After the dishevelment that ended the previous season, the Sounders Saturday tidied up a bit to start 2014. The fans did their part, providing another sellout and another spectacular pre-game tifo while chanting through an afternoon-long waterfall.

The players did their part, getting what amounts to a walk-off score in the 94th and final minute that broke with last season and broke the hearts of Sporting Kansas City, the defending MLS champion. It all came together in the Seattle sports tradition -- audibly.

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Between July 28-Sept. 13, 2013, the Sounders played nine matches. They won eight, including the final five in a row. Following a 2-0 victory over Real Salt Lake in front of 55,107 at CenturyLink Field, the Sounders sported the best record in MLS and seemed primed to win the Supporters’ Shield.

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Perhaps suggesting that MLS has reached the same level of foolishness as NFL, the pro soccer season begins Saturday with replacement referees after an impasse between the league's referee union and its employer, the Professional Referees Organization, forced a lockout.

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The Sounders Thursday signed 26-year-old midfielder Michael Azira, who started three of six appearances for the club during the preseason. Azira spent the previous two years with the Charleston Battery of USL-1, scoring seven goals in 46 appearances. Azira helped the Battery win the 2012 USL-1 Championship, scoring the game-winner in the final.

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Midfielder Fabio Pereira, a native of Brazil who starred at the University of Michigan and was drafted by the Sounders and practiced this preseason, was signed by the club Thursday. His addition to the roster is pending receipt of his visa.

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The Sounders Wednesday signed midfielder Gonzalo Pineda, who will be added to the team's roster pending receipt of his P-I visa and international transfer clearance. Pineda, 31, made 208 appearances in Mexico's Liga MX, scoring once in 27 appearances for Queretaro during the 2012-13 season. He has been capped 32 times by the Mexican National Team, starting three of four appearances in the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

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The Sounders Wednesday traded midfielder Alex Caskey to D.C. United in exchange for a third-round pick in the 2016 MLS SuperDraft. Caskey, 25, made 30 appearances (17 starts) over the past two seasons for Seattle, scoring one goal with four assists. Across all competitions, he started 29 of 42 appearances, registering three goals and seven assists in 2,469 minutes.

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Sounders star Clint Dempsey isn't having a great time in London, where he's on a two-month loan to fading Fulham FC. But he seemed to be enjoying himself on ESPN's "Highly Questionable" talk show where he unveiled his skills as a rapper. If you want to skip the lame questions, his music-free demo is about 4:30 into the video.

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The Sounders Monday announced their broadcast schedule for the 2014 MLS regular season. Q13 FOX (KCPQ Ch. 13) and JOEtv (KZJO Ch. 22, Comcast cable Ch. 10) will broadcast 21 regular-season matches live in HD. The remaining 13 will be televised nationally by ESPN or NBC. The Sounders open their sixth season March 8 at home against Sporting Kansas City.

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The Sounders Friday acquired midfielder Marco Pappa, 26, via allocation, using its No. 1 selection in Major League Soccer's allocation ranking order to acquire the former Chicago Fire midfielder. Pappa will be added to the roster pending receipt of his P-1 visa and international transfer clearance.

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The Sounders Thursday sold forward Fredy Montero to Portugal's Sporting Lisbon after that club exercised its option to buy Seattle's former leading scorer on a permanent transfer. Montero, 26, leads Sporting with 19 goals in 20 games across all competitions, and is the top scorer in the Portuguese Liga this season with 13 goals.

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Editor's note: Buoyed by a promise that a new stadium in Seattle could be used to get an MLS team as well as save the Seahawks, soccer fans are credited by all involved for helping push the 1997 stadium tax vote over the top.

It took five years to get the stadium built and another five years before Seattle finally earned an MLS expansion team, which was done with direct involvement by the Seahawks.

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Editor’s note: Credit for the Seahawks’ surge to elite status in the NFL goes to many, but 17 years ago there was a constituency in the state that played a role largely overshadowed, or unknown to newcomers – soccer fans.

Were it not for the soccer community's support in 1997 of a statewide public vote to build a stadium that would house futbol as well as American football, the Seahawks may well have completed a move to Los Angeles under the hugely unpopular owner at the time, Ken Behring.

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The Sounders Tuesday selected midfielders Stefano Rijssel (55^th overall) and Fabio Pereira (77^th overall) in the final two rounds of the Major League Soccer SuperDraft. The 21-year-old Rijssel is a veteran of five pro seasons in Trinidad and Tobago and his native Suriname, while the 22-year-old Pereira played four seasons at the University of Michigan.

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The Sounderrs drafted a pair of defenders, Damion Lowe of the University of Hartford and Jimmy Ockford of Louisville, in the first phase of the MLS SuperDraft Thursday, conducted at the Philadelphia Convention Center. The selections of Lowe and Ockford add depth to the position after the club traded Patrick Ianni and Jhon Kennedy Hurtado to the Chicago Fire Wednesday.

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The Sounders continued their offseason makeover Wednesday, acquiring defender Jalil Anibaba, the eighth overall selection in the 2014 SuperDraft and a 2015 conditional third- round SuperDraft pick, from the Chicago Fire. In exchange, Seattle sent defenders Patrick Ianni, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado and the 13^thoverall choice in the 2014 SuperDraft to Chicago.

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The Seattle Sounders Wednesday signed forward Tristan Bowen, a player whose rights they acquired in a trade with Chivas USA Dec. 13. The 22-year-old Bowen established a career high with 22 appearances and 15 starts for Chivas USA last season, scoring two goals with two assists.

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The Sounders Thursday signed midfielder Aaron Kovar and forward Sean Okoli to homegrown player contracts, the second and third such players inked by the club in the past two seasons. Kovar is a Garfield High graduate who attended Stanford and Okoli a Federal Way native who attended Wake Forest.

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The Sounders Wednesday re-signed 41-year-old goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann, who started four matches during the 2013 regular season, allowing four goals with a 2-2-0 record.Hahnemann has made nine appearances for Seattle across all competitions since joining the franchise Sept. 14, 2012 after a long career in the English Premier League.

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The Sounders Tuesday announced an ambitious preseason schedule, which includes training camps in Seattle, Arizona and South Carolina from late January through early March. The Sounders start it up Jan. 25 at Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila, WA., will train for 10 days in Tucson starting Jan. 29, and will travel to Charleston, SC., Feb. 19 to participate for the first time in the Carolina Challenge Cup.

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