Major Link Soccer: Open Cup Tix On Sale Friday @ 10AM

Seattle

Tickets for the Sounders Open Cup match against PSA Elite will go on sale THIS Friday at 10am.

In the 4th Round of the #USOC, the #Sounders will take on @PSAElite at @StarfireSports on June 18th at 7pm! Tickets on sale Friday at 10am.

— Seattle Sounders FC (@SoundersFC) May 29, 2014

The game will be at Starfire, without the enormous capacity of Centurylink Field. As such, demand will be high, so you'll...want...to be ready... On second thought, tickets should be pretty readily available throughout the day. I'm not even WORRIED about tickets selling out in 5 minutes, and YOU SHOULDN'T BE EITHER.

By the way, can someone remind me when the last time the MLS Sounders lost a competitive match at Starfire was? Oh, that's right. ****ING NEVER.

As always, we've got the latest episode of Seattle Soccer Talk available for your listening pleasure. Gas has Chad Barrett and Jerry Brewer (perhaps the second-most willing-to-talk-about-soccer-sports-radio-host in the area).

In comparison to their performance on the pitch, the Seattle Reign have been lagging behind in attendance. Perhaps there is cause for hope of bigger numbers in the future: the club's YouTube viewers are third in the league behind Houston and Portland. Surely we can translate those numbers into tickets sold?

The Reign will now be using the Korrio app to organize their hectic sporting lives.

MLS

It may have been against some bad teams, but the Portland Timbers are officially on a winning streak. Fernando Adi scored both of Portland's goals in their two-nil victory over Chivas, his first in MLS. It was also the first time that the Timbers have ever won two road games in a row. They will next host Vancouver this weekend, their third match in a week. If Portland wins that one, they would suddenly be in a playoff spot.

Also playing Wednesday were Toronto FC and the Montreal Impact, in the home-home series to decide who will be Canada's Champion. The 1-1 draw in Toronto gives the Impact a leg up going into the Quebec match.

Landon Donovan has long been the most iconic US Soccer Player, perhaps due to his skill or perhaps due to the glorious acres of space between his eyebrows and his hair. He recently set the MLS record for goals scored, but perhaps he has overshadowed a greater talent (whose numbers weren't so reliant on PKs?) The Bent Musket has more.

Hot Time in Old Town is putting together a multi-part piece (Part One and Part Two here) looking at the latest round of MLS expansion and wondering whether the league is looking at the right spots. There are indeed some differences between the markets targeted over the last decade and the ones Don Garber is intrigued with now.

The rumor mill is going to be churning at full force soon, and Soccerly has a juicy name for all of us: Alessandro Del Piero. Sure he's 39, but for a team in need of a few goals right NOW (as well as a bit of publicity) Del Piero is the guy. He talked about receiving interest from both America and Japan. According to the article, Del Piero has a soft spot for Miami. It's unlikely he'll still be playing if/when Southern Florida joins the league, however.

World Cup

As if it wasn't already having enough problems, an historic drought has afflicted Sao Paolo just as the world's eyes become affixed on Brazil. One might imagine that this (on top of the worker deaths, riots, scandals, bribes, cutting of social services, and incomplete stadiums) is simply exacerbating the issue.

In the USA, we have Nate Silver breaking down the possibilities for various sports teams in their various competitions. In England, they get Stephen Hawking to create the odds. Speaking of which, Tempo Free Soccerdoesn't like the chances for Uncle Sam.

Europe

Malcolm Glazer passed away at the age of 86 yesterday. Glazer has been one of the most prominent sports franchise owners of the last 20 years, owning the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers before becoming the majority holder of Manchester United in 2003. During his "tenure", the club won the Premier League five times, the FA Cup once, and both a Champions League and Club World Cup title.

Have you experienced the Sounders SLALOM Pitchside dining experience? THAT IS FIGURATIVELY NOTHING. Barcelona is adding a full restaurant to their field, and presumably you don't have to worry about the little black dots ending up in your clam chowder.