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MLS Ticker: Sounders extend Alonso, San Jose makes stadium headway and more

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Photo by Nick Turchiaro/ISIphotos.com

The Seattle Sounders made a key move to keep one of their core players around for a while, signing holding midfielder Osvaldo Alonso to a contract extension that will keep him with Seattle through the 2014 season.

Alonso, who was already signed through the end of next season, was voted the Sounders' team MVP last season and enters his third with Seattle. The anchor of the Sounders' midfield even though he has had to overcome injuries the past two seasons, Alonso has been instrumental to the club's success in back-to-back winning seasons and is known for his tenacity in one-on-one battles for the ball.

After Alonso came back from missing seven games with an injury last season, Seattle finished 2010 with a 9-2-2 record with him in the lineup.

"I am very pleased with the attention I have been given by the club, and I appreciate the confidence that Adrian (Hanauer) and Sigi (Schmid) have shown in me," said Alonso in a statement from the club.

Here are a few more items from around the league:

SAN JOSE STADIUM PROGRESS

The site for the future San Jose Earthquakes soccer specific stadium is set to be cleared, making the club's dream of a new park one step closer.

The industrial building that currently stands at the stadium site will begin to be destructed on March 3, and according to SJEarthquakes.com, the process will take 12 weeks to complete. The club hopes to have a new stadium built and ready for some of the 2012 season, but it appears that worst-case, the stadium should be set to open in time for the 2013 campaign.

CREW SIGNS DRAFT PICKS

The Columbus Crew agreed to terms with its four 2011 MLS SuperDraft picks, officially adding Rich Balchan, Justin Meram, Cole Grossman and Bernardo Anor to the team's roster.

Balchan was the team's first selection (12th overall), and the club traded Steven Lenhart to San Jose to get back into the first round to select Meram, who finished the last college soccer season as one of the hottest players in the country.

Grossman was a four-year standout at Duke and was taken in the second round, while Anor, a talented attacking threat out of South Florida, was selected in the third round.

CHIVAS UNVEILS JERSEY

Chivas USA unveiled its 2011 jersey with new sponsor Corona Extra labelling the front of both the striped red-and-white and solid navy blue kits.

A photo of the new look can be found here.

D.C. WAIVES JAMES, MAKES TRADE WITH L.A.

D.C. United waived defender Julius James, clearing the path to trade his vacated international roster spot to the Los Angeles Galaxy in exchange for allocation money.

James, a Trinidad and Tobago international, played in 22 league games last season in central defense.

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What do you think about Alonso's extension? Thrilled about the pending San Jose stadium? Which Crew rookie do you see having the biggest impact this season? What do you think about Chivas' new jersey? What's your reaction to James being waived and the D.C.-L.A. trade?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. The best things about Chivas USA? The Chivas girls! … But seriously … Corona is a great brand to have associated with MLS.

    Now re: SJ; any SSS is better than no stadium. Congrats!

    Reply
  2. A building cannot “begin to be destructed.” It’s either destructed or it’s not. Destruct means blown up in an explosion — it is not the opposite of construct. Potential words include dismantle, raze, destroy, and tear down. Also, the implied subject of the sentence is ‘work’. “Work to dismantle an industrial building standing at the future stadium site beings March 3.” Avi knows what he means, he’s just super busy without his buddy around. Sorry for the critique Avi, don’t hate.

    Reply
  3. As a Quakes fan I’m torn by the whole stadium issue. Yes on one hand it will be great to have our own SSS and over all it will be in a great location. I’m not as down on Buck Shaw as others are. However as some have pointed out the Quakes are going on the cheap end with the project. To be honest it looks and sounds like a Texas high school football field. 17K seats, no luxury boxes etc. My fear is that in ten years the stadium will be considered outdated and then will be back to square one. “Build us a new stadium or were moving the team to San Diego, Sacramento…fill in the blank”.
    I’d rather the Quakes do it right and wait until 2015 for a proper SSS. Just my two cents

    Reply
  4. Ah, I see we have “striped” instead of “struped,” but I still think the word you are looking for is “destroyed” rather than “destructed.” Although I am not an expert… it just feels wrong.

    Reply
  5. It’s a good location. and noise from the airport (which is across the street) won’t be too bad due to the roof which should help contain most of the crowd noise.

    As for the lack of stadium sponsors despite all the Fortune 500 co’s, evidently none of them are soccer fans. Actually the Quakes realized they needed to commit to building before a sponsor would step up.

    Reply
  6. He reminds me a lot of Marvell Wynne. Very athletic — so much so that you expect a lot more from him than you get. He is very mistake-prone.

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  7. That’s what I thought last week, when I was perusing DCU’s roster, which listed James as a “Senior Int’l:.

    I guess reports of his green card were exaggerated

    Reply
  8. I believe you’ve already made the comment yourself. Besides, anyone making a comment like that is either a) being a troll or b) too stupid to understand the logical fallacy of using generalizations to describe a large group of people. Either way, why concern yourself or let this get in the way of supporting your team?

    Reply
  9. …except both Philly and Chivas have only one logo on their jerseys. Just like every other MLS team with a jersey sponser.

    Having said that, I agree that Philly’s jerseys look messy. Ignoring the conotations of the Bimbo logo, the colors of the shirt and logo clash and it looks awkward.

    Chivas’s look good though. Especially on the away and GK shirts the logo fits in really nicely.

    Reply
  10. No coincidence that Seattle couldn’t win without Alonso last year and won big when he got healthy.

    Nice signing. Jazzed about the season.

    5 minute warning:

    Some jealous moron will make a snide, insulting comment about Sounder’s fans.

    Reply
  11. Ives/Avi, could you do a piece on the stadium situations for all of MLS. It seems like almost every team now has something in the works (except DC&NE), but with so much development I’ve lost track. It might not be the right format for the blog, but I’d love to see even just a summary of who has a SSS, which are in development/construction, and who else needs one. It’s really exciting that the majority of teams are now playing in their own stadiums!

    Reply
  12. Uh well Chivas USA is a sister club of a Mexican club. Plus Corona is an awesome sponsor. Much better than the scam artistry that is Herbalife.

    Reply
  13. With all the money in the Silicon Valley, I’m surprised SJ ownership is building so cheap. 15k is good for their current attendance, but I think they should have 18k to allow for future growth. There is also talk of no luxury boxes / suites. This is a huge mistake, they have more fortune 500 companies than any other county in Northern California (yes, more than San Francisco county) and they aren’t gonna take advantage of this with luxury boxes.

    Reply
  14. I’m a Galaxy fan, but I’m glad to see that the Earthquakes are making some progressss. My hometown is Sacramento, so maybe I’ll head to SJ to see the California Clasico with my cousin who is a SJ fan.

    Stadium looks alright. Cheap and small, but I like the roof. I wonder if it’s going to be loud though? It’s pretty close to the SJ Airport.

    Reply

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