It's a slow day and the Sounders have a long break (their next match is Sept 12 against DC, again). Luckily, some soccer gossip is seeping over from Europe: a rumor that Freddie Ljungberg has flown to London to discuss a possible loan deal to Arsenal or Chelsea.

Aside from that, it's a big soccer weekend full of World Cup Qualifiers—that one week every quarter that FIFA sets aside for the world's nations to get all nationalistic. This time, the US hosts El Salvador in lovely, obscure Sandy, Utah, Saturday night at 5pm.  The US is currently tied with Honduras in second place (the top three go to South Africa automatically, and #4 battles South American #5 for a slot).  El Sal was vying with Honduras to be the cinderella of CONCACAF and bump Mexico out of the top four; then they lost to bottom feeders Trinidad last month.  It'd take a miracle for them to make it out of a group—like beating the US at home.

Later that night, Costa Rica hosts Mexico, who are on the verge of flaming out for good.

If chanting "U!S!A! U!S!A!" doesn't float your boat, there are 20 other matches going on that day, most of them showing at the George and Dragon, though several other pubs are starting to catch the bug (if you're such a place, email me for an easy plug!)

The second piece of non-Sounders soccer news is a little old, but noteworthy still:  buried in Nickels' concession two weeks ago was this juicy tidbit:  "Seattle considered as World Cup host city."

Finally, Greg, something I can thank you for!

It's a long way off (WC 2018 or 2022, when the US might host again) but better late than... never mind.

I've long known that Seattle is a soccer town, but constantly looked over for the BIG matches, "rewarded" instead with insignificant Gold Cup games.   Meanwhile, red-blooded, soccer-ambivalent places like Nashville and Birmingham get to host the WC qualifiers.  As a result, the stadiums are filled with every Trinidadian/Guatemalteco/(and this week) Salvadoreno in the country, making it more of a home game for the guests than the US team.  A game that matters, let alone a World Cup game, in Seattle, with its large base of soccer fans, could pull off something that few (no?) other US cities has been able to do: show strong support for the National team.