Sounders vs. Sunderland Wednesday

It's the time of year when Europe's soccer teams come across the Atlantic to warm up for the coming season by knocking a few of our teams around. Hey, as long as they're in town, might as well hold it at the stadium and sell a few thousand tickets to starved fans and have the annual go at the impenetrable nut that is the American soccer audience.

This year English Premier League side Sunderland AFC is coming to Seattle ("Astroturf" and all) to face our very own Sounders. The Sounders fell 2-1 to Portland's team in their last outting, so we're guessing a first class English team is going to be quite a test for them, even if Sunderland is still shedding a few off-season pounds.

This is a great opportunity to head over to the Sounders site and take in some of the fantastically colorful match reporting going on there:

Portland asked several questions of the Seattle defense inside the game’s first 30 minutes but never tested Seattle goalkeeper Robbie Fulton, who played this match on loan from Major League Soccer’s San Jose Earthquakes.

Reserved seating is still available at 206 622.3415 ex. 117.