I was going to be the anti-Churchill and say "Never has a game meant so little to so few" but the implied double negative ruined things. And there have been worse friendlies on a American soil.

There isn't much to take away from the game. Yes, the Sounders played better and lost, but when down a man tieing 1-1 is a solid "result."

Blaise Nkfufo is as good as advertised. He works well with Montero, and we'll be seeing a Target Forward challenging as the best in MLS at that role. He moved a lot more than expected, but a lot of that is probably due to the fact that Seattle had a midfielder who rarely gets forward with the ball too much.

Sanna Nyassi continues to show that he deserves more time, and not just as Steve Zakuani's clone. With Sanna on the pitch Seattle played an aggressive, high pressure defensive scheme that only works when there is a lot of speed on the pitch overall, but particularly in the attacking roles. Seattle's upcoming expected starting lineup should be able to use that high pressure quite well.

David Estrada is rapidly becoming this year's Mike Fucito. Early in the season in Reserve games all he did was score. Now late in the season he's on the injured list with an injury that doesn't seem readily apparent when he does play. Here's to hoping we see a bit of Estrada in the CCL group stage (although it might be quite amazing to start him on the road at Metapan).

Everything else went basically as expected, at least by each player.

The Red Card was the proper call within the Laws of the Game (In fact CR Ward mentions Law 12 doesn't give him the choice), but likely should have been let go in a Friendly. It did lead to local boy Jordan Jennings having what will probably be the best day of his life. Now here's the question, do I add him to the Sounders roster for this site?

Stats and Quotes when we get them

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This is a match that doesn't count, and doesn't matter. The number one goal is don't get injured. The number two goal is learning how to play with Nkufo. The number three goal is don't get injured.

Its that simple.

There are no keys to the game. There is not a match card. This is a friendly. There will be a recap because we will see players that we have not seen much of lately.

This is a primarily a marketing opportunity for both organizations. It is an opportunity for the Scottish and Irish in the greater Puget Sound to see the Sounders go up against one of their favorites, just maybe a few of them will decide they shouldn't ignore the club right down on Royal Brougham.

Today's game is on ESPN and ESPN3.com at Noon

I will end with one simple phrase for next year

We want trophies not friendlies

Here is the SoundersFC.com "Who is Celtic"

Lineups shortly

For Seattle Sounders FC with Vagenas starting I expect a kind of 4-2-3-1 or 4-2-2-2

Glasgow Celtic FS's lineu in an assumed 4-4-2

Who do you want to see for more than 45 minutes?

Not many observations other than it was great to see the Sounders play like this.

Fredy Montero looked absolutely unstoppable. The same could be said for Steve Zakuani. Pat Noonan's goal was an absolute beauty. Miguel Montano had some spectacular moments. Jeff Parke looked solid in his 2010 debut. Taylor Graham looked like a beast in the back.

For god's sake, we had a player that isn't even on our official roster, looking like an all-star.

The Sounders absolutely dominated Boca Jr. Outshot them 24-13, including 9-3 on frame; probably out-possessed Boca 70-30; and were streaking down the wings unmolested almost no matter who was out there.

I could seriously go on, but I think you get the point. 

The whole game felt like a huge release of tension built up over the entire season. No, it doesn't mean anything, but it felt really good.

Whether the Sounders can take some of what they did on Wednesday and transfer it to MLS play obviously remains to be seen.

I will say that this game makes me very excited about seeing our U.S. Open Cup team. If this is the team we roll out for those games, it could get ugly.

Stats and quotes after the jump.

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Seriously, you wanted a match card for this one? Keys to the Game? Its a FRIENDLY against a team that didn't know that Sounders play on Field Turf while praising the stadium. It is a friendly against a team that claims all of its stars at World Cup camps, even though some aren't on rosters.

Friendlies are good because they let you see teams you'd never see. In this case it will be very cool for the Rave Green Colombians to see one of the most well known teams on their home continent. Hopefully M&M can score, as it would mean quite a bit for them.

It should be fun to see Boca Juniors, as its a different style of play, a lot more individual flair, rather than tactics. But in the end it isn't the result that matters, but the performance.

Each healthy player should see minutes tonight in the Electric Yellow, likely a half each.

The game today is on 710 ESPN Seattle KIRO AM. Which is great. Its actually a sports station and may have bleed over from the Mariners game, and standard programming. A few new fans are possible.

TV is KONG and FSC (national)

MLS sides are doing well in friendlies this year.

Comment away, a new depth chart is coming later this week.

