Details from the club here.

It seems recent attentions have shifted a bit to the U.S. Open Cup, but the fact is the Sounders have two MLS games before joining the third round of that tournament.

The first comes tonight, as the Columbus Crew visits CenturyLink for a 7 p.m. game that will be broadcast on KONG 6/16.

Here’s the TNT preview of tonight’s game, and more from the Columbus Dispatch.

Below is part of the preview notes sent from Columbus:

On the heels of a 1-1 draw at San Jose on Saturday (May 19), in whichforward Justin Meram tallied his second goal in as many games and goalkeeperAndy Gruenebaum stopped a penalty kick among seven saves, the Crew opens atwo-game at CenturyLink Field in Seattle this Wednesday, May 23. The Black& Gold will then return home to face the Chicago Fire on Saturday, May 26,at Crew Stadium.

The Sounders (7-2-2, 23 pts.) are coming off a 2-2 draw at Vancouver on Saturday Read more »

Sounders FC and the Atlanta Silverbacks have announced that their third-round U.S. Open Cup match has been shifted from Georgia to Puget Sound.

The game now will be played at 7 p.m. May 30 at Starfire Sports Stadium in Tukwila.

Sounders coach Sigi Schmid had implied this week that he was hopeful the MLS club could work out a deal with the NASL club that would allow the game to be played here. Now the club has confirmed that will happen. Ticket information will be announced tomorrow.

Here is the release from the Sounders. Here is the word from …

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Sounders FC will begin the quest for its fourth straight U.S. Open Cup trophy next week against the Atlanta Silverbacks of the second-division North American Soccer League.

The Silverbacks advanced tonight with a 1-0 win over the fourth-division Georgia Revolution.

The winning goal came in the 61st minute, and was scored by Raphael Cox, a Tacoman who played at Stadium High School, the University of Washington, Highline Community College, the University of Washington, and the USL Tacoma Tide.
Read more »

Final: Atlanta advances, 1-0. They are scheduled to host the Sounders in the third-round match on May 30 … although that could still be subject to change.

61st minute: Atlanta goes ahead 1-0 on 16-yard strike by Tacoma’s own Raphael Cox.

Halftime: Scoreless. Georgia had PK turned aside in 42nd minute.

Pregame: The Atlanta Silverbacks and Georgia Revolution meet at 4:30 p.m. today at Conyers, Ga., in the second round of the U.S. Open Cup.

The winner will play advance to play the Sounders, either next Tuesday or Wednesday. If the premier-development league-level Revolution win, the game will be played in Tukwila. If the second-division Silverbacks win, the Sounders are scheduled to travel to Atlanta. (The Silverbacks don’t sound real interested in selling hosting rights to the Sounders … they’ve already begun presale for the potential visit from an MLS club.)

We asked Sounders coach Sigi Schmid this morning if that makes him a Revolution fan.

“We’re going to play whoever it is,” he said. “That’s the way the Open Cup is, and we’ll be ready for them.”
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The Sounders have concluded training for their 7 p.m. match tomorrow against Columbus.

Here’s some of what coach Sigi Schmid had to say after the training session at Starfire:

On the Crew: They’re a team that’s been around .500, and they’re a team that’s had some good games and also is suffering through a lot of injuries and overcoming those: So, they’ve had to shift there lineup a lot. But there are some guys playing really well right now. Justin Meram’s doing well, scoring some goals for them. Obviously (Milovan) Mirosevic is a good player. I know he got taken out early last game, so we don’t know if he’ll be out there. But Dilly Duka is about ready to come back. He’s a dangerous player. And Eddie Gaven is always a guy you’ve got to know where he is because he can pop up in some dangerous places on you.

Schmid, of course, coached Columbus before taking the Sounders job. He said that connection is fading as the seasons pass.

“It’s always over years there are less and less people that are there,” he said. “Obviously Read more »

The Sounders are holding their final training session this morning before their league meeting with Columbus at 7 p.m. Wednesday at CenturyLink Field.

I should have news from that training session around noon. Until then, here’s part of a Crew preview from the club:

Coming off a dramatic Cascadia Cup road draw Sounders FC returns home for the first of two games this week. Seattle hosts the Columbus Crew on Wednesday at 7 p.m. PT on the Xbox Pitch at CenturyLink Field, and then travels to Los Angeles to take on Chivas USA on Saturday night at The Home Depot Center.

Both matches will be televised live on KONG 6/16, and Wednesday’s match will also Read more »

With the Fredy Montero-Eddie Johnson forward pairing in good form, and with the Sounders’ midfield returning to good health, minutes have become scarcer for Estrada, the forward/midfielder who clustered his four goals in the first two games, but hasn’t scored since March 23.

The Vancouver game Saturday marked his first non-start of the season, as he played 18 minutes off the bench. But coach Sigi Schmid said plenty of minutes and opportunities remain available.

“He’s a player who can still play up top for us some,” Schmid said. “Wide right is probably his next best position. … The minutes are there for him because there are still a ton of games: We’ve got the midweek games, we’ve got the Open Cup coming up. For him to continue to perform as he did early in the season is just Read more »