The Union website has a game preview with a position-by-position look at Philly and Seattle. The piece also features yet another freaky picture of Danny Califf.

Toronto will host the 2010 MLS Cup, the Toronto Globe and Mail reports.

The Olympian, out of Olympia, Washington, talks to Union president Tom Veit about how much of a model the Sounders were. Veit says the Sounders were not a model: “We want to be what the Philadelphia Union is going to be.”

Peter Nowak talks about the work that went into building Union.

The Daliy Times reports on a contingent of 60 Sons of Ben members who are traveling to Seattle for Thursday’s game. Says Bryan James, Sons of Ben president and co-founder, “I’m still kind of in disbelief right now.”

Soccer By Ives previews the Union and concludes, “the team is a star player or two away from making a run to the postseason.” Read the comments for some insightful, if not brutally honest, opinions.

MLSnet.com says that the Sounders plan on giving the Union a rough start. Says Seattle coach Sigi Schmid, “We certainly want to carry the game to them.”

The Examiner takes a look at the Sounders last practice session before Thursday’s game. Says Freddie Ljunberg of what he expects from the Union, “You never know. If you look at last season, a lot of the teams just sunk back and had everybody defending because they knew we were quite good at home and they just tried to hit us on the counter attack. That’s probably what I would expect but, at the same time, you never know. Maybe they think we will expect that and they are going to go for it in the beginning to shock us a bit. We will see.” Yes we will.

The Sounders FC Blog in the Seattle Times says of the Union, “Newbies should start in the basement, but coach Peter Nowak bumps them up,” putting the team 15th in their power rankings.

LiveSoccerTV.com looks at ESPN’s recently announced MLS broadcast schedule for 2010 and who we can expect to hear. Will Alexi Lalas never go away?

Now that the possibility of a strike is a thing of the past, Don Garber says the league needs to find more star players: “Clearly you’re looking for a player that can be breakthrough figure locally and nationally, somebody that can give the team relevance in the local market against all competition but also give us respect throughout the international soccer community that proves that Major League Soccer is serious about building a professional soccer league that at one point can be competitive with the other leagues around the world.” Take a breath, man.

More on what Garber thinks from Reuters UK.

The FC Sochaux website has a photo gallery of Charlie Davies running and stretching. I still can’t believe it.

(Photo courtesy of the Philadelphia Union)