Mauro Rosales made his Sounder debut against the Red Bulls (Chris Coulter Photo)

Here are some quotes provided by the Sounders today by Head Coach Sigi Schmid. He notes Mauro Rosales’ play and leadership on & off the pitch as well as Nate Jaqua’s historical performance.

(On Mauro Rosales’ play at New York…) “I thought he did alright. It’s a new league so you’ve got to get your feet wet. It was difficult for him because I put him wide right, then I put him in the middle. He’s either wide right or he’s going to play in the middle of midfield for us at times so it all depends what we need.”

(On what Mauro Rosales brings to team…) “He’s an experienced player and obviously technically good. He’s played in Europe. He understands training. He speaks great English. I think he’s a good person in our locker room. I think people forget that we lost a little bit in our locker room. Sometimes people only look at the playing minutes but when you lose a Tyrone Marshall and a Pete Vagenas those guys are important guys in the locker room in terms of talking to the younger guys, passing on tips and things like that. Rosales gives us a little bit of that again because he’s got a good personality to him as you guys probably saw in the interview and he can talk to all of the guys on the team and he can share some of his experiences, and he already has. He helps us on the field. He helps us off the field.”

(On Nate Jaqua…) “We’ll see. A lot depends now on how he feels tomorrow after doing it today. We’ll see. Obviously guys that are healthy we are going to consider for either the starting 11 or the 18.”

(On what Nate Jaqua brings to team…) “Nate in his one full year where he played the full year in 2009 had career-highs in goals and assists. Last year when we probably pushed too many minutes on him right through our Open Cup streak and so forth in that period of time he scored four goals in five Open Cup games, I think it was. He’s shown an ability where he’s a more mature player. He’s an improved player over what he was when he was a younger player in the league with Chicago and went from L.A. back to Houston and so forth. He’s a guy we feel can score goals. He’s a guy that we feel is a good compliment to what Fredy Montero brings. He’s a guy who can get on the end of crosses and bring a little bit of that size element to us up front.”

(On Steve Zakuani and Brad Evans…) “We’ll see. Again, we got to see how they feel tomorrow after what they did today.”

(On moving forward from Saturday’s game…) “Short memory is always good. Obviously for us we can talk about the tough start where we are asked to play, the Houston game is a day up, so realistically now we are playing three games in like 10 or 11 days, which nobody in the league is being forced to do. As I’ve said before, that’s the price of our own success and that’s OK. Everybody wants to put us on their TV network because they want to get the buzz of the crowd and teams have their best games against us. But overall, I know the results haven’t been good but it’s not like I can be hugely displeased with the way we have played. I think in both games, the New York game especially in the first half we created four or five really quality chances. We can talk about finishing those chances and people have to do better. I don’t see any goals from [Juan Pablo] Angel or [Landon] Donovan or any of those guys but I see two great long distance shots from Juninho and that garners you all of a sudden four points. A little of bit of better fortune on a couple of our long distance shots, they go in the back of the net and we’re having a different conversation. I still have complete faith in this team. I think there are still a lot of points on the table. We said 99 after last game. There’s still 96, so there’s more than enough points for what we need. It’s a matter of us working a little bit harder, the breaks maybe go our way and continuing to do what we’ve done well because we’ve created chances.”

Jaqua’s 5 goals in the tournament was tied for the Golden Boot Award with Paulo Araujo of Miami FC.

The Oregon native started his USOC scoring campaign against in the 6th minute against Portland at PGE Park. He added two second half goals in the Quarterfinal against the LA Galaxy, and two goals in the Semi Final against Chivas USA.

Jaqua is the third consecutive Sounder to win the award. Kasey Keller won in 2009 en route to Sounders FC’s first Cup victory. Chris Eylander won the award in 2008 with the USL Sounders.

Jaqua Scoring against the Timbers

Jaqua celebration after a goal against the LA Galaxy (Chris Coulter photo)

Celebration of Scoring on Chivas USA (Chris Coulter Photo)

Official Release…

RENTON, WASH. -Seattle Sounders FC forward Nate Jaqua has been removed from the club’s Disabled List, making him immediately eligible to participate in MLS games.

Jaqua, 29, was placed on the Disabled List on March 24 and later underwent surgery to repair a lower abdominal fascial tear. He has not appeared in any league matches this season.

A nine-year MLS veteran, Jaqua started 27 of 28 appearances in 2009 and posted career highs with nine goals and seven assists.

