Back on topic, though, the Jaqua vs. Blaise debate has been settled for tonight by… Blaise getting injured. So I’m guessing we’ll see Fredy and Nate up top, just like Wednesday. We could do a lot worse.

Can’t find an official injury report (because basically I’m that lazy), but Nathan Sturgis was limping pretty heavily after the game Wednesday, and I’m thinking I saw an icepack. So I wouldn’t be surprised to see Mike Seamon get the start. And with Sanna Nyassi still in Gambia for national duty, I’m thinking it will be Alvaro and Zak and Alonso completing the midfield.

And Ianni and Parke should be well-rested, and Leo’s back from suspension so let’s expect good stuff defensively too.

Crap. I just kind of almost did a preview, didn’t I?

Hate when that happens.

Okay, still working. Give me a second…

Crap. Can’t do it. Sorry. Maybe you can help.

Because apparently our own Fredy Montero’s goal of the week award was…was hijacked this week! By sinful and wayward RBNY fans! Who wanted to give it to Dane Richards instead! And they seem to have succeeded!

Allow me to allow MLS Rumors to take it from here:

Sounders fans thought Montero had won and they had a good reason to as he did when the poll was closed. Even Red Bull New York fans thought Richards had lost:

From Metrofantic member: “adiamas”

I regret to inform you that their lying cheating bastards were better than our lying cheating bastards. Richards lost.

However by the time MLS checked their results this morning Dane Richards had jumped ahead due to the phantom Unix voting after the deadline.

This was not by accident or computer error but by design and due to the fact that at the time the polls close (midnight central time) no one is in MLS Headquarters to check the poll results. Instead they wait until the next day and by that time the results had changed.

Or, in other words, our belove Fredy won. Before he lost. Which means that Dane Richards is technically the MLS goal of the week winner for last week. By officially recognized shenanigans if not by fact.

Which, let’s be honest, is kind of humorous. Because seriously, did we Seattlites not kind of invent vote-hacking? And if we didn’t? Why the hell not? Have we lost our edge? Are we missing that home-of-Microsoft tech-mecca ingenuity? Because seriously, if we can be out-hacked by people from freaking NEW YORK, we do not deserve to win.

(Realize here that I am completely ignoring the substance of the issue, which is my heretical view that Dane Richards’ goal was actually better than the Fredy goal that was nominated. If they’d nominated Fredy’s exquisite first goal from the Chicago game, however, I might not be nearly so sanguine.)

And so, inconclusion, Fredy fans…

Oh, wait. You mean this isn’t over yet? Apparently it is not. According to, again, MLS Rumors:

UPDATE#3: Apparently not to be outdone, Seattle fans voted after the poll closed on Polldaddy to show how flawed the system is and Montero is now ahead.

One word, MLS, will protect you from this humiliation in the future:

CAPTCHA

Capiche?

If you’re a season ticket holder who think you have plenty of time to buy tickets, because the presale doesn’t end till Monday and…well, you’re a season ticket holder?

Think again and call your rep NOW. (Don’t go through TicketBastard. If you call your rep directly you get a choice of seats, plus more seats are available. AND you don’t have to pay the fees — your bill is the face value of the tickets. Imagine that.)

Tickets went on sale at 10. When I called at 10:40 my seats were gone. And since I wanted my max of 8 tickets, I had to go 15 rows higher than my normal seats. The good ones are going fast.

So call. Now. Yes, you’ll have to wait awhile on hold, but it’s worth it.

And I swear your boss won’t mind.

(Seriously, though, this looks more like last year’s Nate Jaqua. When Nate came back from injury this year, I decided he’d been the victim of an alien abduction and had been replaced by a creature who looked like Nate, acted like Nate, but… I mean… Oh, come on. He headed in two goals in the LA Galaxy USOC game! And he looked almost graceful doing it! You can’t tell me this is the same Nate Jaqua who was here last year.)

But anyhoo. The big debate in the blogosphere these days is about the other big target guy. Saint Blaise Nkufo, the guy everybody decided would be our savior earlier in the season when nothing was going right. The guy who was going to start scoring the goals. Which hasn’t yet happened.

If you read the forums, you know that discussion is all over the map on whether he’ll acclimate and start scoring the goals he was brought in to score, or whether this is even necessary for him to help the team. This seems to be an extremely polarizing topic; folks seem to be divided into Nkufo-lovers, Nkufo-haters, and too-soon-to-tellers.

Consider me in the final category. I consider myself like Juliet Capulet when her parents set out to arrange her marriage to a guy she didn’t know. (Oh, come on. Transport yourself back to ninth grade.) “I look to like,” is what she said. And that’s kind of how I feel. I’m looking to like the guy, and hoping my hopes aren’t misplaced.

