MLS Seattle Update

So after receiving 13,500 season ticket desposits, MLS' yet to be named Seattle club is getting a name. Under the banner of "democracy in sports", the Seattle brass has announced that the fans will be selecting the name of the team that will start play in approximately 1 year from now. The names were leaked and picked up by the blog MLS Rumors, amoung other sources. The choices consisted of Seattle Alliance, Seattle FC and Seattle Republic and even came with a handy explanation of thier meanings.

• Seattle Alliance - A bond or connection; an association to further the common interests of the members. Seattle Alliance brings together fans, coaches, and players to form a unified group to celebrate the game of soccer.
• Seattle FC - FC is a common international soccer acronym that stands for football club.Seattle FC is a global seal to encompass all fans, coaches, and players in the World’s Game.
• Seattle Republic - An association in which supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote; a body of persons freely engaged in a specific activity.Seattle Republic represents a call to all fans, coaches, and players to unite.

If you've ever cruised the message boards on bigsoccer.com, you'll know there has been a lot of support for keeping the Sounders name. Adrian Hanauer has expressed his interest to move towards a rebranding of the club, and even Don Garber has made similar statements. The Seattle owners might have actually heard the people, as the names have been revealed as rumored but also included is a "write in" option. I'm assuming this is to gauge the interest in the Sounders name.

There is some irony in naming them Republic (and possibly being called Republicans, if you know the political climate of Seattle). Alliance is a weak effort. FC might win by default (if there is no clear winner of writeins).

Personally, I'm not anti-Sounders, but out of the choices I'd take Seattle FC. Its simple, easy as that. The team can still have a nickname of the Sounders, but it doesn't have to be official...sort of like the Gunners or Red Devils. But if Sounders if chosen, I'm not going to be disappointed. Lets get on with it. Lets see the jersey and crest!

And speaking of jersey and crests...In breaking news, goalseattle.com (who does fantastic work) has posted a pic of the shirt/crest design prototype (from a source at luminouscreative.com).

Not bad. I dig the vertical stripes, as I was afraid that the home shirts would be all green. All green would be nice from a fashion standpoint, but would look washed out on the field. The crest is simple, and I love the Sealth logo, though I wish it was bigger. And can they really put the 4 stars for championships won on the MLS badge? I get the nod to history, but what happens when they win MLS cup? If they add a 5th, it will be apples and oranges if you ask me. Regardless, these official announcements are creating exciting times.

US Nats Update

If we would have posted predictions to last Wednesday's Poland US match, it would have looked like this:
Spirit of 78 - Poland 2, US 0
GD - Poland 1, US 1

Sure enough, we're no experts. The US went on to a resounding 3-0 victory over a decent Polish side playing at home. The US scored on 3 set pieces and Poland never forced Tim Howard into anything more then a couple of comfortable saves. That's 2 victories in a row in Europe for the Nats. Though past performances can't predict the future, its certainly a nice win for Bob Bradley.

There is no need for a full breakdown of the match, but some highlights are as follows:

• Landon Donovan's service. Sure, he was isolated a bit playing out on the left wing, but his free kicks created goals for Boca and Gooch. I hate to do it, but he must have learned something from Becks. Usually his kicks don't get past the first defender.
• Set Pieces. The US aren't particularly good at them, but they were on Wednesday.
• Killer instinct. A well placed header/shoulder from Boca, a free header from Gooch, then a sweet free kick from Lewis accounted for all the goals. Usually we keep those games at 1-0 or 2-0, leaving a chance for the opponents to get back into the match (see the last match v Mexico). This time we found that final goal to put the game out of reach. Well done boys.
• Defense. Boca and Gooch are still the best pairing in the pool. DeMerit is solid, as is Spector, but right now you have to go with what works, and Boca/Gooch works. They never got caught out of position, and handled the Polish strikers well. Dolo was his normal solid self and though Pearce got caught out of position a few times, he recovered well, and got forward throughout the match.
• Gibbs. Though he was the one guy who didn't get on the field, it was great to see pics of Cory Gibbs in camp. He's had a laundry list of injuries since the World Cup warmups. He's 28 and if healthy, deserves inclusion in the squad. Still an option for 2010.
• Uniforms. Though my first impression was that they all look like keepers, I think I like the new grey ("anthracite" as Nike call it) shirts. I might have preferred navy, but the design is simple enough, classy.

Lowlights:

• Finishing. Its hard to fault Donovan after a good performance, but he did miss a breakaway that would have put the game away just after halftime. We'll just call it unlucky. DeMerit also went close with a free header in the second half. It could have been 5-0. Dempsey and EJ also had chances in the 85th+ but we'll just chalk those up to tired legs.
• Forwards. Sure, we scored 3 goals, but they came from our center backs and a substitute midfielder. At times it seemed like we were playing a 4-4-0. Ching looked lost at times, but did a decent job of winning the occasional header and holding the ball up. Eddie "back pass" Johnson did his best to infruriate the Nats faithful. Held the ball up at all times, every pass went backwards (except one square ball he played to Clark). His best play all evening was avoiding the corner kick so that Gooch could nod it home. To his credit he managed to get onto a lose ball int he box but couldn't pull the trigger in time and his shot was deflected out for a corner.
• FSC's coverage. I have embedded the footage from the match, but I found the German commentary, since I can't stand Max Bretos. Its much easier to understand.

What's next for the Nats? A date with Barbados in WC qualifying. But before that friendlies against England, Spain and Argentina. That should have us prepared. Well done Suni for scheduling some decent opponents.