In the conference call, Head Coach Peter Nowack noted, that he “he was on the USL Sounder. I watched Le Toux, and was very, very impressed”. Nowack added that “He can play multiple positions. And he can score some goals.”

“With expansion comes the unfortunate consequence that you’re likely going to lose someone,” said Sigi Schmid, Sounders FC head coach. “Seba is a quality player, and it’s understandable that Philadelphia valued his abilities and brought him aboard.

“We’re sad to see him go,” added Schmid, “but we wish him the best with this opportunity in Philadelphia.”

Le Toux appeared in 28 games for Sounders FC, starting 15 of them. He logged 1457 minutes and scored a goal (against the LA Galaxy) and 3 assists.

In all competitions, Sebastien played in 35 matches and scored 4 goals and added 7 assists.

The 6’0″ Forward from France was purchased from the USL-1 Sounders in May of 2008. He was the MVP of USL-1 in 2007 as he scored 24 goals for the USL club over two seasons.

Many Sounders fans are going to miss Seba’s energy and allegiance to the Seattle fans.

See ya on March 25th Seba!

Philadelphia Union 2009 Expansion Draft Selections

Player (Pos.)                                   Former Club
Jordan Harvey (D)                           Colorado Rapids
Andrew Jacobsen (M)                     D.C. United
Brad Knighton (G)                           New England Revolution
Sebastien Le Toux (F)                      Seattle Sounders FC
Stefani Miglioranzi (M)                     LA Galaxy
Alejandro Moreno (F)                      Columbus Crew
Dave Myrie (D)                               Chicago Fire
Shea Salinas (M)                              San Jose Earthquakes
Shavar Thomas (D)                          Chivas USA
Nick Zimmerman (M)                      New York Red Bulls

I’m still waiting to hear how ticket sales are going for them – with tickets starting at $12!  With this string of 10 games in 31 days, they’re running 0-2-1, pulling a draw with the Galaxy at home.  Tonight they’re playing Toluca in the CCL, and with the Fire in on Saturday, they should be nice and exhausted for the Final.

In case you missed it, Le Toux won the Player of the Round for the semi-finals when we played Houston!  Need I point out that Le Toux has been the leading goalscorer the last two years, with 5 goals in ’07 and ’08.   Le Toux has 3 goals so far, 2 against Salt Lake for the play in (do these count?) and the PK that won the game against Kansas City.

sebasiten le toux

so where does le toux fit in?

is he good enough to follow up that performance? or did he only shine b/c it was a little bit of a weakened RSL team?

did he show that his true position is striker? or will he only ever be an average player at the top flight, but a great player at the lower divisions?

it is likely way too early to know the answers to these things, but one thing for sure is that he has given sigi some food for thought this week.

time to try out the following formation?

monterro    le toux

zak                      fred                        evans/nyassi

alonso

??

it might be a nice change, and you can always bring the big guy on in the last 20 if we need to change it up, nothing like 6’4″ to give the defense something different to deal with.

your thoughts on le toux?

• Brad Evans (3)
• Sebastien Le Toux (9)
• Freddie Ljungberg (10)
• Kasey Keller (18)
• Nate Jaqua (21)
• Sanna Nyassi (23)

SOOOOOOO. my desire to blog was curbed quite a bit. but with that, the roof is going to be completed today, i have been catching up on my sleep, and i was able to get 15 minutes 1×1 time with drew last night before the members meeting. so there is a lot to talk about. i mean a lot.

as the first, err and only, person of the membership council, i threw around my dictatorship and demanded a meeting with drew. or, i sent an email to bart asking if they could slot me in anywhere… 6 – 6:15 was my time.

i am not a reporter, i am a fan. so i didn’t have any questions prepared. i know i know. lame. but he asked me how i got voted in. and then i talked to him about an idea that i had for inaugural season ticket holders which he really liked. in fact he brought it up to bart at the end of our chat but bart mentioned they already have something planned. he hinted to what it was but i am under sworn secrecy.

i can tell you that my idea was for them to develop a patch that noted the inaugural season ticket holder, that the fan can get put on the sleeve of a new sounders jersey. i liked it b/c that patch is literally a bit of a badge of honor, and i thought the sounders would like it b/c well, it actually encourages shirt sales which easily pays for the patch cost itself. either way, they already have a plan so it won’t be that.

