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Evening Ticker: Sounders to face Timbers, USSF D-2 schedule released and more

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If you were already counting down the days to the first Seattle Sounders-Portland Timbers MLS match in 2011, you won't have to wait that long. The fierce rivalry, one of the oldest and most important in American soccer, will resume next month when the Sounders and Timbers face off in the Seattle's inaugural "Community Shield" match at Qwest Field on March 11.

The exhibition match is being played to raise money for local charities Boys and Girls Club of Washington State, Save the Children, Seattle SCORES and Washington Youth Soccer. Following the match the teams will sign autographs from the field.

Tickets for the match go on sale on Wednesday, with prices ranging from $10 for adults to $5 for youths age 6-17. All children younger than six can attend for free.

The Seattle Community Shield will take place two weeks before the Sounders open the MLS campaign against the expansion Philadelphia Union. The Timbers also open their campaign against a new team, taking on AC St. Louis on April 22 in the USSF Division 2 opener for both teams.

Here are some other stories to help close out your Monday:

USSF DIVISION 2 SCHEDULE ANNOUNCED

The schedule for the new USSF Division 2 League was released on Monday and will kickoff the new league on April 10 in Miami, when Miami FC plays host to the Rochester Rhinos.

The 12-team league is divided into two conferences – the USL Conference and the NASL Conference. The USL Conference includes Austin Aztex, NSC Minnesota, Portland Timbers, Puerto Rico Islanders, Rochester Rhinos and Tampa Bay Rowdies. The NASL Conference will consist of Crystal Palace Baltimore, Carolina RailHawks, Miami FC, Montreal Impact, AC St. Louis and Vancouver Whitecaps.

The 12 teams were divided into three geographical pods of four teams each to determine the schedule because of travel considerations. Here are the pods:

Pod 1– Vancouver, Portland, Minnesota and St. Louis

Pod 2– Montreal, Rochester, Baltimore and Carolina

Pod 3– Austin, Tampa Bay, Miami and Puerto Rico.

Within its pod, each team will play the other three teams twice at home and twice away for a total of 12 matches. Each team will also compete against the eight teams from the other two pods twice, one home and once away for a total of 16 matches. To get to a total of 30 matches for each team (15 home and 15 away), each team was paired with a team from a different pod for a final home-and-away series.

The Division 2 League playoffs begin on October, with eight teams qualifying for the post-season. The winners of each conference will qualify for the playoffs, along with the next top six teams in the rankings.

Here is the full schedule.

MATHIS SIDELINED AFTER SURGERY

Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder Clint Mathis is set to be sidelined for four-to-six weeks after undergoing surgery to repair the torn meniscus in his left knee. Mathis suffered the injury last week and underwent surgery on Friday.

Acquired in a draft-day trade from Real Salt Lake, Mathis is expected to be back in time for the Galaxy's March 27 season opener against the New England Revolution.

FIRE RE-SIGNED CARR

The Chicago Fire has re-signed forward Calen Carr, the team announced on Monday. Carr has struggled with injuries throughout the first four years of his MLS career, but the speedy forward is healthy heading into this pre-season and will be called on to provide some depth up top, especially if Chicago can't come to terms with trialist Collins John.

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Will you be attending the Sounders-Timbers match?  Do you see Clint Mathis contributing to the Galaxy in 2010? Plan on going to USSF Division 2 matches?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Really? An MLS team heading into the regular season will probably beat a 2nd Division side where half the team has turned over and the other half will probably be trialists? Are you Jimmy the Greek in disguise?

    Yawn.

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  2. This entire thread of comments here is a great reason why the rivalry between Portland and Seattle will be as utterly cringeworthy on the internet as it will be exciting in the stadiums.

    Ohoho! Portscum! Sh*ttle! Meth! Customers! More means better!

    It’s supposed to be a rivalry, bot a frigging horse beating contest. 90% of these “witty” remarks were stale in 2004. Get some new material, all of you.

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  3. i am confused a person named “DADryan” would want such a drug lol but i will definitely NOT meet you behind a white van in parking zone C an hour before kick-off

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  4. JJ — I was 5 feet from the Flounder fan who was ‘hog tied’ and carried away. He was yelling obscenities at and in the direction of children and also trampled on childern who were trying to talk to Timber Joey while he was yelling his banter. So there are your facts.

    Anon — open your eyes or check youtube and you will see 2 smoke bombs being thrown from the Flounder fan base onto the pitch within a matter of minutes of the match starting. This was one of among the countless objects hitting those of us who were just trying to enjoy the match.

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  5. Agreed. NES (North End Supporters) won’t be too pleased to see the TA in the North End. There are going to be a lot of pissed off season tickets holders used to being in their own reserved seats. This could get ugly if the TA show up in large numbers.

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  6. While a very little bit of the money will be coming in from Portland, I expect that at least 95% of it will be from Seattle fans. I don’t expect Seattle charities to get anything from the Colorado Charity Shield match this year.

    If Portland wants to host us next year in the same fashion, I will gladly come down and donate some green to Oregon charities.

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  7. It’s great to have an event like this, where the Sounders could easily sell close to 35-40,000 seats for a charity against a potent rival like the Timbers. Seeing though as I live on the other side of the country, I will most likely be reading about it online or if possible watching it on TV. Seattle will probably cruise over Portland though. My prediction is 3-0 Sounders.

    I doubt Mathis will do anything to help the Galaxy. He’s aged a lot and way past his prime days in the late 90’s/early 00’s. Ever since he came back to MLS, he’s been flopping back and forth with clubs. He’s been silent.

    No USSF 2 matches for me. Don’t live close to any of the teams, maybe a Crystal Palace Baltimore game, but that’s a hike out of my way.

    I hope that the United and Union build a rivalry similar to the one between the Timbers and Sounders.

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  8. I think the charity should be spread between the two states. Why not some money be donated to the Oregon Boys & Girls club or something?

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  9. Love the animosity… Im a Crew fan but even Im excited about the Seattle/Vancouver/Portland rivalry possibilities. In Columbus the biggest thing we have going is with TFC, but even that seems a little forced…

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  10. From Collins John’s interview on MLSnet.com it looks like he is pretty much in… already talking about how much he is looking forward to this season, ALSO Brian Mcbride has nothing but good things to say about him… I CANT WAIT, LETS GO FIRE!!!!!

    Reply
  11. question for anyone with some knowledge of the process that led to the creation of USSF D2…i know there was talk of MLS buying the USL, two D2 teams are joining next year (van, portland) and other cities that have shown interest are in the league as well (montreal, st louis). would it be possible for mls reserve teams (if they ever come back) to play in the D2 league?

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  12. I think it will be very interesting to see how many fans this game draws. I have to think that most with season tickets go. Lets say just over half, that gives 20,000.

    Portland brings up 5,000.

    The X-Factor being how many that are not able to go to enough regular season games, or maybe can’t afford to bring their kids.

    Man, I would love to see a larger crowd for this than a “capped” regular season game. Make the Sounders think about using closer to the whole stadium.

    OPEN THE UPPER DECK !

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  13. I will enjoy both, but you are spot on. I don’t know why everyone is so gaga over Portland. Vancouver is the guarenteed success to me.

    Reply

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