The Whirlwind MLS Career of Freddie Ljungberg

(Me and Freddie after the game @ FC Dallas this season)

The rumors have been going strong for over a week now, and while it seems a move/trade to be reunited with former Arsenal teammate Thierry Henry in New York appears unlikely, what is likely is Freddie Ljungberg's career as a Seattle Sounder is over.

The timeline began in October of 2008, when the Swedish midfielder was unveiled to Sounder fans as the franchise's first designated player signing. He spoke of being in America for the right reasons, to win games and help develop the game, hoping to avoid the tag other big name players had received in America of just playing for one last big payday.

Ljungberg's first season went well for the most part. Despite throwing a few tantrums, directly complaining on and off the field about the league's poor level of officiating, and suffering through a string of injuries, FL10 contributed 13 assists and 2 goals for the rave green. Seattle sold out every home game, made the playoffs, won the US Open Cup, and even qualified for the Champions League in its first season.

Life was good.

As all Sounder fans know, season two has been a bumpy road. Freddie still hates the officials and has dealt with injuries, but the results haven't come. While advancing to the semifinals in the Open Cup, Seattle is approaching the point of no return in regards to playoff qualification, and faces a tough tie vs Metapan of El Salvador in the Champions League qualification round. It seemed to me a few games ago that Freddie seemed less and less interested. He'd still put in a moment here and there, but it became obvious his mind was elsewhere. News came of an "ankle injury" that kept him from playing, and later on even traveling with the team on their trip to DC.

Then, the rumor mill kicked into high gear.

Word on the street was a trade to New York with Juan Pablo Angel coming the other way, then it was an outright release which would allow Ljungberg to sign with New York and give Seattle needed cap space to make improvements to salvage its season. This now all seems unlikely, and a trip back to Europe is more and more obvious. The reason for this, in my opinion, is the physical nature of MLS. While officials should protect the name players more, Ljungberg's constant whinging has eroded any chance he had of getting preferential treatment. His size and speed lead him to getting hacked more, and with that come injuries and a reputation of going down easy.

The bottom line is this: Freddie Ljungberg's time in MLS had its ups and downs, and can neither be deemed a boom or bust. The moments of brilliance are equal with the injuries, petulance, and late game fading. I am glad he was here for a season and a half, but am glad to have the cap space to help the team in the long run.

As a personal not, Freddie was kind enough to take the above picture with me after the FC Dallas game at Pizza Hut Park this year, and sign my jersey. The jersey will be framed and given a prominent place in my house one day, just as he should have a (albeit small) place in the early history of the MLS version of the Seattle Sounders.

Until next time...

GO SOUNDERS!

Back from my own World Cup break...

With the Sounders and the rest of MLS off for the group stage of the World Cup, I decided to also step back from Gulf Coast Sounder to enjoy the US Men's National Team and their ride to the knockout stage. Of course, my break also included the round of 16 and two Sounders games have happened, but that's beside the point.

First off, I have never been more proud of the heart and determination our boys showed in South Africa. It wasn't perfect, and we still have many strides to make as a nation both as fans and as players, but Landon Donovan's goal vs Algeria captured the nation for a few days.

As far as the Sounders go, I can think of several things more impressive than their return to action vs Philadelphia Union.

Root canals.

Hemorrhoids.

Vuvuzelas on a continuous loop.

Sure, the Union were opening their new stadium which put the rave green behind the 8-ball from the start, but it was the overall effort that made me physically ill.

Peter Vagenas gets paid six figures to play professional soccer. Allow that to sink in.

Pete wasn't alone in his bad play. Pat Noonan did score a goal in the 3-1 loss, but took the laziest penalty since Berbatov's miss vs Everton two seasons ago in the FA Cup. The defense, as it has been most of the season, was poor, and former Sounder Sebastien Le Toux put out more effort than every person in a Seattle uniform in leading Philadelphia to the win. Many of us were hoping the 2 week break for the World Cup would revitalize the squad, especially after the debacle on the eve of the Cup vs DC United. Sadly, as far as the league goes, it didn't happen.

Of course, there was a built in shot at redemption in the form of arch-rival Portland in the US Open Cup round of 16, and we wore ELECTRICITY again! For the second straight year the two rivals would meet at Portland's PGE Park, which on TV looks horrible by the way. The surface looks like it came from 1978 and soccer just never looks right being played in a baseball stadium. Moving along from trashing the rivals, the game itself was sloppy at best. The highlight was definitely the return to scoring form of big Nate Jaqua, who was on the end of the Sounders only goal after a great play by Sanna Nyassi to put the ball in the box after it appeared Miguel Montano had put it out for a goal kick. The defense again was suspect, although Sigi Schimd did make eight lineup changes from the Philadelphia game. Portland equalized the game on a sloppy job of defending which allowed Timbers forward Bright Dike (hehe) to capitalize and even the score at 1.

After 120 minutes of action, we went to penalty kicks. Kasey Keller came up huge saving two Portland penalties, and defender Zach Scott made up for his shaky outing by sealing the win on the Sounders last kick. Joy and elation rang out in the GCS bedroom, the place where I decided to watch the shootout portion.

Of course being a central time zone Sounder fan, it was nearly 1am. When I tell you I was useless at work today, believe it. I got NOTHING accomplished.

With the win, we are now rewarded with a quarterfinal home game (sort of) vs the league's best team, the LA Galaxy and their returning World Cup stars Landon Donovan and Edson Buddle. Oh by the way, we play them twice in a 4 day span, thanks to a scheduling quirk. They of course embarrassed Seattle 4-0 at Qwest that forced the front office to do the infamous refund to season ticket holders.

What are the chances an English team swoops in and grabs Donovan before Sunday?????

Until next time....

GO SOUNDERS!