Reaction was swift, opinionated and generally pretty negative regarding the Sounders' announcement Wednesday that Celtic FC would be one of the team's "friendly" opponents this year.

Reaction was far less heated about the other friendly opponent, Boca Juniors of Argentina (i'll get more into that later).

Sounders GM Adrian Hanauer told Don Ruiz of the Tacoma News Tribune, as well as others, that he and the team were taken by surprise that people would be upset about any of this.

"I caught wind of (the controversy) this morning. It was the first I heard that there were people upset at their coming. Soccer has been a political game over the years and just about every team we could think of to bring has some political baggage that it carries. I was thinking of Barcelona coming last year: There is a strong movement and conflict between Barcelona and Real Madrid, and that is deeply rooted politically. Celtic’s been here numerous times. The fans have been great. The games have been good. We try not to get too deeply involved in politics: Sounders FC. We’re working on other games in other regions of the world, and I guess I can say the Middle East, Israel, where we’re exploring some possibilities there. That’s deeply political as well. We’re just here running a soccer team and not taking sides. We just want to provide our fans with some good entertaining football."

For the sake of this article, we'll take Hanauer at face value, and assume this decision was made in good faith. We'll even ignore the fact that Celtic is a polarizing club, regardless of what side of the fence you're on.

Instead, I'd like to focus on something more straightforward: I'm just a bit disappointed as a soccer fan.

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Coming off a frustrating match in which the Sounders dominated play, failed to score on any of their 12 corner kicks and lost their first game of the season, it should come as no surprise that the players appeared to have a little extra motivation in their Monday reserve game.

While beating the University of Washington men's team 5-0 is nothing close to beating a professional squad, there were signs that the Sounders may be figuring out what ails them, at least on corners.

They scored their first two goals off corners, both served up by Nathan Sturgis (I think). Michael Fucito scored the first of his two goals in the ninth minute and Tyson Wahl scored on another one about eight minutes later.

Fucito was one of four players to play in Monday's game who appear to be fighting for one starting spot, as well as the opportunity to be the first player off the bench. Of that group, only Roger Levesque was given the day off. All four of those players looked particularly sharp, generally moving the ball with ease and creating numerous scoring opportunities.

In addition to Fucito's two goals, Pat Noonan and David Estrada scored, while Sanna Nyassi had a pair of assists.

Fucito gave the Sounders a 3-0 lead on a nice shot from about 20 yards out in the 24th minute.

Noonan put away a perfect service Sanna Nyassi in the 30th minute that sent the Sounders into halftime up 4-0.

Nyassi then hooked up with Estrada, who headed home another great cross, in the 63rd minute.

The players didn't exude any sense that this reserve game was any different than others, but there's no question they're aware that games like this one play a significant part in determining who plays, and how much.

"It's just consistent effort at training," Sounders coach Sigi Schmid said. "Today (Estrada) gets a goal again. Obviously Fucito got a couple of goals also so they are battling there. We thought the one week Fucito was a little bit ahead. We thought the next week Estrada was a little bit ahead. So it's good. The competition side is good to get yourself in there. So they have got to continue to do that and continue to battle for the time."

A severe weather system will be hitting Denver soon. The Colorado Rapids have just announced that they are canceling the match for this reason. Sounders players, coaches, etc are not traveling.

I expect the Sounders to find an opponent as quickly as possible as they need one more match to make some decisions. Sounders fans if you know people traveling, please let them know ASAP.

There is a starting role up for grabs, at least in the early going, in the Right Midfield. Also, the Sounders have plenty of issues with their depth and cover, particularly at LM and RB, while it is likely that a Center back goes to the IL, or just gets cut, but this match is about more than mere roster space.

It is the continuation of a legacy of soccer in America that actually stetches back more than a single generation. It is a rivalry game, regardless of status as a pre-season tuneup, or as a friendly. The Portland Timbers faithful hate Seattle Sounders and the Seattle Sounders supporters laugh at a club that has struggled for trophies.

Tonight though, the MATCH is a bit secondary. First off all tickets sold are for charity. Secondly is the news that the Union is willing to strike.

But tonight, the Sounders look to pass average MLS attendance for a preseason match, when stars aren't likely to see more than a half. If you aren't there, you can catch glimpses on KONG 6/16, or on live blogs on Sounders FC.com, or Seattle Times, or at Prost Amerika.

Here today, we provide your place for instant analysis and dreams of when soccer in American isn't fliriting with Russian Roulette.

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