Sounders FC has officially confirmed the signing of forward Pat Noonan. Terms weren’t disclosed.

Here’s part of the conversation I had with Noonon on Tuesday, when the signing wasn’t quite yet a done deal:

On how he went from Colorado to Seattle:
Seattle showed interest. I think they were the first team to show interest, and to be very honest I was very excited about the opportunity, and it was kind of a done-deal after that. I wanted to come here and be a part of it.

On his availability for the Red Bulls on Saturday:
I sure …

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TNT columnist John McGrath offers this nice piece on new Sounders voice Arlo White in today’s paper.

And how about you? I guess most of you were either at the stadium or watching on ESPN2 last week. But for those who listened on radio: Any first impressions on the Sounders’ new voice?

Meanwhile, my story in today’s paper was filled mostly with stuff that has already been blogged here. Still, here’s the link.

Philadelphia coach Peter Nowak seems to think that Freddie Ljungberg faked the whole knee-in-the-back incident that forced him off the pitch last week. If he is, he’s going to great lengths: X-ray, MRI and questionable status for Saturday’s game against New York.

(Here’s the earlier blog post that outlined Nowak’s comments.)

Ljungberg was asked today what he thought of Nowak’s comments.

“What can I say? It’s just laughable,” Ljungberg responded. “When I heard about it I just laughed. I think it’s too low and pathetic to respond, to be honest.”

Following up on the earlier post, here’s some of what Freddie Ljungberg had to say today about the lower-back injury he suffered in the opening win against Philadelphia.

On how he feels: “I don’t feel great. Of course I had a kick in my lower spine and it is still swollen. We have X-rays and MRI’s on it and there are fluids in the spine and it affects the nerves a little bit. When I try to walk up stairs, my (right) leg buckles and that was the same problem in the game. I couldn’t push on my right leg. …

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Following up on the post below, here’s what Sounders coach Sigi Schmid had to say today about the status of midfielder/forward Pat Noonan and defender Jeff Parke, both MLS veterans who have been training with the club.

On Noonan: “Noonan obviously is here on trial so we are looking at him and we will make some decisions there in the next day or so.

On whether Noonan could play Saturday: Obviously I have a history with Pat having coached him at Columbus so I know what he is capable of. I know what he can do as a player. …

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Update: * Noonan said he signed. The Sounders say they have no signings to announce. So. Meanwhile, coach Sigi Schmid did agree that it’s pretty much time for a decision one way or another on Parke, who was scheduled to meet with Sounders officials this afternoon. More to come.

That’s the news from today’s Sounders camp. Ljungberg’s back injury is serious enough that he’s not certain of his status for Saturday.

However, Pat Noonan has been signed and might make his Sounders debut then.

And finally, Jeff Parke will meet with Sounders management today and if all goes well, he …

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It looks like Manchester United will be provide the opposition for the MLS All-Stars this season at Reliant Stadium in Houston.

And meanwhile, commissioner Don Garber confirmed the expected that this season’s MLS Cup will be played at Toronto’s BMO Field.

And update on both is available at MLS’s new but not yet improved website.

Meanwhile, here’s the MLS Cup release from the league:

Major League Soccer will host its premier event, MLS Cup, in Canada for the first time when the passionate fans of Toronto, the fifth largest city in North America, welcome the League’s 15th championship match to BMO Field on Sunday, Nov. 21 at 8:30 p.m. ET (Live on ESPN and TeleFutura).

“Toronto and the Province of Ontario have proven to be a vibrant market for top-level soccer, and we are pleased to present the city’s fans another opportunity to enjoy a marquee event and showcase their passion,” MLS Commissioner Don Garber said. “As we saw last year in Seattle, MLS Cup is more than just our championship match; it is a four-day celebration of the world’s game in North America. We believe Toronto will be a superb backdrop for the festivities.”

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Interesting little set of factoids sent by the MLS office in the wake of the Sounders 2-0 season-opening win over Philly:

Is success in First Kick an indication of postseason joy? Overall, teams that qualified for the MLS Cup Playoffs over the first 14 seasons of MLS have a 52-36-24 record in their season openers (.571 winning percentage). Teams that failed to make the playoffs are 11-30-11 to kick off their campaigns (.317).

To look at it another way, in MLS history:

* 83 percent of the teams that won their openers qualified for the playoffs (52 of 63)

*

…

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