Sounders FC

A full house every night. A U.S. Open Cup title. A Major League Soccer playoff berth. Marches to the Match. Et cetera, et cetera.

All that in the Sounders FC’s inaugural season. The dawn of a new campaign and a new quest for glory and trophies is upon the team and its army of supporters.

As training camp kicks off Monday at Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila, at least one question comes to mind: How do the Sounders top their first year?

Expectations have been raised. But so has the seating capacity in Qwest Field, from about 29,000 early last season to close to 36,000 for 2010.

“I’m confident that our fans, being what they are, they’re going to find a way to top themselves. The atmosphere will be even better,” Sounders FC coach Sigi Schmid said.

As for the product on the field, Schmid said establishing consistency as a perennial championship contender is the goal for this season.

“It’s easy to climb up the hill. It’s a lot harder to stay at the top,” Schmid said. “We want to be there year after year.”

An early exit from the playoffs didn’t sit well with anyone, and the team is ready to go further this season. All 11 players who started the last playoff game in November at Houston are back, along with all but one top reserve, Sebastien Le Toux.

“The guys got a taste of the playoffs last year,” Schmid said. “I’m excited. We know what some of the guys can do. We know how some of the pieces of the puzzle fit together.”

Two areas the players were asked to improve on are strength and depth. Seattle was out-physicaled in the playoffs, and the team will have more games to play in 2010 with its qualification for the CONCACAF Champions League tournament and defense of its Open Cup championship trophy.

“We want to improve in every area,” general manager Adrian Hanauer said. “We want to improve strength, fitness, technical skills … if we all do that stuff in a smart way, it leads to more wins.”

Players weren’t the only ones working on getting better. Assistant coaches spent time with clubs in Europe, observing and taking in how teams operate abroad and bringing lessons learned back with them.

While fans will see where the players are in their development soon, Sounders FC will for sure have a stronger youth development program in 2009. Buoyed by the success of two Washington Youth Soccer Olympic Development Program teams that wore Sounders colors at a regional tournament in Arizona earlier this month, Sounders FC’s presence in the soccer community continues to grow.

Sounders FC will field its first academy teams this summer in the under-16 and under-18 classifications, with the idea that the academy will be a training ground for future Sounders.

“The spark hit early last season. The fire was burning,” Hanauer said. “We need to continue to stoke the fire. We think we can do that by delivering more on the field and diving deeper in the community.”

Jaguar Soccer

Following the first two weeks of the 2010 soccer season, the Floresville Jaguars have made history, as they have won two tournament trophies and currently have a record of five wins and two losses. The Jaguars won the championship trophy at the Southside tournament during the first week and took home the consolation trophy from the Southwest tournament this past weekend. The championship was the first-ever for the Jaguar soccer program, which is currently coached by Nash Martinez.

The Jaguars opened the Southside tournament with a 5-0 victory over Lanier. Abby Villanueva and Emily Villanueva each scored two goals in the contest, while Ashley Whiteside scored one. Abby Villanueva had two assists, while Whiteside, Emily Villanueva, and Lexanne Southern each had one. Victoria Tovar, the Jaguar goalkeeper, recorded the shutout. Caitlyn Lehman scored the only goal in the Jaguars’ second game, as they went away with a 1-0 victory over Jefferson in the semifinal contest. Julia Brock had the assist on the goal as Tovar recorded her second shutout. In the exciting championship contest on a cold Saturday evening, the Jaguars defeated the host team from Southside in sudden death. The two teams had battled to a 0-0 tie during regulation play and were forced to a shootout.

Abby Villanueva and Analiese Pena made their goals in the shootout; however, Southside came up with two goals of its own. Lehman made the winning goal in the sudden- death period to give the Jaguars the victory. Last Tuesday evening, the Jaguars lost their first game of the season as they traveled to Bandera and fell by the score of 4-1. Lehman scored the only goal for the Jaguars in the second half, as she got the assist from Emily Villanueva.

At the Southwest tournament held this past weekend, the Jaguars lost to Laredo United in the first round; however, they came back to defeat Highlands in their second game, as Abby Villanueva scored the only goal in the contest. In the consolation championship, the Jaguars defeated Laredo Alexander 4-1. Mikayla Coldeway scored two goals in the game, while Abby Villanueva and Brock each scored one. The Jaguars will play in their final tournament of the season this weekend at East Central. The next home game will be Tuesday, Feb. 2, against Uvalde. Game time is set for 7 p.m.

World Cup Trophy Tour

Soccer trophy news…

World Cup Trophy Tour

Soccer Awards

The 2009 Fifa World Cup Trophy Tour will begin in Nigeria when the top government officials of the country and the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) will accept it after it arrives by boat.

The President of Nigeria, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, will be the first to touch the trophy and the event will be documents by the sponsoring company, Coca-Cola.

The next leg of the tour will take place in Lagos on October 21st. After it is accepted by government officials, a gala will be help where other important peoples of the nation and soccer community will be in attendance.

Representatives from Coca-Cola have declared that they are prepared to give those present at the trophy tour an experience to remember so whoever can attend the events, should attend.

So far, the countries visited have been Egypt, Tunisia, Cape Verde and Gambia, among many others.