Here’s our story from this morning’s paper.

It deals with a couple of topics: First, the seven new names on the Sounders roster, leading with first-round pick David Estrada.

Secondly, the decision by MLS management and players to give themselves a couple of more weeks to work out a new collective bargaining agreement. That seems like clearly good news. But not yet great news. Great news would be the announcement of a new contract. And while postponing any kind of work stoppage is encouraging, it also indicates remaining disagreements to serious to work out by Sunday. So.

Meanwhile, after …

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Major League Soccer and its players union agreed today to give themselves a couple of extra weeks to try to work out a new collective bargaining agreement, to replace the one that otherwise was scheduled to expire Sunday.

Here’s the news release just sent out:

Major League Soccer (MLS) and the Major League Soccer Players Union (Players Union) today announced that the two organizations have agreed to continue to negotiate through February 12, as they work towards reaching a new collective bargaining agreement.

“While we still have areas of disagreement, the talks have been constructive and both parties believe

…

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The Mexican national team will take a six-city tour through the United States from February to May while preparing for the World Cup.

However, Seattle isn’t on their list… their closest stop will be the tour-opener in San Francisco.

Here are highlights from the tour announcement:

The annual U.S. tour will give the Mexican National Team the opportunity to finalize their preparation, culminating in the 2010 FIFA World Cup opener on June 11 in Johannesburg against host South Africa.

To kick it all off, Mexico will travel to the Bay Area to face Bolivia on Feb. 24 at Candlestick …

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The Sounders are concluding the second of two training days at the Seahawks’ indoor facility in Renton today. Before any purely soccer work, they are being fitness-tested for sprinting and jumping.

Here, James Riley blurs his way through a sprint.

Here’s today’s TNT story on the Sounders’ ticket-sales announcement from yesterday, which shows Sounders FC building on its record attendance of last season.

That isn’t the natural way of the world in MLS, where there are no shortage of examples of fans sampling the product and then drifting away.

That has been the case from the league’s first season of 1996, when the LA Galaxy was the attendance leader at 28,916 per home game. But by the second year, the Galaxy’s attendance drifted down to 20,626. And last season — even with Beckham on board, it was 20,416.

MLS …

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The season-ticket update a couple of posts below mentions this Sounders’ season-ticket package including 15 regular season games and “three international friendlies.” Take that literally.

The club is assured of at least one CONCACAF Champions League home match, but that game will be played at Starfire, and it will be played at Starfire Sports Stadium, as will any early-round home U.S. Open Cup matches.

The MLS regular season schedule is expected to be announced next week. Those international friendlies will be announced when the deals are struck.

Indications are that at least one non-European team will be brought in. And …

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Seattle Sounders FC will provide the opposition as the Colorado Rapids hold their inaugural “Charity Shield” match Friday, March 19 at 6 p.m. PT at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colo.

Here are highlights of the press release from the Rapids:

Proceeds from the match this year will be donated to UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund) to aid relief efforts in Haiti.

The model for the Rapids Charity Shield is based upon Charity or Community Shield games in England, where they are a long standing tradition, annually having the champions of the FA Premier League

…

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The Sounders announced today that fewer than 1,000 season tickets remain for the 2010 season.

The Sounders plan to use a Qwest Field seating capacity of around 35,500 — the same configuration for last season’s playoff game. However, they plan to cap season tickets at 32,000.

The club also announced that the season-ticket package will include 15 regular season games and three “international friendlies,” indicating that the CONCACAF Champions League game will not be part of the package. But I’ll try to clarify that soon.

“Our fans demonstrated their passion and commitment to the team by creating one of the …

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