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We start off with the big story of
the week. As exclusively revealed in Prost Amerika, Chelsea FC are to play Sounders FC in a
big glamour friendly at Qwest on July 18th, depending on Champions League
qualification.. This represents a great coup for Adrian Hanauer, Joe Roth &
co. as it shows that they are able and willing to go out and procure the
biggest names and the best opponents for the Seattle soccer public.
According to a club spokesman, a match against FC Barcelona, currently
romping the Spanish league by 15 clear points, is also in the pipeline. This
was perhaps more predictable as the whole membership scheme idea which has
singled out Sounders FC as a groundbreaking franchise in North American
sports history came about after minority shareholder Drew Carey visited the
Catalan club who have a similar scheme. He is said to have been so impressed
with the idea of the club having democratic input that he insisted on
Sounders FC adopting the same model as a precondition for his involvement.
Some of international football’s
top players will be playing here. Chelsea have Frank Lampard and John Terry
(England), Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast), Deco (Portugal), Nicolas Anelka
(France) and Michael Essien (Ghana), all of whom are recognised as being
among the top players in their respective positions. If anything,
Barcelona’s roster is even more impressive. They have Samuel Eto'o
(Cameroon), Xavi (Spain), Thierry Henry (France), the mercurial Lionel Messi
(Argentina), Rafael Márquez (Mexico) and Spain’s own Andrés Iniesta.
Interest in both
games is sure to be huge and it is possible that existing Sounders FC season
ticket holders will be guaranteed a seat at the games. We’ll report back on
that when it is confirmed. Sounders FC themselves are staying tight-lipped,
but the sense of excitement in Seattle’s soccer community is palpable.
Sounders in the Community
On Monday 26th, Sounders
FC held the first ever community event of the new franchise when they held a
fund raiser for SeattleSCORES. Adrian Hanauer, Sigi Schmid and Kasey Keller
answered questions. Keller recounted an interesting episode during his time
at Borussia Mönchengladbach which earned him a
€3000 fine,
which he describes as the best
€3000 he ever spent. You can see the full
Kelsey Keller story here.
Steve Zakuani adds to European
Contingent.
We reported a couple of weeks ago
that there was a large European contingent at Sounders FC. Since then, Steve
Zakuani has added. Steve is a DR Congo (formerly Zaire) born Londoner who is
described as a winger who runs at the defense, rather than crosses it into
the box. He will be on a Generation Adidas contract, reportedly the largest
of the year, and so will not take up a Senior roster slot, nor salary cap
space. He will take up one of the eight international slots that all MLS
teams have. He played in the Arsenal youth set up and was Sounders FC’s
first round draft pick in the recent draft held in St Louis. Club GM Adrian
Hanauer said of him, Sounders FC general manager Adrian Hanauer told the
Seattle Times Zakuani has the potential to be a star.
"He's got all the tools, a great
pedigree, grew up in the Arsenal youth system, obviously had a very good
college career and we think has the potential to be very explosive and a
very exciting player." He scored 20 goals with the University of Akron this
season. His older brother Gabriel Zakuani currently plays with Peterborough
United in England's League One having moved from Fulham on New Year’s Day in
the current transfer window. Steve moved to London in 1992 when he was four
and will celebrate his 21st birthday on February 9th.
Southgate Holds On
As reported last week, Gareth Southgate,
Middlesbrough’s beleaguered manager, faced a difficult FA Cup tie
at Championship leaders Wolves. I am happy to tell you that Boro actually
pulled off an impressive away win and lives to visit
Chelsea
next weekend. In the home fixture in October, Chelsea
thumped Boro 5-0 in an embarrassingly easy victory, but
Chelsea
have shown some inconsistent home form this year and it may not be a
foregone conclusion. </p>
In the FA Cup this weekend, Welsh club Swansea
provided the only real shock of the round by knocking out holders Portsmouth
2-0 at Fratton Park. Chelsea and Manchester United progressed but Liverpool
could only draw 1-1 at home to neighbours Everton and face a reply at
Goodison
Park. So do Arsenal who drew
0-0 at Wales’ other cup
representative Cardiff
City, and will meet them
again at the Emirates. Both Liverpool and
Arsenal are still in the Champions league and the extra fixture represents a
minor annoyance to both. Swansea
will face Fulham in the next round. Fulham knocked out the last non League
team, Kettering
Town, 4-2 at
Rockingham Road.
Inter Retain Top Spot in Serie A
In Italy,
Inter Milan retained their top spot with a 1-0 home win over a toothless
Sampdoria.They remain three points ahead of Juventus who beat Fiorentina by
the same score. Inter are at
Catania
next week while Juve visit Udinese. Both opponents are in the top of the
lower half of the Serie A table and should present a stiff challenge. | 
