New Chicago Fire coach Frank Klopas answered questions by conference call today. I took part and asked Klopas if the opponent matters less this week while he devotes most of his attention to changing the culture of his own team.

That opponent, of course, is Sounders FC. But Klopas seemed to take exactly the opposite attitude, saying that he wants to concentrate on consistency with his own team while preparing them very specifically for Seattle.

“I think the most important thing with the team is the continuity, and it’s hard to come in and change a lot of things around, …

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Here’s a reminder from the club:

Individual match tickets for the Seattle Sounders FC versus Manchester United match to be played on the Xbox Pitch at Qwest Field on Wednesday, July 20 will go on sale Wednesday, June 1 at 10 a.m. Tickets start at $47 and will be available by phone at 1-800-745-3000 or online at www.SoundersFC.com.

Manchester United has won a record 11 English Premier League titles and three European championships. After winning the EPL this past season, United surpassed Liverpool for total domestic titles with 19.

Managed by Sir Alex Ferguson since 1986, Manchester

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Here’s some of what Sounders coach Sigi Schmid had to say after a rainy training session today at Starfire.

On Alvaro Fernandez (hamstring) and O’Brian White (blood clot in leg): “Alvaro jogged and O’Brian has been on the bike now for about three days or so and so he was able to get out there and jog around a little bit. But it is a nasty looking scar.”

More on White’s recovery) “It’s too early for any timetable. They have got to see how he does with a little bit of activity, make sure that there is no

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Here’s the report from the club:

Second-half goals from midfielders Servando Carrasco and David Estrada guided Seattle Sounders FC to a 2-0 win over the Portland Timbers in an MLS Reserve League match before 3,393 at JELD-WEN Field on Monday afternoon.

Seattle struck twice in the final 13 minutes to grab its second win over Portland. Sounders FC posted a 3-2 victory in the first meeting on May 15 in Tukwila, Wash.

Carrasco and Estrada each tallied their first goals of the Reserves League campaign and goalkeeper Terry Boss made two saves in his second shutout to lead Seattle (4-0-0, 12pts) to a fourth straight victory.

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Seattle returns to MLS play Saturday at Chicago. And that will represent the Fire’s first game under Frank Klopas, the team’s technical director since 2008. He will replace Carlos de los Cobos, who was done in by the club’s 1-4-6 start.

Here’s the report from Chicago.

Meanwhile, Vancouver also released Teitur Thordarson. In my few dealings with Thordarson I liked pretty much everything about him expect spelling his name. But again, there was no way around that 1-5-6 record, especially with expansion twin Portland off to a solid start.

Here’s that report.

This is the second week where the award goes to someone who got neither my first- nor second-place vote. Granted, it’s easy enough to give it to someone who scores a pair of goals in a 6-2 win. But I gave my top vote to Chivas USA’s Ante Jazic, who took a couple of would-be goals off the line in the Goats’ 3-3 draw with Columbus. And my second went to Kasey Keller, who I thought was especially amazing Saturday — maybe as good as I’ve seen him as a Sounder.

Anyway, here’s the release from the league:

Philadelphia Union

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D.C. United handed the Portland Timbers there first home loss today, 3-2, in an interesting game highlighted by a fascinating PK sequence in the second half.

It started with DC’s Dejan Jacovic wrestling down forward Kenny Cooper in the penalty box. Cooper did a little stutter step and then hit the kick, which United keeper Bill Hamid saved. However, the linesman (bravely but rightly) said raised his flag because Hamid had come off his line early. Cooper was awarded a retake, did the stutter step again, Hamid made the save again, and the linesman (bravely but rightly) raised his flag …

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SoundersWomen.com - The Sounders must feel like they got punched in the stomach Sunday afternoon after the collection of events that ended with a 3-2 loss at home. The Sounders had not one, but two penalty kicks awarded against them. The home side also had their head coach and assistant coach ejected from the stadium by the game’s official, Erik Martes. To make matters worse, an enthusiastic crowd watched a late goal turn a 2-1 lead into a 3-2 defeat.

At essentially the beginning of the match (’4min), the Rush, from Colorado, were standing at the penalty spot for a …

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