Charlie Davies, a striker for the United States national soccer team, was injured in a one-car accident early Tuesday in suburban Washington, D.C., in which another person was killed, a U.S. Soccer Federation spokesman said.

Davies was in surgery Tuesday afternoon at Washington Hospital Center and in stable condition, U.S. Soccer said in a statement. The extent of his injuries were unknown, but U.S. Soccer spokesman Neil Buethe said they were not life-threatening.

Here’s an early report.

(I’m including this news on this soccer post because some readers already have begun reacting in the comments section below. Meanwhile, here’s …

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The Sounders have one nice simple path to the playoffs: Win on Saturday at Kansas City. (Here’s my story from today’s paper.)

However, there other paths to the postseason are available to the Sounders, even with a loss or a draw this weekend. And MLS was kind enough to provide them, thereby preventing my head from exploding. Here they are:

Seattle Sounders FC will clinch playoff spot IF

· Seattle defeats Kansas City

Seattle Sounders FC will clinch playoff spot IF

· Seattle ties Kansas City AND

o D.C. United fails to win vs. Columbus AND

o FC Dallas

…

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Hello all. I’m filing this for Don, who is out this week. This is the transcript (thanks, Sounders’ staff) of Sigi Schmid’s comments from Tuesday’s practice.

Sigi on win against Columbus Crew . . . “It was just great. We talked about trying to end their streak. It’s something we addressed before the game and it was a great feeling to be able to do it. But the most important thing for us was to get the three points in the playoff chase because we felt we had squandered them a little bit in New England. It was a good …

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Today was the first chance we’ve had to talk to Sigi Schmid about the MLS decision to pause it’s 2010 season for a couple of weeks during World Cup group play.

He not only supports the decision, but he hopes to take advantage of it to catch a few games in South Africa.

“I wish they would’ve done it in Germany in 2006 because that would have made for a nice trip. It’s a lot easier to get to Germany than it is to get to South Africa. I think it’s a good decision because the fans, there is …

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Sigi Schmid has had to deal with makeshift lineups so much this season — putting together new combinations due to injury or suspensions or national team duties — that is will be interesting to see the lineup he rolls out there tomorrow for an important league match in which all of his key players will be available.

“It’s nice to be healthy,” Schmid said today at Starfire, after the Sounders concluded training for their noon Saturday game vs. Chivas USA. “Obviously it makes choices sometimes a little more difficult, but it’s a good position to be in.”

Now I know exactly where Josh Wicks stomped on Fredy Montero.

And I mean exactly.

I couldn’t really tell from the TV coverage: Stomach? Leg? Couldn’t really tell.

So, with the Sounders back at Starfire today, I asked Montero (with teammate Taylor Graham serving as interpreter).

Montero answered by rolling up the right leg of his practice shorts. The exact spot remained clearly marked by two blood-red scrapes along his thigh — one about 4-5 inches long, the other 2-3 inches — both looking as bright as if they had been applied by a crimson felt marker.

Montero said …

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The Seattle Sounders returned to the pitch today for the first time since their U.S. Open Cup win over D.C. United last Wednesday. Or, at least, the younger Sounders did.

Coach Sigi Schmid also made this an off-day for all of his players age 30 at older.

However, everybody is expected back at training tomorrow … including most of the players who have been dealing with injuries.

“I think Stephen King felt pretty good today, so he’ll be able to do a little bit more tomorrow,” Schmid said. (Rookie Michael) Fucito is starting to come back. Tyrone (Marshall) will come …

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