Th Sounders have one more day off before returning to practice tomorrow at Starfire and then flying off to Florida on Saturday.

While awaiting local developments, here are a few items of note:

* The USA men’s national team has announced that it will face five-time World Cup champion Brazil in Landover, Md., on May 30. The match will be shown on ESPN2.

* Colorado traded MLS Cup hero Macoumba Kandji to the Houston Dynamo for a conditional draft pick in a move that is seen as opening space for a potential big addition. Click here. (For all the upgrades in the West this off-season, here’s a good overview of what’s been happening in the East.)

* Speaking of the Rapids, how about this plan to include the names of season-ticket holders on the team jersey.

Closer to home, here’s a Vancouver Sun piece on former Sounder Sebastien Le Toux warming to his new team: the Whitecaps.

Finally, here’s a piece from the University of Washington, with reference to recently released Sounders supplemental draft pick Abdul Aman:

The Huskies men’s soccer team had four players drafted or signed by MLS teams this year, tying for the most ever drafted from the team in a single year, and the most since four players were also drafted in 1998. Brent Richards, Jacob Hustedt, Jamie Finch and Abdul Aman were all picked up by MLS clubs.

Read more »

Here are some other highlights from coach Sigi Schmid’s conference call with local media today:

Can you give us an overview on how Arizona went and what’s coming up?)
A: “I think Arizona went well for us. I think we got the work done that we wanted to get done in terms of establishing our fitness base, so I was pleased with that. Part of building fitness is you also have to give guys a little time to recover and so forth, so we trained this morning. It wasn’t a regeneration morning training; it was a regular training session. We worked on our tactics and on our defending a little bit and then we’ll be off on Wednesday and Thursday. We’ll train again Friday and then we’re off to Florida. So we wanted to get a little break, make sure everybody saw their families, got a couple days off, regenerate a little bit and then we’ll get back to work in Florida.”

We heard about Mike Fucito having a puncture wound and the possibility of a staph infection after Monday’s game. How’s he doing?
A: “It really wasn’t that deep. He didn’t really have Read more »

Here is the first lineup coach Sigi Schmid sent onto the pitch yesterday against Vancouver.

Michael Gspurning, Adam Johansson, Jeff Parke, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Leo Gonzalez, Mauro Rosales, Osvaldo Alonso, Brad Evans, Alvaro Fernandez, Fredy Montero, Mike Fucito.

During a conference call today, I asked Schmid if those are the players he likely would have started had it been a meaningful game, say a CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal against Santos Laguna.

“Yeah, I think you could consider that fairly close,” he said. “Obviously there are guys that are pushing: Lamar neagle is pushing to get into that group. Marc Burch is as well. He’s pushing as well. There’s always the possibility of moving Fernandez inside, Read more »

My story in today’s News Tribune begins with the idea that the MLS Western Conference has gotten even tougher this off season.

And now things have gotten tougher still with today’s announcment out of LA that the Galaxy has reached agreements to return Brazilians Juninho and Leonardo to the club for 2012.

Sounders coach Sigi Schmid’s reaction?
Read more »

The Sounders and Whitecaps met yesterday in an odd training game of 45-, 45- and 30-minute sessions, with new units sent on for each. Even at that, things got rough: 10 cards rough; red card rough; injured Mike Fucito rough; Sebastien Le Toux taking smack rough.

Above is an MLSsoccer.com video with Andrew Wiebe and Simon Borg discussing the match. Below some quotes from Sounders coach Sigi Schmid. (And we should have more from Sigi early this afternoon during a conference call.)

Overview)</strong> “It’s good. It’s always better when you play somebody else besides yourself. I thought it was a little chippy at times with some of the tackles on both sides. I think we went into some bad tackles. I think they went into some bad tackles. But that’s the nature of the beast and I think it took us the first five to ten minutes to get into the tempo of the game and realize that it was going to be like that. After that I thought the first team did well in the first 45 minutes and they didn’t produce a goal. I was pleased with the way the second group started off. They got the equalizer and then they sort of faded a little bit. Overall I was pleased with what we got out of it and we got a lot of good work, the effort was good from the guys.”

On Fucito) “Well, he got tackled pretty badly so we got to hope Read more »

Here is the Sounders report on its training game today against Vancouver. Sigi Schmid’s reaction turns up after the jump:

It was the first training game of the 2012 preseason for Sounders FC. The teams played two 45-minute periods followed by a 30-minute period.

Servando Carrasco scored for Sounders FC and Camilo scored the lone goal for Vancouver.

Vancouver jumped out to an early lead when Camilo scored in the 1st minute. Camilo ran onto a ball on a breakaway down the left side and cut to his right. He fired a shot inside the far post for the 1-nil lead.

Seattle equalized in the 48th minute when David Estrada brought the ball up the right flank and cut to the middle. Estrada found Carrasco in the box who beat the keeper with a shot inside the near post.

Fredy Montero nearly beat the keeper in the 19th minute with a shot from 25-yards that went just wide of the post. Montero also sent a cross into the box in the 37th minute but Roger Levesque’s header sailed wide.

Estrada nearly added a tally when he ran onto a misplayed ball in the 54th minute but keeper Brad Knighton was able to tip the ball out of bounds before it crossed the end line.

Seattle’s first group consisted of mainly returning starters plus newcomers Michael Gspurning and Adam Johansson. Approximately 100 fans showed up to the match.

There were 10 yellow cards issued and one red card ejection in the match.

Mike Fucito was on the receiving end of a reckless charge in the 14th minute and was subbed off 15 minutes later.

Sounders FC will return to Seattle on Tuesday and will hold their next training session on Friday at Starfire Sports before leaving for Bradenton, Florida on Saturday morning.

Seattle plays Mexico’s Santos Laguna on March 7 in the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. PT on the Xbox Pitch at CenturyLink Field. Sounders FC opens MLS play 10 days later when it hosts Toronto FC on March 17.

Scoring Summary
VAN – Camilo (Atiba Harris) 1′
SEA – Servando Carrasco (David Estrada) 48′

Seattle Sounders FC Lineup
Group 1: Michael Gspurning, Adam Johansson, Jeff Parke, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Leo Gonzalez, Mauro Rosales, Osvaldo Alonso, Brad Evans, Alvaro Fernandez, Fredy Montero, Mike Fucito (Roger Levesque 29′).
Read more »

The Sounders are playing the Vancouver Whitecaps right now. You can follow along at SoundersFC.com.

Probably more revealing than the final score is Sigi Schmid’s first starting lineup: G Michael Gspurning; d Adam Johansson, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Jeff Parke, Leo Gonzalez; M Mauro Rosales, Osvaldo Alonso, Brad Evans, Alvaro Fernandez; F Fredy Montero, Mike Fucito. That looks like a real starting lineup. If it is, I don’t see any real shockers, although I guess Gonzalez and Fucito merit hmmms.

Here’s the lineup for the second segment of the three-segment session: G Andrew Weber; D Wes Feighner, Zach Scott, Andrew …

Read more »

This will be an odd and sort of transitional week for Sounders FC, but it begins with some fun: an afternoon training game against Sebastien Le Toux and the Vancouver Whitecaps.

We’re told coach Sigi Schmid won’t be available to local media after the game this evening, however he will give us an update tomorrow. That’s also when the club flies back to Puget Sound.

Once here, they’ll enjoy a couple of off days, then practice Friday at Starfire before flying out to Florida for more training games there next week.