By CAITLIN MURRAY
It was already technically Monday on the east coast when the Seattle Sounders were still reacting to their derby win over the Portland Timbers in front of more than 62,000 fans. With goals from Clint Dempsey and Marco Pappa, the Sounders found a second-half surge to continue the Timbers’ struggles this season and win 2-0. The Sunday night clash saw the Sounders continue a peculiar streak — they are undefeated in 13 home matches when the crowd is at least 40,000 strong and the Sounders were happy to give the crowd credit for carrying them to a result.
On the international stage, the World Cup seemed destined to set another television ratings record for the final and it did exactly that. Between ESPN and Univision, a whopping 26.5 million people in America watched Argentina’s extra time loss to Germany in the final, the most ever for a World Cup final in the States.
And the match set records on the smaller screen too, becoming the most discussed event on Facebook ever. Considering the social network has some 1.2 billion monthly active users, that’s something of a milestone for the tournament and perhaps the sport.
Here is a rundown of all the stories featured on SBI today:
WORLD CUP
World Cup final breaks USA TV ratings records
World Cup final smashes social media records
MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER
Second-half blitz pushes Sounders past Timbers
Fire add to midfield depth with Cocis signing
SBI MLS Team of the Week: D.C. United
SBI MLS Player of the Week: Thierry Henry
SBI MLS Rookie of the Week: Adam Bedell
NATIONAL WOMEN’S SOCCER LEAGUE
NWSL Week 14: A Look Back
INTERNATIONAL SOCCER
Monday Kickoff: Scolari resigns; Rodriguez nearing Real Madrid move; and more