Sounders

It really has been no secret for a few weeks, but MLS announced Wednesday it is awarded Atlanta and Falcons owner Arthur Blank an expansion franchise that will join the league in 2017. The team will play along with the NFL’s Falcons in a new stadium that will be built downtown — and, yes, have an…

Reign FC and U.S. women’s national team star Megan Rapinoe spoke to reporters on a few subjects after Saturday’s season-opening 3-0 win against Boston. The recent firing of U.S. women’s national team coach Tom Sermanni was a popular subject, as was her decision to come to Seattle for the whole NWSL season this year after joining in the summer last year.

Here is a transcript:

Mike Gastineau debuted his new soccer show Seattle Soccer Talk on Sports Radio 950 KJR-AM on Tuesday night. His guests were Sounders FC forward Kenny Cooper, Sports Illustrated writer Grant Wahl and Sounder at Heart’s Dave Clark.

You can listen to the first show below. I have agreed to be on the show next week, so look out for that.

Here are some other MLS power rankings from other outlets: ESPN.com, SI.com, Soccer America, MLSsoccer.com and Pro Soccer Talk. Lot of varying opinions out there. I appear to have the Sounders lower than most.

Sounders FC goalkeeper Stefan Frei will join The Seattle Times for a live chat at noon Thursday. We hope you will join, as readers will be able to ask him about the team, settling into a new city, his artwork, his two dogs or anything else. Frei, a 27-year-old from Switzerland, joined the Sounders in an…

Sounders FC’s Clint Dempsey met with the media after Tuesday’s practice, and when talking about what has been different for him this season, he mentioned he initially had to deal with “the baggage that comes with being a designated player expected to perform straight away.” He was asked to expand upon what he meant by “baggage.” “Just…

Here are a few notes from Sounders FC practice. It was a light session as the guys who played in Monday’s reserve game against Seattle University just did light drills to recover.

MLS has been hyping a celebration Wednesday in Atlanta, where all indications are that the city will be confirmed as the latest expansion franchise. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution had reported earlier this month that the city would get the league’s 22nd team and that it won’t join until 2017. This video below, put together by MLS,…

Sounders FC’s reserves played their final exhibition before the official MLS Reserve League kicks off this weekend, and they earned a comfortable 4-1 win against Seattle University. Seattle forward Cam Weaver scored twice against his alma mater; Marco Pappa and Chad Barrett also chipped in with goals. Here was the Sounders’ starting lineup: GK Josh Ford, D Dylan…

As has been talked about extensively, Clint Dempsey‘s influence was all over Sounders FC’s 3-2 comeback win Saturday against league-leading FC Dallas. His first goal was a brilliant free kick that has been nominated for MLS Goal of the Week. Remarkably, he had a more stunning shot later in the game that has produced a Save…