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SCHMID BACKS DEMPSEY

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Seattle Sounders manager Sigi Schmid has said that he will be taking a look at striker Clint Dempsey in the next few days in order to determine whether he will be playing in the match against New York Red Bulls during the weekend. The former Tottenham and Fulham striker is one of the high profile players in the Seattle Sounders squad. A victory for Seattle against New York Red Bulls will most probably confirm their domination and tilt towards the title. They already have a substantial lead over second placed Real Salt Lake going into the weekend.

Even more impressive is the fact that they also have two games in hand over the second-placed team, which effectively would mean a six-point addition to the current advantage if they managed to win these matches. Seattle Sounders could only manage a 1-1 draw with LA Galaxy during the weekend. They will be hoping to return to winning ways with this match. Prior to the LA Galaxy match, they were on a winning run of five consecutive matches. It has largely been responsible for the lead they have opened in the table.

New York Red Bulls have also been doing extremely well in recent times, and this match will represent a top of the table clash.

“He’s OK, he’s doing much better. We’ll see how he comes along and see how he reacts in these next few days. He didn’t do that much with us. Obviously it’s something that, either from the wear and tear of the national team, playing those games in rapid succession, maybe coming back and taking a wrong step at training. It’s hard to tell,” said the manager. “We’re getting close to 100 percent healthy. I think it will still be a week or two before we find ourselves with that choice lineup,” said Evans.

SCHMID MAKES 400

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Seattle Sounders manager Sigi Schmid will become the first manager in the MLS to reach 400 matches as a coach. Over the years, Schmid has created numerous records. He has said that he is least concerned about the records he has created along the way. Schmid has managed the likes of LA Galaxy, Columbus Crew, and Seattle Sounders in his stellar career. He is also the leader when it comes to the most number of victories achieved amongst MLS managers. Schmid also has won the MLS cup twice – in 2002 and 2008 – in his career.

Schmid has said that he is not surprised by the milestone of 400 matches having joined the league in its third season. He played for the likes of San Jose earthquakes and Galaxy during his playing days. He entered into the league as a manager only in 1999 after admitting that he knew he would get his chance one day. Schmid has said that his longevity is not a credit only to him, but also to his players as well because they have been a key part of his success over the years.

Seattle Sounders, though, have made a poor start to the new season. They are currently seventh in the table outside the play-off positions. Their form needs to improve dramatically in order to have a good end to the season.

“I feel very honored to get to 400 and to be the first one to get there. I would like it to be many, many more and I would like a few more titles along the way. You always feel confident you could do a good job. For me, it was just a matter of wanting to have the opportunity to prove myself at that level, as well,” said the manager after the win over DC United.

ARENA CRITICISES SCHEDULE

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LA Galaxy manager Bruce Arena recently criticised the schedule of the US open cup finals by saying that they are ridiculous. Seattle Sounders manager Sigi Schmid has also come in support of Bruce Arena by saying that it is indeed extremely tough on the teams. During the US open cup finals, clubs often have to deal with a lot of matches in a short span of time. This is extremely tough for clubs that have a small squad, while usually there is also a lot of travelling involved as well. Arena has criticised the fact that his club will be travelling almost the entire length of the country in order to play in North Carolina.

Seattle Sounders will have three games in a week, and to make matters worse, they will be travelling across the length of the country in order to do so. Schmid has said that the way the fixtures have panned out this season has made it worse for Seattle Sounders than it is for LA Galaxy. After making the poor start to the season, there is finally signs of life in the Seattle Sounders team. They have gone undefeated in the last five matches, which has helped them close the gap on LA Galaxy and Colorado Rapids.

“The only place we could have played is Miami that’s farther. For us, it presents a unique problem. I know Bruce Arena mentioned their problem, but our problem is worse. Last year I got in trouble, so I don’t want to say too much about it. I’m never quite sure if they redraw it every round, if it’s done on a regional basis. Sometimes you think it’s region when D.C. is playing Richmond and Chivas is playing the LA Blues,” said the Seattle Sounders manager criticising the schedule of the US open cup finals.

TIMBERS PRE-SEASON MATCH

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Seattle Sounders will be playing against their arch rivals the Portland Timbers in a pre-season match according to the club. Portland Timbers are one of the biggest rivals for Seattle Sounders. After narrowly missing out on the opportunity to win the MLS cup last season, Sigi Schmid will be hoping to build his players fitness in such a way that they can win the title in the new season. However, every desire to improve the fitness will go out of the window when they take on Portland Timbers. The Portland Timbers striker Bright Dike has also spoken in the same breath by saying that the match against Seattle Sounders is always going to be fierce irrespective of the competition.

Even though this is a pre-season friendly, the fans are already looking forward to this match and the players cannot wait to get out on the pitch. The match will be played in the middle of March. The defender Michael Harrington has said that they clearly want to win this match because it is about bragging rights for the fans and the players. The midfielder Will Johnson has said that it is extremely important that Portland Timbers set the tone for the upcoming season in this match itself.

“As a coaching staff we need to gradually ramp them up. We wanted to push them a little bit — not only just physically, but also tactically and mentally. We want to keep a high tempo to mirror a game. We need to get sharp. There are a lot of little details that we need to clean up,” said the Portland Timbers manager Porter. “It will be good to mix it up with those guys and see if we can’t ruffle some feathers. Winning against anybody is good. Winning against Seattle is a cherry on the top,” Johnson said.

