8 Sounders are now Allies supporting the GLBT community in soccer:

Andrew Duran, David Estrada, Brad Evans, Adam Johansson, Eddie Johnson, Roger Levesque, Babayele Sodade, Andrew Weber

Gay4Soccer's analysis on schedule difficulty index and the unbalanced schedule.

Looks like Keller will be the color commentary for next season. Curious to see who the play-by-play partner will be.

Even an attractive kit looks bad with an ugly typeface.

"Servando Carrasco has been suspended for one game and fined $500 for a reckless challenge on Chicago Fire forward Patrick Nyarko in a game last Saturday."

Personally I think it is a fair decision. That was a pretty nasty tackle by the rookie midfielder and I thought he was lucky not to have been shown a red card.

"The league’s new structure will include the top three seeds from each conference and four wild card berths – regardless of conference affiliation – but the postseason will now include two play-in games for those wild card teams."

Seems pretty silly to me. If you acknowledge that the playoffs will probably change again as more teams are added, why not just get rid of conferences and do the top 8 where 1st seed plays 8th, 2nd plays 7th, and so forth as long as we have a balanced schedule.

"I think MLS has figured out a lot of things over short period of time. Originally it was a case of soccer-specific stadiums were going to cure all the problems. But a soccer-specific stadium in the wrong area is just as bad as having a 80,000-seat stadium with 15,000 people in it. Now they've really figured it out more or less. And it doesn't hurt going into cities where they have a pretty good idea that they're going to have a great fan-base. They found that in Toronto. They obviously have found that here in Seattle. They're continue to find that in Portland and Vancouver and Montreal. Sometimes you can't force a product on a community that doesn't really want it. I think that's kind of happened many years in Miami. Everybody has always said, 'God, we've got to have a team in Miami,' and every time they put a team there, nobody comes out and watches it. So why keep putting a team there? I don't know. It seems kind of common sense."

"Continued allegations of corruption involving top officials at FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, have called into question the integrity of Thursday’s votes that will decide the host countries for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup tournaments — the latter of which is being sought by the United States.

The Swiss chapter of Transparency International, an anticorruption organization, has called for the votes to be postponed until 'full light is shed' on a spate of recent bribery allegations published and broadcast by European news media."

And the solution to increasing popularity is more playoff games?

"It was a good clash between two sides similar in ability but differing in strategy; Dallas played direct football with width, Colorado played narrower and passed the ball more in midfield. The most important zone of the pitch was the centre of midfield – which was actually quite a large zone, since the game was so stretched."

A Reuters MLS outsider's opinion of the MLS Cup.

"Call me a typical English soccer-snob but I still find the very idea of the game to be just wrong and ultimately self-defeating for the North American league."

"Hodgson’s negative tactics have been met with a lot of criticism so far this season, but there is little doubt that his focus upon defending deep and maintaining a good shape is very handy when it comes to protecting leads against better sides. We would not be praising Liverpool’s shape but for two excellent Torres goals, though, and they were crucial in both the result and the overall pattern of play."

I don't know if this is more a compliment to Zakuani or simply the press expressing their grievance with the state of England's national team, but it is nice to see our players and league getting a mention from across the pond.

"The US federation are making moves to sign up Zakuani and he's also eligible to play for the Congo. After making a real splash in the States and with England lacking options up front, will Fabio Capello take a look at the MLS?"

"Our coaches at U-10 emphasize winning. You can win games and sacrifice player development and that’s what’s happening in our system."

Interesting interview with formal Women's National Team coach about youth development and US soccer.

"Portland announced the signing of forward Bright Dike and midfielder Ryan Pore, as well as goalkeeper Steve Cronin, from the USSF D-2 Portland Timbers, while also signing English forward Eddie Johnson away from the Austin Aztex."

Do you guys still think I'm crazy for not protecting Kasey Keller for the MLS Expansion Draft now?

U.S. Soccer director of referee development Paul Tamberino informed his colleagues this week via email that he will resign effective Dec. 1.

I wonder what this will mean for US Soccer officiating. Something needs to change, hope this is for the better.

Klinsmann's interview and Sunil Gulati's lack of response is really turning into a field day on Bob Bradley being only second best and issues on whether Gulati is and US Soccer is too inflexible.