, RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C.
TV: Fox Soccer Channel.
Radio: 1210 AM (Spanish broadcast only).

Head-to-head: The teams played to a 3-3 draw at Qwest Field on June 16, when Seattle gave up a two-goal second-half lead.

U.S Open Cup: This is the oldest soccer tournament in the United States, created in 1914 as the National Challenge Cup. Similar to England’s famed FA Cup, it is open to professional and amateur clubs through all levels of the United States Soccer Federation. … The Sounders reached the final with wins over Real Salt Lake, Colorado, USL-1 Portland, Kansas City and Houston. United defeated FC Dallas, New York Red Bulls, USL-2 Ocean City, USL-2 Harrisburg and USL-1 Rochester. … If the game is tied at the end of regulation, there will be 30 minutes of overtime. If the tie remains, the winner will be determined by penalty kicks.

Notes: Seattle is playing for its first trophy in club history. United has more trophies than any other MLS team: five MLS Cups, four Supporters Shields, one InterAmerican Cup, and two U.S. Open Cups. DCU is the defending Open Cup champion. … Seattle defender Jhon Kennedy Hurtado is ineligible after receiving a red card in the cup semifinal against Houston. Defender Tyrone Marshall (hamstring) is out, Taylor Graham (ankle) is questionable, Brad Evans (shin) and Stephen King (hamstring) are probable. … This is United’s ninth match in 32 days as the club is mixing league, Open Cup and CONCACAF Champions League games.

Next: Seattle returns to league play at 4:30 p.m. Sept. 12, back at RFK against D.C. United.

That's an interesting distinction from DC United president Kevin Payne, who I interviewed by phone yesterday.

I was trying to get his opinion on which is a better indication of club success in the U.S. and Canada: MLS Cups or total trophy case. (Here's the story that resulted from that interview. (He was more critical about Open Cup in this Washington Times story, suggesting the the Cup needs to improve or consider packing it in.)

Payne also added that Supporters Shields should be in the running, although he settled on total trophy case ... with the provision that we're not including the "phony" trophies. By that, he means one kind of trophy that the Sounders have already played for and failed to win: the Heritage Cup, which goes to the winner of head-to-head games involving MLS clubs using their historic NASL nicknames: for now just the Sounders and the San Jose Earthquakes. DC has something similar with the New York Red Bulls: The Atlantic Cup.

Anyway, I know that Payne has gotten a little sideways with the Sounders organization and its fans for the bump he had with Adrian Hanauer about the Open Cup brackets and game sites. However, I've found him one of the more interesting MLS executives in the couple of times I've interviewed him.

So here's a little more about what he had to say about trophies:

On U.S. Open Cup: Open Cup has always been a big deal to me personally. For many years it was really the only national championship or highest-level national championship – particularly in the years when there was no full-blown professional league like there is now. … But I also think it’s a unique format – it’s something that is unique to soccer. I don’t think the format has done enough to turn it into a real property. There’s no reason why it can’t be a very significant competition. I’m not saying it’s going to approach the FA Cup in England, but it should be a bigger deal here than it is. We’ve always taken it seriously. Anytime we have a chance to win a trophy, we want to do that. It’s part of the way you keep score.

On judging club success: I think it’s total trophy case ... with real trophies. We certainly have a lot of phony trophies: friendly games and things of that nature, our Atlantic Cup competition with New York. My guess is you’ll end up with some kind of a three-way competition with Seattle, Vancouver and Portland, maybe a Northwest Cup that the fans will create. ((At this point I informed him about Heritage Cup.)) Those things are great, but obviously they don’t rise to the levels of the competitions that everybody’s in. MLS Cup, I guess, is probably the most important; although I really believe that in many ways the Supporters Shied is the real indicator of who’s the best team in a given year. The format of the MLS Cup allows for some anomalies."

I think his bottom line is pretty correct. Heritage Cup and any future Cascade-Cup-type stuff is fun. But tomorrow's game is for real: A very big day in the young history of the organization.

The Sounders are flying to D.C. today, so I'm not expecting any news out of them today.

So I thought it might be an appropriate time to take a look at three leftover quotes from Saturday's postgame comments that haven't gotten much attention so far.

Here's one from Sigi Schmid, explaining why Fredy Montero was pulled early in the second half: "We felt we needed to get a little more energy in there, a little more play. We didn’t think our balance was very good at the time."

Here's another from Schmid, when asked if the first-half/second-half difference vs. Tornonto and at other times during the season indicate a lack of self-starting players: "You’re an expansion team, you’re still going through growing pains; you’re still trying to find your identity when crisis hits. (Against Toronto) we didn’t get off to a good start, so it become who grabs the reigns of the team of horses right now and says this is the direction we have to go into. For sure that didn’t happen today. … It’s important that we sort it out. It’s important that guys understand that we need to sort it out within the team to play better. It’s not about talking to you guys and telling you guys that players’ jobs are on the line. That’s not the players’ job the players job is to go into the locker room and say that if he needs to. I think San Jose was one of those games, and we’ve had a few. Chicago in the first half was like that a little bit, I think Colorado in Colorado. But that’s part of growing pains, that’s part of learning, that’s part of now being able to develop that capability of where you’ve got one foot in the hole and another on the banana peel, who’s the guy that’s going to being the rope and make sure you don’t fall in."

And a final quote from Kasey Keller, sort of reacting to that second Schmid quote: "I heard part of the press conference when Sigi said it’s something we need to truly find what’s going to work and if it is going to hurt some people’s feelings, it’s tough."

All sort of interesting quotes. But all sort of seem to stop short of saying all that could be said.

Which brings us to the bottom line questions: Do you expect notable lineup changes soon? If so, what do you expect? And regardless of what you expect Sigi to do, what would you do?

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."

=> Read more!

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:

=> Read more!

Not much real news out of Sounders practice today. Although we did finally get around to asking coach Sigi Schmid about midfielder Terry Cooke, the former English professional who has been working with the Sounders this week after being released in his fifth season with the Colorado Rapids.

“He has been here since we started training on Wednesday," Schmid said. "He was let go by Colorado earlier. He is still around and we wanted to take a look at Terry. Chris Henderson has played with him in the past. ... We wanted to see where he is at and talk to him. You are always trying to look. The trade deadline is September 15 so we have until September 15. If you can improve your roster in some manner, you try and do it. In Columbus, this was the time of year that I picked up Adam Moffat back in 2007 and he got off to a great start in 2008. When I was with the (L.A.) Galaxy, this was the time of year that I picked up Hurculez Gomez from the team he was playing on. He stuck around for a little bit. So, you can find guys at this time of the year.”

The Sounders will wrap up training for Toronto around midday.

Until then, a little morning reading material:

Here's my story from today's paper on the Sounders efforts to keep a pure pitch, even now that Seahawks season has started. (I think you'll be pleased when you see it tomorrow.) And also the high-tech Buck Rogers solution of the future.

Here's a story from the Toronto Star looking at the Reds' altered travel plans to ease the affects of that three-time-zone travel.

And here's a quick look ahead to D.C. United, Seattle's slumping opponent in the U.S. Open Cup final next week.