Full 9 Season Opener

Fantastic season opening match Saturday night. The weather cut us some slack and although it was cold, it was comfortable and dry, as the Sounders pounded Toronto 3-1, courtesy a good team effort and the hat trick heroics of young David Estrada.

1. E is for Excellent. E is for Estrada. Finally, we have a forward who combines talent, speed and work rate with finishing. He was as lively throughout the match as Montero wasn't. His off-the-ball movement is excellent, and the reason he is getting so many good chances. In three games, Estrada has looked like a real gamer. So far in 2012, No. 16 has two-thirds of our goals. Kind of makes you wonder about some of the mugs who've played on our frontline while Sigi was trying Estrada out as a midfielder and defender.
2. Ricardo Salazar is an ass clown. Seriously, this guy has been hands down, stone cold incompetent in every match I've seen him ref. Saturday, he called the game like it was a WWF showdown. Sigi took Mauro off late in the game because he realized that TFC was gonna try and break him, and Salazar wasn't going to protect him. That he's considered one of the MLS' best referees, speaks volumes to the refereeing problems in the league. Plenty of examples of his incompetence throughout the match; the most egregious might be the leg battering of Mauro Rosales mid-shot in the box late in the 2nd half. Should've been a booking and a shot on the dot. Which leads to...
3. MLS' rugby play. Rosales out for a couple of weeks now due to the bad tackle and non-call against TFC. We saw it last year as teams targeted Rosales, recognizing they didn't have the players to acutally  counter his class. Sounders have seen their skill players hacked off the pitch far too many times. We are not the only club to have lost a star player to the whack-a-mole defensive tactics of the MLS. Referees have got to clamp down on the violent play targeting skill players. If not, it will hamper the entertainment value of the league and the long-term growth of the MLS. 
4. Diving. TFC resorted to some grievious simulations during the match, and Salazar showed there was no fake he wouldn't buy. When Ryan Johnson took a flyer near midfield, he should've been shown a yellow card. From where I was it did not look a foul, but when a player does the extreme starfish jump that's your clue that they're faking. Any human who is actually tripped and is falling, will use their arms to break their fall.
5. Captain Mauro. This guy is a class above everyone else. He shredded TFC all night long, and made the attack hum. He works hard on both sides of the pitch. Sounders fans are lucky to be able to watch a player of this caliber in the rave green.
6. El Flaco. Another player who worked hard on both sides of the ball and impressed himself on the game. He terrorized the fullback on his side and set up Estrada's goals nicely. My only complaint is that he is still a bit of a diver and pulled a mortal injury/miracle cure late in the second alf that was cynical.
7. Montero is gonna drive me nuts. I counted three positive involvements with the game. The rest of the time he was a bystander.
8. Seattle fans. Wow, 38,709 fans in attendance. That is amazing.
9. Gspurning. While we haven't had enough time to fairly judge his shot-stopping ability (and throw out the 6- loss as an aberration, and the 6 goals a team effort rather than resting on the shoulders of the keeper), see the Austrian adding an improved ability to distribute the ball from the back. He's good with the ball at his feet, and can throw or punt the ball about anywhere he wants to. 

First Match Sounders Full Nine

I watched this one from the safety of my TV room, but found plenty to enjoy in the Sounders 2-1 opening leg Champions League quarterfinal victory over Santos Lagunas

1. The new look Sounders look pretty good. Even the Miami Vice Super Cyan jerseys looked better than I thought they would. The club played a very fluid, confident game. Great link-up play, movement off the ball, and a competent defense, aside from the narcolepsy on the Gomez goal
2. Naming Mauro Rosales team captain was second best decision after pulling out the checkbook to resign the Argentine.
3. Santos was not a light weight by any means. They were overrun in the first 20 minutes but progressively played their way into the game.  A couple of times they were able to string together
4. ...sadly, they too often resorted to diving and more bad acting than an Adam Sandler film festival
5. Fredy Montero looked Shagadelic in his new do. Fortunately, his play was much more attractive. I thought he looked lively and intelligent throughout the game. He showed more consistency and commitment than I've seen from him for an entire match.
6. Montero's ball for the first goal was a thing of beauty. Also, David Estrada acquitted himself nicely in the match. Aside from the opening goal, he was very active and caused the Santosian defense plenty of trouble.
7. Is it me, or does Brad Evans look a lot sharper?
8. It's too early to make pronouncements on Gspurning as he didn't have a tremendous amount to do, but he looked a capable replacement for Kasey Keller. Certainly, he seems to read the game well and is an avid distributor. Looking forward to seeing more of what he can do for us.
9. Sounds like some ex-Sounder is continuing his goodwill tour of the end of his career

On 6 September 2011, Ljungberg signed for Japanese club Shimizu S-Pulse.^[49] He left the club by mutual consent on 14 February 2012.^[50]