Supriya Ghosh (Editor)

2011 Seattle Sounders FC season

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General Manager
  
Adrian Hanauer

MLS
  
2nd

CONCACAF Champions League
  
Quarterfinals

Head Coach
  
Sigi Schmid

US Open Cup
  
Winners

MLS Cup
  
Western Conference Semifinals

The 2011 Seattle Sounders FC season was the club's third season in Major League Soccer, the United States' top-tier of professional soccer. It was the Sounders FC organization's third year of existence; including all previous clubs, it was the 31st season of a soccer team bearing the Sounders name.

Contents

Background

The 2011 season is the third season for Seattle Sounders FC who began play in 2009 as the league's 15th team. In their inaugural season, Sounders FC became the second MLS expansion team in league history (Chicago was first) to win the U.S. Open Cup tournament in their first season. They did so by defeating D.C. United 2–1 on the road at RFK Stadium. In winning the U.S. Open Cup tournament, Sounders FC qualified for the preliminary round of the 2010–11 CONCACAF Champions League. During the preliminary round, they were paired up with the defending Primera División winners, Isidro Metapán. After winning the first leg by a score of 1–0, Seattle went to El Salvador to play the second.

November

On 22 November 2010, Seattle made a trade with the Colorado Rapids for defenders Julien Baudet of France and Danny Earls of the Republic of Ireland for Peter Vagenas. Also, the list of the ten protected players for the 2010 MLS Expansion Draft was decided by the club. The draft took place on 24 November 2010 when both the Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps FC selected ten players from the Major League Soccer teams, including Sanna Nyassi (who was later traded to Colorado) and Nathan Sturgis (who was later traded to Toronto) from Seattle Sounders FC. Vancouver later traded Jamaican international O'Brian White to Seattle.

December

On 9 December 2010, Swedish club, BK Häcken reported that midfielder, Erik Friberg completed a three-year deal with the Seattle Sounders FC, bringing him over to the team. They also have announced a contract extension with captain Kasey Keller. On 15 December 2010, the Sounders selected Chris Seitz of the Philadelphia Union in the 2010 MLS Re-Entry Draft. The goalkeeper was later traded to FC Dallas for a fourth round pick of the 2012 MLS SuperDraft. Defender Tyrone Marshall was also selected in the draft by the Colorado Rapids.

February

The team traveled to Casa Grande, Arizona, just like before the 2010 season for preseason training.

March

On 9 March 2011, the Seattle Sounders FC played the defending MLS Cup champions, Colorado Rapids in the second Seattle Sounders FC Community Shield. The game was at Qwest Field, now called CenturyLink Field.

The Sounders opened up the 2011 regular season against the defending Supporters' Shield titleholders, Los Angeles Galaxy at Qwest Field. It was the third-consecutive MLS season that the league had its First Kick in Seattle. The match was held on 15 March.

Match results

  Win   Tie   Loss

Table

Western Conference

Updated to matches played on October 22, 2011. Source: MLSSoccer.com
Notation Key:

(SS) = Supporters Shield winner (W1) = Western Conference champion
  • ^Note 1 - The top three clubs in each conference are guaranteed spots in the 2011 MLS Cup Conference Semifinals. The other four clubs in the playoffs enter via wild card entrees, regardless of their conference, based on their overall standings in a single table.
  • League

    Updated to matches played on October 22, 2011 (NER v TFC). Source: MLSSoccer.com
    Notation Key:

    (SS) = Supporters Shield winner (E1) = Eastern Conference champion (W1) = Western Conference champion
  • ^Note 1 Teams qualify for the MLS Cup Conference Semifinals by finishing 1st, 2nd or 3rd in their respective conferences.
  • ^Note 2 Since the LA Galaxy won both the 2011 MLS Supporters' Shield and the 2011 MLS Cup, a place in the 2012–13 CONCACAF Champions League became available. The Seattle Sounders, the 2011 MLS Supporters' Shield runner-up, had already qualified as they also won the 2011 U.S. Open Cup. Therefore, the CCL place went to Real Salt Lake, the 2011 MLS Supporters' Shield third place. Houston Dynamo, the 2011 MLS Cup runner-up, also qualified for the 2012–13 CONCACAF Champions League. All four teams directly enter the Group Stage as the Preliminary Round has been eliminated from CCL.
  • ^Note 3 Toronto FC qualified for the 2011–12 CONCACAF Champions League as winners of the 2011 Canadian Championship.
  • Results by round

    Last updated: 22 October 2011.
    Source: MLS Results & League table
    Ground: A = Away; H = Home. Result: T = Tie; L = Loss; W = Win; P = Postponed.

    Match results

      Win   Tie   Loss

    Appearances and goals

    Last updated on 26 August 2016.

    First Team squad

    As of 27 August 2011.

    Major League Soccer squad

    As of 12 September 2011. Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

    Official sponsors

  • Xbox 360
  • Adidas
  • Samsung Mob!le
  • Seattle Bank
  • Virginia Mason Medical Center
  • Source: Soundersfc.com

    Recognition

    MLS Player of the Week

    MLS Goal of the Week

    MLS Save of the Week

    MLS W.O.R.K.S. Humanitarian of the Month

    Stadium

    On 23 June 2011, after the completion of CenturyLink's acquisition of Qwest, Qwest Field was renamed CenturyLink Field. CenturyLink picked up the five-year extension in the naming rights contract at that time, extending the contract to June 2019.

    Allocation ranking

    Seattle is in the No. 18 position in the MLS Allocation Ranking. The allocation ranking is the mechanism used to determine which MLS club has first priority to acquire a U.S. National Team player who signs with MLS after playing abroad, or a former MLS player who returns to the league after having gone to a club abroad for a transfer fee. Seattle started 2011 ranked No. 11 on the allocation list but on 26 August traded allocation positions with Chicago Fire to acquire Sammy Ochoa.

    International roster spots

    Seattle has 7 international roster spots. Each club in Major League Soccer is allocated 8 international roster spots, which can be traded. Seattle dealt one slot to Portland Timbers on 14 January 2011 for use in the 2011 season. There is no limit on the number of international slots on each club's roster. The remaining roster slots must belong to domestic players. For clubs based in the United States, a domestic player is either a U.S. citizen, a permanent resident (green card holder) or the holder of other special status (e.g., refugee or asylum status).

    Future draft pick trades

    Future picks acquired: 2012 SuperDraft Round 4 pick acquired from FC Dallas.
    Future picks traded: 2012 SuperDraft Round 3 pick traded to Chicago Fire.

    References

    2011 Seattle Sounders FC season Wikipedia