Like everybody, I was hoping that the guy would leap into scoring right away, like Alvaro Fernandez did. But that was probably not realistic, given that the MLS style of play is a lot different from what he’s used to in Europe. Not to mention that he just finished a long season in the Eredivisie and a trip to South Africa, and he’s 35 years old and probably needed some recovery time. What’s actually happened was probably more realistic: he’s taking some time to settle in.

Yet even though he has yet to break his duck (LOVE that expression,) he does seem to be getting more comfortable. On Saturday I thought he looked fairly good despite that whole not scoring thing. He’s very skilled with his back to goal and good at distributing the ball. He seems to have a good eye for what else is going on the field. He draws defenders, giving guys like Montero more room to maneuver.

(On a closely-related topic, great discussion over on Sounder at Heart today on the mistakes Chicago made in using a high defensive line to try to counteract the Nkufo target forward threat, which left them vulnerable to Seattle’s speed players like Nyassi, Zakuani and Montero. You need to read it if you haven’t already. Having a proven target guy on the field can create opportunities even when he’s not the one taking advantage of them.)

What all this means is that he hasn’t been the disaster that the naysayers like to claim he’s been. Yet at the same time, he’s not scoring the goals he was brought in to score. At least not yet.

So from my perspective, the jury’s still out. CONCACAF Champions League aside, the team is getting results with him on the field, so there’s no real reason to not give him chances as he and the team continue to get used to each other. And when it comes to the goal thing, a lot of scoring is mental, even with experienced players; scoring goals can lead to scoring more goals.

He’s on the team through the year, at least, and we’re continuing to win with him on the pitch. He may still prove that he’s worth that DP money.

(But I’m hoping the baby giraffe will continue to wait in the wings. Just in case.)

Not in the beginning, when he was announced in the lineup. Then I cheered, for all he’d given us in the one-and-a-half years he played. For the magical playoff run he instigated in our inaugural season.

But when the game started? Yes. I booed.

Sure, I know it’s kind of immature. A bit disrespectful. Yet let’s face it: When he dons the jersey of an opponent, he becomes the enemy. The barrier standing in the path of our road to The Playoffs. It is not in my best interest to wish him well. So I cheered his failures and booed his successes.

I cheered when Osvaldo Alonso swiped the ball from him. I was entertained when Fredy Montero succumbed to the lure of the cheap foul. And I laughed and jeered when Freddie protested to the refs for every call he disagreed with. (Seriously? Did he do this for our benefit, to create a kind of wry and cynical humor? Or is he simply incapable of not protesting?)

Yes, I booed. And I am not ashamed.

Don’t take it to heart, Freddie. In the core of my Sounders-adoring heart, I still kind of love you. So please know that this is not personal.

Understand, Fredo, that it’s strictly business.

Hey, Offsiders. As Denny said in his last post, he’s off gallivanting around the world, so I’m temporarily back to keep the cobwebs from accumulating in Seattle Offside in his absence.

Was going to do a long post about the CCL game, the refereeing, the lack of that certain Sounders je ne sais quoi, etc. but I’m completely out of practice posting and I didn’t get around to it in time and all of a sudden there’s this new game to think about? Something about some bald guy coming back to town and whether we should cheer or boo?

(My thoughts: I’ll cheer when they announce his name before the game. After that, he becomes just another traffic cone for our players to dodge on their way to glory.)

In reality, I wish him well, as long as “well” doesn’t mean “finishing ahead of Sounders in the final MLS standings.”

But…he’s not our Freddie anymore, and to be honest I don’t really miss him. In fact, yesterday on Twitter I was coming up with long lists of things I actually miss more than Freddie. Among them:

(The link on the Henrik Larsson thing goes here. Perhaps this makes up for the complete lack of Underwear Model Freddie in this post?)

So, yeah, Freddie, thanks for everything. Welcome back, good luck to a degree, etc.

Now if only I had some Twerpz.

The Sounders have been in the midst of a good break away from MLS action lately. It seems that they’ve been traveling to far away stadiums hidden away in the forests of Central America, and that there’s been a lot of pictures of the boys in Electric Yellow. Like this stellar one above. Have the thirds grown on you yet? I think when you put them up against international teams like Marathon and Monterrey, they really do look gorgeous.

