Major Link Soccer - Crazy Stadiums Edition

The Seattle Sounders lost 2-0 this weekend to the Philadelphia Union while missing their three most creative offensive players. The Sounders played a game the average MLS team would be proud of. However, without Fredy Montero, Mauro Rosales and Alvaro Fernandez, the Sounders needed to out work the Union to secure the victory. The Union simply needed the points more and played that way. You can see the match highlights and photos on the team website.

LA Cinches Shield: The loss ends the slim hopes for the team to take the Supporters Shield from the Los Angeles Galaxy. It was never going to be an easy task. The Galaxy have been having a record year and would have needed to drop some key games down the stretch for the Sounders to slip into first place. It's unfortunate as the type of performance the Sounders have had this year would likely earn them the Supporter's Shield in other seasons. This is also the last year the league is likely to have a balanced schedule.    

More news after the jump:

Wahl Finds New Motivation: One of the surprises this year has been the emergence of Tyson Wahl as the go-to left back for Sigi Schmid. Wahl found his motivation to fight for the fighting spot this January after the Sounders drafted young Michael Tetteh as the team's left back of the future. Wahl decided not to over analyze the team's move and instead focused on delivering a high level of play on the field. The intense fight for left back has allowed Schmid to rotate his line-ups through the Sounder's many competitions and keep his defenders sharp ahead of the MLS playoffs.

Beckerman Suspended: Real Salt Lake captain Kyle Beckerman has been suspended an additional two games for headbutting Daniel Paladini of the Chicago Fire. Beckerman will miss the rest of the regular season due to a combination of the suspension and his recent appearance with the U.S. Men's National Team. He started in the USMNT 1-0 win over Honduras this weekend. Beckerman was also fined $1,000.00.    

Crazy Stadium Plan: Detroit, while not getting quite as creative as Qatar, is getting pretty inventive in their plans to transform the Silverdome into a soccer stadium. The link provides a conceptualization of a remodeled Silverdome with a 30,000 seat soccer stadium perched above a concert hall and basketball arena both able to hold an additional 20,000 people. Good thing Detroit isn't in earthquake territory.

US Men Win: Finally Jurgen Klinsmen gets to taste victory with the Red, White & Blue. Clint Dempsey scored the lone goal against CONCACAF opponent Honduras. The United States takes on Ecuador in more friendly action tomorrow.

Live Chat With Montero: Just as an FYI - Joshua Meyers is having a live chat with Fredy Montero at noon today (that's one hour from now if you are scoring from home). Montero has struggled at time with live interviews in English. We'll soon see if the live blogging format might be one he's more comfortable with.