The press release adds…

Jaqua is expected to re-join training with the team in 4-6 weeks. He was placed on injured reserve on March 25 and is required to miss the first six games of the season. Jaqua is eligible to return to MLS play for the May 2 game versus Columbus Crew.

Jaqua, 29, started 27 of 28 appearances and posted career highs with nine goals and seven assists last season.

The Seattle Sounders FC announced today midfielder/forward Nate Jaqua has been placed on injured reserve due to a pubic symphysis injury.

As a result, Jaqua is required to miss the first six games of the season. He is eligible to return to league play for the May 2 game versus Columbus Crew on the Xbox Pitch at Qwest Field.

Jaqua, 29, is entering his ninth season in MLS. Last season for Seattle, Jaqua started 27 of 28 appearances and posted career highs with nine goals and seven assists.

• Fredy Montero- Week 1 vs. New York Red Bulls- the low blast from 17 yards out
• Fredy Montero- Week 2 vs. Real Salt Lake- shot from 24 yards
• Nate Jaqua- Week 11 vs. Columbus- side volley off of a Ljungberg pass to the opposite corner
• Nate Jaqua- Week 15 vs. Colorado- slides the ball past Nick Rimando
• Patrick Ianni- Week 17 vs. Houston- bicycle kick
• Steve Zakuani- Week 22 vs. LA Galaxy- from a beautiful cross by Brad Evans
• Nate Jaqua- Week 23 vs. Houston- a side volley from Zakuani’s header
• Fredy Montero- Week 28 vs. New England- 28yd diving shot

Which is your favorite? Don’t forget to vote.

What are the odds that an FC Dallas goal gets the nod?

The winner will be announced on November 18th.

Go. Vote Now. Vote Often.

No police charges have ever been filed.

STATEMENT ON BEHALF OF NATE JAQUA
With respect to the civil suit filed in the Circuit Court of the State of Oregon for Multnomah County, David Angeli, Attorney at Law, issued the following statement today on behalf of his client, Nate Jaqua:

“Nate Jaqua was shocked to learn of these allegations. The Complaint – which has not even been served on Nate – is baseless. It alleges events that purportedly took place two years ago. In the past two years, Nate has never been contacted by the police, the District Attorney’s Office, the plaintiff, her lawyer, or anyone else regarding these allegations. Nate has confidence in the legal system and is certain that these allegations will be proven to be false.”

STATEMENT OF THE FAMILY OF NATE JAQUA
The family of Nate Jaqua – his father Jon and mother Connie – today issued the following statement on behalf of Nate Jaqua with regards to the civil suit filed in the Circuit Court of the State of Oregon for Multnomah County on June 30, 2009. The family received a copy of the civil suit yesterday:

“The allegations contained in this civil lawsuit are completely incompatible with everything that the people closest to Nate know about him. Nate is a terrific person. At age 28, he’s never been in trouble in his life. He was born and raised in Eugene and has always been committed to making positive contributions to our community.

“Looking at this Complaint, the circumstances under which it was filed, and based on everything that Connie and I know about Nate, we can only conclude that the plaintiff in this case is a troubled young woman. The incident allegedly took place more than two years ago. In the intervening two years, the plaintiff apparently never reported any incident to the police. She apparently never went to the District Attorney. Neither she nor her lawyer ever approached Nate or us, his family. Instead, her initial platform for making these very troubling and detailed allegations of criminal conduct is a civil lawsuit demanding $10 million, filed just one day before the statute of limitations would have extinguished her ability to demand money.

“We steadfastly support Nate during this difficult time and will continue to do so.”

Nate Jaqua celebrates one of his 2 goals (by Getty Images)

The voting is in and Nate Jaqua has won MLS’s Week 15 Goal of the Week.

He also won the honors in Week 11. Nate and Fredy Montero are the only players to have won the Award more than once this season.

Nate Jaqua: MLS Player of the Week (from Getty)

Nate Jaqua tallied two goals and an assist in Sunday’s match against the Colorado Rapids- that stat line has prompted MLS to tab the Eugene, OR native with MLS’s Player of the Week honors.

This was Jaqua’s fifth Career multi-goal game; his first as a Sounder. His first goal from the week’s match is up for Goal of the Week.

Jaqua is the third Sounder to be tabbed with the honors. Fredy Montero won the title for Week 1, Kasey Keller in Week 2.