back to drew. he was a very nice guy, totally someone that you can have a beer with and not feel like you are sitting next to a celebrity. and i mean that as a compliment. he was interested in hearing my thoughts, and was really easy to talk to. i had actually seen this video earlier in the day yesterday and talked to him about it. i get 15 minutes with a minority owner of our sounders and i bring up the price is right. nice work.

as for the membership meeting last night, there wasn’t a heck of a lot of new info. a few things of note.
- FSN is doing some partnership thingy that sounds a bit fluffy to me. i think of it as the mariners all access equivalent. there will be some interesting things i guess but whatever.
- we have sold 18,000 tickets now. that number was stuck on 17,000 for quite a while so i guess we put that down to the freddie effect for the most part.
- there was a bit of a Q/A with Nyassi and Le Toux which provided for the most entertaining part of the night. Nyassi is still learning english although he does very well, but he is very careful when choosing his words b/c clearly he wants to say it correctly. this made for a perfect response when asked who he is most excited to play against. me paraphrasing here “i look forward to playing against beckham of course, but also my brother. I have already called him and told him that when he comes to seattle for him to be prepared for us to kick his ass”. brilliant. he also had another nice quote that went something like “i want to play good football so you will be happy”. good on you nyassi. i know you are lightning quick and i hope you can score as well. i am quite sure we are going to get a lot good quotes from this kid.

the other thing of note is that they are going to name the members association and name the band. they will do this with a vote similar to how they named the team.

the options you have, along with the write in vote, are:

Members Association:
- Sounders FC Union
- Sounders FC Membership Association
- Sounders FC Alliance

Band:
- Sound Wave
- Sounders FC Band
- Green Machine

i haven’t made my mind up on the members association, but i really like “sound wave” for the band so that will get my vote. also, the band played again last night, and they sound really tight. i hope it sounds that good in the open air as it does in a room, but either way, the band is a nice touch.

alright, so that should be enough to make up for lost time. with the expansion draft coming up, and the promised coach within a month, there will be plenty to talk about.

FRIDAY!!!!

The night started with ECS singing The Bluest Skies over the female Emmcee. Followed by the recurring video chronicling the history of Sounders FC.

Gary Wright was first up…

• Wants Seattle to be the “Capital of Soccer in the US”
• Expansion Draft is next Wednesday
• Head Coach should be announced within a month
• Starfire is a first class training facility. Tyring to be the best facility not only in the Northwest, but in the Country
• Wants Sounders FC to play in the World Club Cup not just in the US

FSN will own the distribution rights for a variety of ancillary programming featuring Sounders FC, which include match replays and team shows, both on the network and via on-demand (VOD). FSN gains the exclusive right to replay Sounders FC matches from the time the game ends until the next Sounders FC match is played. FSN will also have the opportunity to produce and air a weekly Sounders FC show which will give Sounders FC fans a unique perspective on the club through the network’s exclusive access.

The LONE member of the Membership Council was introduced.

Drew said he would wear a Sounders FC lapel pin on The Price is Right.

He’s Wrong!

It’s possible that the person who asked the question mis-heard Harkes during the US National game, check out the comments below…

Come next year, we’ll make you happy

When he comes here next year, we’re gonna WHOOP his ass

To be honest, I don’t like it when it’s cold

Related Articles

• The Ballots
• We met with Drew Carey
• Our thoughts on the Members Association
• Membership Details (May ’08)
• Prost Amerika’s First Ever Membership Meeting High on Feel-Good Factor
• Seattle Soccer Style’s Sounders FC Alliance? Members Association? Union? or ???

Then followed up with, “Hanauer indicated the club isn’t likely to sign more players until after the USL Sounders return from an October trip to Argentina.”

Hat tip to GOALSeattle.com who was up before the break of dawn to post this too.

Le Toux signed for $84,000 in base salary, $96,000 in guaranteed money.

Seattle MLS Blog has a very interesting reminder that Nate Jaqua is out there and what it would take for Seattle to sign him.