Major Link Soccer: Democracy Edition

Cascadia match number five for Seattle is rapidly approaching, as they travel through (past really) the Peace Arch one more time to face Vancouver at BC Place. Vancouver has been on a slide since midseason, but they still have presumptive Rookie of the Year Darren Mattocks, perhaps the one guy as good at heading as Eddie Johnson. The old (new?) vet talks about returning to the rivalry. If the Sounders want to retain the cup, they need to match in Saturday's game what Portland does when they travel to BC Place later in October. In other words, a win is probably a good idea.

Expect some play stoppage this weekend; The Vancouver Whitecaps have more fouls than any other team in MLS. They also have the easiest schedule remaining according to at least one statistician. Sigi is aware of what the Whitecaps bring to the table.

Got a few bucks laying around? There are worse things you could spend it on than one of these excellent Cascadia scarves. While you probably wouldn't be able to get them shipped in time for this weekend's Vancouver match, the last Portland fixture should be a possibility. (Thanks to Lysander for the Fanshot).

In case you forgot (or just didn't know) there's a vote coming up for Sounders season ticket holders and Alliance members. Dear Leader Adrian Hanauer needs 50 percent of our vote to continue to lead our Sounders to glorious victory. (I say all of that without sarcasm). This vote caught the attention of Grant Wahl, who seems rather intrigued.

You probably saw a portion of Joe Roth's comments at SAH, but he had more to say, and it is all at the Seattle Times. The league is excited to know how much our shirt sponsorship will be worth, according to Prosoccertalk.

You might have heard that some waves were made this week in regards to union referees at our fair stadium. Turns out that the officials in American Football are ALSO terrible, at least the scabs that were filling in from all sorts of fun leagues. Like with the Sounders, the Seattle Seahawks are no strangers to seeing important calls go against them. But apparently the scabs didn't get the memo, first skewing the game for Green Bay, then heaving it to Seattle on the final play of the game. This piece going through reactions of the Sounders who were at the football game is one of my favorite articles ever.

Also using the Centurylink Field facilities this week (the busiest week in the stadium's history) was the Washington Huskies football team, who scored a massive upset over Eighth-ranked Pac 12 rivals Stanford. The field crew will be busy preparing for next Sunday's game after the fans stormed the field. It will be fun watching Diego Chara suddenly faceplant because of all the gum stuck to his cleats.

Kansas City wants their building to be the home of US Soccer, or at least that's the way it seems from the itinerary it has scheduled.

Only one midweek game in these closing days of September. Toronto hung 3 on Aguila to give themselves an itty bit of hope for advancement in the CONCACAF Champions League. But they still need to defeat Santos Laguna by a few goals.

I know a number of people who loved FIFA the game before they loved FIFA the governing body for world Soccer. This article details the effects video games can have on sports, futbol in this case. Timely, as the release of FIFA 13 has everyone green with envy.

Those long time Sounders fans may remember how frequently MLS seemed to be on the doorstep of Seattle before finally awarding the city a franchise in 2007. But that's nothing compared to the dance San Diego has been doing with pro soccer, who almost got Chivas in 2004. For now though, Tijuana's Xolos are their team.

The NASL and USL seasons are over, and we now have attendance numbers for the teams involved. Could San Antonio be making a bid for MLS in the future?

Finally, what's the deal with New York and soccer? Can they support another team?

Here is your week 29 goals roundup.

Coming soon:

Defending Mattocks

Three Questions

Scouting Report

Pre-game Injury Update

Hanauer Out