MONTERO MIGHT LEAVE

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One of the most important players for Seattle Sounders – Fredy Montero – is set to return to Columbia at least for a period of six months after his club recently agreed a loan deal with Millonarios. The player will initially be joining the club on a six-month loan deal and it will be interesting to see if he will extend his stay at Columbia. The 25-year-old striker has been one of the best players for Seattle Sounders. He will now help Millonarios in their efforts to win the Copa Libertadores after the club only recently had success in the Primera A.

The Millonarios managing director Eduardo Silva has revealed that everything has been settled between the two clubs, but nothing has been cleared yet on paper. He expects the paperwork to be done in the next few days, which will see Fredy Montero officially become a Millonarios for the next six months. Montero recently experience with disappointment with Seattle Sounders after they failed to make it into the MLS cup final after coming so close. They were eventually beaten by the winners LA Galaxy, who went on to lift the title for the second time. Eduardo Silva revealed that the club plans to keep Montero for the entirety of the Copa Libertadores and also for the two league titles.

“Everything is settled on word, but there are some papers needed to finalize the transfer. The club’s desire is to have the player throughout the year 2013 – Copa Libertadores and two league tournaments – although there are some clauses where (Seattle Sounders) want to have him back after six months,” said the managing director of Millonarios, Eduardo Silva. The player managed to score 13 goals in just 37 appearances for the MLS club last season, which was his best scoring season so far.

SCHMID ACCEPTS CRITICISM

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The Seattle Sounders manager Sigi Schmid has admitted that he knew before the LA Galaxy match that some of his choices for the starting line-up will be criticised after the match. Seattle Sounders were taking on LA Galaxy in the crunch match, but they were defeated 3-0 in the most embarrassing manner. After the match, the Seattle Sounders manager Sigi Schmid said that he knew that his choices would be criticised if things did not go to plan. However, he has said that he is the first man when it comes to criticising if things do not go according to plan.

Seattle Sounders are extremely poor in the match against LA Galaxy, and the manager Sigi Schmid acknowledged this fact. He has said that the team was extremely good outside the 18 yard box, but when it came to the opportunities and creating chances inside the box, they were extremely poor. He has said that analysing something from the hindsight is extremely easy. Sigi Schmid did not utilise the star striker Eddie Johnson for most of the match. He has said that one of the reasons for it was due to the fact that he did not want to risk the player getting injured once again.

“I’m the kind of coach where the first guy I look at is myself. I look at myself in the mirror and say, ‘Is there something, maybe, I would’ve done differently? Would I have maybe made a different sub?’ I run all those things through my mind. It’s easy to sit here and say, ‘No, I would’ve started exactly the same.’ I’m probably leaning toward that,” Schmid said after the match. The team will be facing LA Galaxy in the next match after just a gap of seven days when Schmid will be hoping for a better performance.

MARTINEZ WINS PRAISE

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The manager of Seattle Sounders, Sigi Schmid, has praised the Honduran midfielder, Mario Martinez, for his brilliant performance in the recently played Champions League match against Marathon. Seattle won that match by 3-1 and Martinez was the stand out performer for the Sounders. He played for full 90 minutes and looked in fantastic nick. He also set up the first goal for Samuel Ochoa. Martinez was named man of the match for his dynamic performance.

Martinez was not included in the Seattle team for the match against FC Dallas which was played on 21st of October and the Honduran player was pretty upset about that. Martinez had expressed his disappointment while talking to the reporters after that match. He also hinted that his regular call-ups for the national duty might be the reason why he had been kept out of the team. After that, it had been speculated that everything is not all right between Martinez and the Sounders manager. But, Schmid has denied the reports of dispute between him and Martinez.

The Sounders manager said, “Nothing is wrong between me and Mario. He is a good player and he was not given the opportunity in the last match because he didn’t have enough practice. It was not because of his regular call-ups for the national duty.”

“It was clearly a case of miscommunication. Mario should have talked to me before giving any statement in the media.”

“I had a chat with Mario yesterday and I told him why he was excluded from the team.”

“He got his opportunity in this match and he played superbly. He obviously will get another starting opportunity in the next match after this impressive performance.”

Seattle Sounders will take on Los Angeles Galaxy in their next match. That match will be played on 28th of October at Home Depot Center.

SEATTLE CAN TOP GROUP

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The Seattle Sounders manager Sigi Schmid has said that he is extremely confident that his team can top the group if they win the last two matches of the CONCACAF Champions League group stages. Seattle Sounders will be taking on CD Marathon of Honduras in the last two matches of the group stages. They will be able to progress into the quarter-final stage of the Champions League provided they win at least one of these two matches. The Seattle Sounders manager Sigi Schmid has said that he is confident that his team will be able to win at least one of the matches.

After a disappointing mid-season, Seattle Sounders certainly appear to be in the frame to be able to win a title this season. They are currently second in the Western Conference table, with just five points separating them from the leaders San Jose earthquakes. Even if Seattle Sounders do not win the Western Conference table, then they will certainly be able to play in the play-offs looking for the MLS title at the end of the season. He has said that the 3-1 win over Caledonia was extremely satisfying because his team performed to his expectation levels.

“Considering everything that we went through, I was very pleased. It was a very difficult travel situation for us. The guys basically had very little sleep on Monday night because we had to be at the airport at four o’clock (a.m. Tuesday) … and it’s tough to sleep on planes. Our flights got delayed. We didn’t get in until way after midnight, so it was again another night of little sleep. It’s hot and humid. The field is not a surface you’re going to see in MLS,” said the Seattle Sounders manager. Seattle Sounders will be facing Portland Timbers before the crucial match against Marathon.