The Sounders got the actual CONCACAF group play started with a meek loss. However, this is nothing to worry about, as we still have a total of six games to play in the group stage, against Saprissa and Monterrey (tomorrow) in addition to openers Marathon. Even though our group is not the easiest of the tournament, I think we’ll feel a bit better once we bring the visitors to Qwest. Tomorrow should be a tight game, and strong fan support will be key. Let’s see if we can get that ~17,000 back up into +36,000 (so far 19,000 fans are expected to come out). Because there is actually a lot on the line if we do win the tournament. An automatic berth in the FIFA Club World Cup? Yeah, Hanauer and Co. would be dining on Electric Yellow shorts if we could showcase our competition with intercontinental play.

In any case, the CCL’s random scheduling (I still haven’t worked out how they schedule their matches) will be put on hold as the Sounders welcome Freddie Ljungberg back since he left us three weeks ago. It’ll be the first leg against the Chicago Fire. That’s three days after our home game with Monterrey. And just another three days after the game with the Fire, we’ve got our second leg against Chivas away. I don’t know, maybe it was just me but I felt as if the past week or so nothing was really happening and thing’s were a little too quiet. Expect that to change.

And just to get the loins stirring (not in that way, mind you) I never really got to sit down and watch this.

I think after seeing this I feel a little bit better about the transfer sale of Freddie. It’s just that for me, every transfer ends up being like a bad break up, and with Freddie I never really wanted it to be one of those cold, hard, never-speak-to-you-again-and-pretend-I-never-loved-you break ups in the first place. Things with Freddie were entirely… mutual. Physical? Pragmatic? Maybe. Regardless, we both got the most out of each other, and we both know it. As long as all sides acknowledge what our original intentions were, then no harm done. For once, I can take it like a mature man and respect our past while still being able to hold my head high when we cross paths, instead of acting like a 12 year-old on a playground throwing rocks at every girl that I tried to kiss.

Well, come Saturday.

And another great tidbit I didn’t catch before. Speaking about love on and off the field. In case you were running out of ideas, this is one way to get hitched.

Now can you get that two-pole reprinted on the napkins for the reception? Awesome.

And, lastly, as the title of the post implies, I literally am writing this after two weeks of going AWOL. Off the back of finals, full-time work shifts, moving out, and last-minute packing, I am excited to say that I will be going on a much needed vacation. Not that I (n)ever work my butt of for The Offside. But just that, this time I am actually giving you guys a heads up, and that if you are still reading this then you’ve more than done your duty. For that, much appreciated.

Which is why I am delighted to say that everyone’s favorite Soccer Mom Laurie will be returning to fill in for me while I am across the world (literally) for a month. She’ll be here posting as she can, since you know, the life of a retired big-time blogger is really too glamorous to be seen around these empty parts. But, do treat her with motherly respect, and I promise I will come back with the energy and vigor that this summer has so far drained me of.

This man is awesome personified.

So as I was writing this, I was watching as this slowly turned into a mindless rant post, so I’ll just cut it to you straight.

We’re more than halfway through the season, and many of us couldn’t ask for anything more right now.

A solid run has us back in the playoff race, we’ve got two DP’s who couldn’t have acclimated better, and a fiery hot kid who is eagerly clawing his way to the top of MLS. Not to mention, after our ridiculous first half of a season, we’ve got 10 games left, featuring the likes of a New England rematch, a Chivas USA double header, and two promising games against Chicago and, don’t make me say his name Freddie Ljungbert.

Slather this on top, CONCACAF Champions League play against the likes of Monterrey, Marathon, and Costa Rican giants Deportivo Saprissa. Oh, this isn’t your measly Metapan fixture, these are household names when it comes to, say, the FIFA Club World Cup.

Oh, a U.S. Open Cup Semi Final against 2nd to last Chivas USA, on September 1st. Not that domestic league form has anything to do with this cup, as their Los Angeles counterparts have shown. But don’t blame me for being optimistic. Especially given how much griping I was doing a month ago, I owe you guys.

How good is life when Nate Jaqua subs on for Blaise Nkufo? Better yet when Zakuani starts over the likes of Alvaro Fernandez? Oh, and our little bulldog Fucito is storming his way back from a hundred stitches under his kneecap to throw off our entire front line, defensive keystone Hurtado is silently making big strides back, while Oswald is back on his hunt for that 40 yard thumper he’s destined to get.

Meanwhile right now, the boys have a had a rare full week of training. That means more magic tricks from Blaise, and more time with Uruguayan and Columbian compadres. You can tell that Montero has immediately opened up to presence of Nkufo and Fernandez, so maybe this is the exact supporting cast we need around him to fully blossom into the death machine we know he can be.

I know nothing in this post is entirely new, but I’ll be back later with something meaningful. In the mean time, go buy your tickets for CCL Group Match against Monterrey. The game may or may not sell out, but this is one you won’t want to miss.

That’s what I’m talking about.