Freddy Ljungberg and Sigi Schmid lead the way again in 2010 for Seattle. (Getty Images)

We only have two more clubs to look at here in our preseason look-ins of each Major League Soccer club. Today we head to the Pacific Northwest to see how Sigi Schmid and his Seattle Sounders FC are doing this winter.

For the most part things have been fairly quiet for last year’s expansion darlings. Schmid has kept the majority of his club intact from last season which came very close to a western conference final birth, not to mention they were the winners of the US Open Cup.

So far this winter the Sounders have been fairly quiet, only signing a couple players. Though they will get one big boost this summer with Swiss striker Blaise Nkufo joins them. Until then the Sounders will have to rely on young star Freddy Montero to carry the offensive load, which shouldn’t be much of an issue.

Anyways, let’s dive in to see who Seattle has going into the new season and where else they need to fill in the holes. Continue Reading…

Darrius Barnes is currently leading the way for the rookies. (Getty Images)

Its finally Friday, though I will admit this week has flown by for me due to it being a four-day work week and things being fairly steady on both the regular job front and this place. I had planned to do more than what had been posted today but I blame the weird rainy weather here in Dallas for me not getting around to some of it. Rainy days seem to do that to me.

Anyways I wanted to get back into some award talk for the first part of tonight’s post. Tonight I wanted to kick up my Rookie of the Year discussion and give you a sense of where I rate the current crop of rookies, which by the way have been nothing short of great this season. I know not every single rookie drafted has played this year but there are at least 10 or possibly 12 good rookies from this year’s draft. That usually doesn’t happen very often.

This is my current rankings on the rookies, whether or not this stays the same when I vote in a couple weeks for this award remains to be seen.

1. Darrius Barnes (New England): Yes a third round pick has a great shot right now at Rookie of the Year. Not like last year because the draft class was so weak but because he has truly shown to be the steal of the draft. Barnes has played in every minute of every game this season for the Revs and has truly become a guy that I think will be defending in this league for years to come.

2. Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy): A lot of people have him as the top rookie right now and I am starting to actually buy into his hype after last weeks’ game against LA. He’ll probably snatch up more votes than Barnes because of his pick number and because of where he plays but that should be the reasons why you vote for this kid. He’s good…and I mean damn good. That Sean Franklin and Gonzalez duo in the back for LA is going to be a tough one to get by for years to come.

3. Stefan Frei (Toronto FC): I nearly had him over Gonzalez but for some reason Gonzalez just came out slightly ahead of this kid. I think if TFC gets into the playoffs you will see this guy get plenty of first place votes for this award. If they fail to reach it he may not even get any third place votes.

4. Steve Zakuani (Seattle Sounders FC): Zakuani lived up to the top pick hype this year I believe unlike last year’s top pick (Chance Myers). He’s gonna need a monster last couple of weeks to the season to catch up to the guys ahead of him but he’ll surely get his share of votes for this.

5. Chris Pontius/Rodney Wallace (DC United): These two really split votes for me. One day I see Wallace as the better rookie then the next it is Pontius. Both have proven to be very valuable picks but as things get worse for DC here late in the year the less votes these two will see.

Others in consideration: Kevin Alston (New England), Sam Cronin (Toronto FC), Michael Lahoud (Chivas USA), Matt Besler (KC), and George John (Dallas).

Loads of goals this week in MLS. Some were good and others were so-so. Throw in a few PKs and it was a busy weekend in MLS.

There are plenty of goals this week, especially since we had a 6-3 game and a 3-2 game.

Order of video: Frankie Hejduk, Maicon Santos, Dave van den Burgh, Jeff Cunningham, A.J. DeLaGarza, Dax McCarty, David Ferriera, Jeff Cunningham, Edson Buddle, Chris Rolfe, Jamison Olave, Josh Wolff,  Steve Zakuani, Fredy Montero, Dwayne De Rosario, Conor Casey, and Nana Attakora

It definitely was an interesting week in Major League Soccer. Out of all the results this weekend, all but one were a 2-0 scoreline. Because of that we went ahead and put all the goals into one package for the goals of the week. The best in my opinion is still Eddie Gavin’s goal.

Order: Chris Rolfe, Mike Banner, Steve Zakuani, Fredy Montero, Maykel Galindo, Eduardo Lillingston, Chad Marshall, Eddie Gavin, Dwayne de Rosario, and O’Brien White

Stefan Frei has proven to be one of the better picks in the 2009 draft. (Getty Images)

We are nearly halfway through the 2009 campaign and it is a good time to review how the rookies are doing thus far. As stated before I think this year’s rookie class has been one of the better ones that we have seen in recent years. Plenty of rookies are getting a chance on the field and some are making very good impacts with their clubs.

For me right now the rookie of the year race is really starting to heat up. A few guys have really shown they are worthy of the honor already and continue to do so each week. While I won’t go into any particular order with this list I will say the few that are mentioned are definitely above and beyond the rest of the class here.

Steve Zakuani (Seattle Sounders FC): The number one pick continues to impress me. I knew a while back that this kid had some special talent and I believe we are seeing just that here this season. Currently he has two goals and three assists on the year. His number may not jump out to some but his skill on the field definitely do to me. Right now he has to be considered a front-runner for ROY honros. Good to see a number one pick live up to the expectations of the pick.

Stefan Frei (Toronto FC): I think Frei has made a lot of clubs second guess themselves this year to why they didn’t pick him until Toronto did late in the first round. He’s already proven himself to be a quality starter in the league. Hell he’s even gotten Toronto’s old keeper out of a job because of his play. While he has let in a few more goals than other keepers out there a lot of that could be due to the defense that plays in front of him, though I think that could be changing soon. Continue Reading…

Jeff Larentowicz will play a big role for New England against Toronto. (Getty Images)

Can someone get a W this weekend?

That may be the bigger question going around the league right now. Can teams find a winning way and not a tying way? Some clubs more than others need a win this weekend in a big way to not only get back on track but to also get back in the thick of things in terms of playoff picture here.

We stay with the usual schedule set-up here, six games on Saturday and one loner on Sunday. Only the Crew have the weekend off as they try to get healthy here. Everyone else is in action this weekend.

Since I am a little pressed for time this week’s previews will but cut a bit short with just the quick thoughts on the match. I wish I had more time to do a longer preview but as I mentioned the other day I am in the middle of buying a house right now so a lot of my free time is being put into that. Hopefully that will get resolved very soon.

As always feel free to post your score predictions below. Continue Reading…

Rodney Wallace has proved to be one of the best picks in the 2009 Draft. (Getty Images)

A lot has been said about this year’s draft class. Going into the draft a lot of people thought it was a deep pool of players, more so than it had been in a few years. After eight or nine games for most clubs you could say those people figured right. Many rookies continue to get plenty of minutes and impress folks in the stands with their abilities.

I figured instead of doing the usual look at the potential rookie of the year today to do something a little different. Instead I will be looking at each club’s selections once again. I’ll do most of the first round and a few random picks here and there from that with a few other notes.

Most of all the clubs who had first round selections used them wisely as we can all see. A few others did not though. Then you have the clubs that hardly picked at all. Those are tough to grade.

As always feel free to post your comments below on the subject.

Seattle Sounders FC: This club made a big splash with Steve Zakuani at number one who has lived up in my eyes as a number one pick. Definitely more of a Maurice Edu-type pick rather than a Nikolas Besagno-type number one pick. Which is a good thing for the expansion Sounders. Zakuani has done enough to make the Sounder draft class one of the better ones this past year. Continue Reading…