Freddie Ljungberg did not return to Sounders training today, apparently still feeling the effects of his migraines.

However, Fredy Montero did train, and there has still be no official announcement about his joining the Colombian national team.

Also working today was defender Leonardo Gonzalez, who was signed almost a month ago and has finally met his new club after duty with the Costa Rican national team.

Here are some quotes from Gonzalez, translated by the Sounders:

On joining Sounders FC: "It’s a good opportunity to play in Seattle with an MLS team that is doing

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Here’s past of a disciplinary release from MLS:

The MLS Disciplinary Committee has also fined Seattle Sounders FC midfielder Freddie Ljungberg $500 for failure to leave the field in a timely and orderly manner after he was issued a red card in the 59th minute of Seattle’s match versus the Chicago Fire on Saturday, July 25.



As one of the League’s official Charities of Choice, the US Soccer Foundation is the recipient of all player fines at the end of each season. Those fines are added to the Foundation’s Annual Grants Pool from which the

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This is supposed to be mostly a vacation day for me, but I’m checking with the Sounders for any updates on Ljungberg or Montero or the arrival of the new defender from Costa Rica. If I hear back on any of that, I’ll post.

Meanwhile, here’s my story from today’s paper, which is mostly on Ljungberg and the team returning its attention to the regular season and San Jose.

Here’s the Earthquakes coverage from the San Jose Mercury News.

Here’s the Quakes official website.

And here’s a link to information on the

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Several reports — none yet confirmed by the Sounders — that All-Star and leading scorer Fredy Montero will join the Colombia nation team for a friendly match against El Salvador in Houston on Aug. 7.

Here is one of the reports.

The Sounders play at San Jose on Sunday, then a friendly of their own Aug. 5 against Barcelona, then return to league play Aug. 8 at Salt Lake.

Sounds like Freddie Ljungberg was feeling well enough to travel. This just came in from the Associated Press:

Seattle Sounders FC midfielder Freddie Ljungberg is back in the Seattle area after being taken to the hospital following the MLS All-Star game in Sandy, Utah.

Sounders spokesman Zac Kaplan said Thursday morning that Ljungberg had returned to the area, but wasn’t sure when the Swedish star got back.



Kaplan says the migraine that sent Ljungberg to the hospital following Wednesday’s All-Star game isn’t as bad as a severe migraine Ljungberg suffered earlier this season that forced

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Moments after Tim Howard slapped away a Freddie Ljungberg penalty kick to give Everton a win in the MLS All-Star game, Ljungberg was carted off the field complaining of loss of vision and the onset of a migraine.

He was taken to a local hospital for evaluation.

Ljungberg had played all 90 minutes of the game, which began at Rio Tinto Stadium with temperatures at 84 degrees.

Ljungberg has a histroy of migraines and had missed time earlier this season because of them. At the time, he explained that he usually gets them once a year and

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Even five PKs weren’t enough. But on the sixth, Tim Howard reached back to tap away the shot by Freddie Ljungberg, giving Everton the win. It’s the first MLS loss after five wins in this All-Star format.

Howard was honored as MVP.

Apparently no coaches or players we spoke to after the game knew about the Ljungberg situation (see post above) as the coach Dominic Kinnear spoke purely about the game and his team’s effort, and Kasey Keller spoke mostly about having had a good time, and the pure oddity of leaving a game and then subbing back in — which is quite common in the Federal Way over-40 league, but apparently less so in international competition.

Some of those quotes:

KINNEAR overview: "It took us a while to get going. I think in the first 10 or 15 minutes we were a bit nervous. But I think we settled down and played some good stuff. … We had some good chances in the second half taken away by the post and Tim Howard’s play."

KELLER on Howard:

"Tim was great. He made a couple of key saves and he obviously made a couple of good penalty saves. Tim was solid, and that’s nothing more than to be expected."

KELLER on subbing back in, and going to penalty kicks:

"That was a little interesting. It was the first time I’ve started and subbed back in in the same game in a while. It was a fun game. … I thought for the majority of the game we were the better team. We had our chances to win the game. … Penalties are penalties. Why we went to penalties, I don’t know."

KELLER on his first All-Star game as compared to other competitions: “I would say probably similar to the Chelsea game where both teams took it seriously and they did well, but at the same time you can never replicate a game that matters.”

The Sounders will return to league play Sunday at San Jose.

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I’ve finally gotten a chance to take a deeper look at the Salt Lake papers today, and there’s no shortage of Sounders items in there.

The main photo on the Desert News shows a picture from the all-stars/media gathering yesterday at Rio Tinto Stadium. Four interview clusters are clearly visitble: Dominic Kinnear, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Fredy Montero and Kasey Keller. (Both traveling sportswriters covering the Sounders are visible too.)

Inside the section, the News gives its MLS rankings, and the Sounders have moved to the top. The text says: “Six-game unbeating streak vaults Sounders to the No. 1

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