Major Link Soccer: The Return of Zakuani

The biggest story of the weekend for the Sounders was clearly the return of Steve Zakuani to the starting lineup exactly five hundred days after his injury. This was a huge step for Zakuani and we all hope that his progress will continue.

Jurgen Klinsmann has announced the USMNT roster for the World Cup Qualifiers against Jamaica. Included on the roster were MLS players Sean Johnson, Nick Rimando, Kyle Beckerman, Brek Shea, and Graham Zusi. Landon Donovan was left off the squad due to the hamstring injury he suffered against Mexico at the Azteca last month.

Clint Dempsey finally has a new home. In a long transfer saga where it appeared almost certain that the Texan would end up in Liverpool Red, he merely moves across London where he will now suit up for the Tottenham Hotspurs. With Fulham almost quadrupling the transfer fee they paid MLS for Dempsey, the real loser in this scenario may be Liverpool.

After leading the USWNT to Olympic gold in London, Pia Sundhage has left the team to take over as coach of her home country of Sweden.

David Beckham is not thinking about retirement. "I said I wanted to continue playing as long as possible. So we'll see what age I finish at," Beckham told the LA Times. "I love the game so I want to continue playing it. I still obviously want to play at a high level. And if I feel that I can't play at that level then I'll try to stop." At this point, he shows no signs of losing his touch of free kicks, as Vancouver witnessed to their dismay this weekend.

Chivas USA is going through ownership changes. Joint-owners Jorge Vergara and Angelica Fuentes have taken complete control of the club. The Goat Parade analyzes what this will mean for the struggling Goats.

Traveling support for the Sounders has always been strong. The Sounders rewarded that support by inviting the traveling fans in Trinidad to the team hotel and buying them a round of drinks. Bravo.

Toronto FC started off the year on an unprecedented run of futility. The question now is whether the firing of Aron Winter and his replacement by Paul Mariner has actually improved the situation. Waking the Red takes a look at this.

For Real Salt Lake, the role of creative playmaker has been the sole territory of Javier Morales since he joined the team--but that may be changing. With the development of 18 yr. old Luis Gil, could a major change be in the making as the team moves forward?

The Columbus Crew have been horrid on offense this year. For the first 18 games this season, they managed just a single goal per game. Three games ago that changed when the Crew brought in Federico Higuain and Jairo Arrieta. Since they were put up top together, the Crew have scored 8 goals in three games.

Weekend MLS Recap after the Jump:

The Weekend's MLS Action:

Portland is out of the cellar as they have managed a victory for the second consecutive week. Bright Dike got onto the end of a Sal Zizzo cross in the 45th minute for the lone goal of the game. Lest we give Portland too much credit, the victory was over Colorado, who now sit in last place.

In a game with as much excitement as playoff relevance, the New England Revolution played the Philadelphia Union to a scoreless draw. The Union have now played six straight without a victory.

As San Jose was doing earlier this year, the Columbus Crew are managing to pull off miraculous victories. On Saturday night, the Columbus Crew came back from a goal down to take a 2-1 victory against the Montreal Impact. Federico Higuain's two assists lead the Crew.

Ryan Johnson scored in the first half for Toronto, but Paulo Nagamura and Oriol Rosell scored for Sporting Kansas City in the second half to complete the comeback as SKC won 2-1. Rosell hit the game winner in the 87th minute on an assist from Chance Meyers.

Real Salt Lake battled to a 1-0 win over D.C. United in a weather-delayed game on Saturday night. This continues a tough run of form for DCU who now have just one win in their last six games.

The LA Galaxy were victorious over the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday night 2-0. A first half goal from Juninho and a second half free kick goal from David Beckham paced the Galaxy. The suddenly struggling Whitecaps have now lost their last four.

The Supporters Shield leading San Jose Earthquakes show no signs of slowing down as they continued the misery of Chivas USA by defeating them 4-0 late Sunday night. Ramiro Corrales had a brace in the match.