The Sounders were off today, after winning in the second round of the La Manga Cup yesterday.

Here’s a club release on what’s ahead:

The tournament concludes with crossover matches to determine final placement on February 25 and 26. Seattle will contend for 5th place against SK Brann Thursday, February 25 at 6 a.m. PT with live blogging available at SoundersFC.com. FC Nordsjaelland will play Molde FK for the Cup title on Friday, February 26.

Seattle had faced off last Thursday against its first opponent, Norwegian champion Rosenborg BK, in the opening Group A match. In blistering winds and rains,

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Sounders FC got a win in La Manga Cup competition today, defeating FC-Stabaek, 2-0.

Both goals came in the first half, first from Fredy Montero, then Roger Levesque… and each assisted by Freddie Ljungberg.

Here’s the running report from SoundersFC.com.

Current negotiating deadline comes Thursday.

Here’s an update from ESPN soccernet.

Sounders FC jumped to a 2-0 lead over FC-Stabaek in their second game of La Manga Cup competition.

Goals have come from Fredy Montero and Roger Levesque… each assisted by Freddie Ljungberg.

Here’s the running report from SoundersFC.com.

The Sounders’ PR office reports that the club practiced for an hour and 40 minutes this morning under clear Spanish skies and warmer temperatures (although it’s hard to imagine anything better than Puget Sound is getting today).

The work consisted of an 8-v-8 possession and movement-focused drill, shooting from distance and, finally, a 5-v-5 game. Three additional players were deployed behind the attacking goal and along each sideline.

Here’s part of the report:

The Orange team won, 5-1, again in an exercise designed to emphasize spacing and movement. The contest was split into multiple two-minute segments with players rotating …

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The day after Sounders FC opens its regular season against Philadelphia, the reserves will go against the Oregon State Beavers.

Here are the two relevant paragraphs of the Oregon State soccer release:

Another marquee name on the Beavers spring schedule comes Friday, March 26 when they travel north to take on the Seattle Sounders starting at 11 a.m. The Beavers will head to Seattle and train for a few days before the match and be there for the MLS season opener between the Sounders and the Union and Mwanga.

“The special piece about our game against Seattle is that

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Here’s the Sounders’ Friday report from La Manga:

Morning: The team did weight training and regeneration work at the indoor fitness center. A team meeting and breakdown of video from the Rosenborg match preceded the midday meal.

Afternoon: The rain which had arrived midday Thursday continued through the night and most of Friday morning, left the training pitches soft and the footing unsure. But apart from a passing shower, the 4:30 session outdoors was dry, if breezy. The 65-minute workout focused on passing and movement off the ball. A 15-minute game of 11 v 11 on a short field ended …

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The Sounders lost 3-0 today to Norwegian champion Rosenborg BK in the opening round of La Manga Cup II.

The SoundersFC.com website has some good video … it really was pouring sideways over there. (Notice the absence of rain-in-Spain references?) (Until that one.)

Here’s the scoring summary and Sounders’ participation list:

Scoring Summary
ROS-Moldskred (Aaren) 2’
ROS-Skjelbred 18’
ROS-Prica 67’

Seattle Sounders FC (4-4-2): Kasey Keller (Chris Eylander 46); James Riley (Zach Scott 60, Tyrone Marshall (Patrick Ianni 46), Jhon Kennedy Hurtado (Jamel Wallace 60), Tyson Wahl (Leo Gonzalez 60); Sanna Nyassi (David Estrada 46),

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