In a match that featured intense physical play, defensive dominance and a near-brawl, the Seattle Sounders drew 0-0 with the Houston Dynamo on Thursday night at Qwest Field. Seattle defender Patrick Ianni, a last-minute replacement in the starting lineup, came closest to scoring by hitting the crossbar, but the home side also needed a few clutch saves by Kasey Keller to salvage the draw.

Check out the photo gallery of the match!

Sounders player ratings included in the match report.

In another unfortunate characteristic of league play, the official missed several key calls, catching the ire of ASN’s Sounders columnist.

Abby Wambachscored her 101st career goal on a header in the 34th minute and a world class performance by the U.S. defense made sure it held up for a hard-fought 1-0 victory against Germany in front of a sold-out crowd at Impuls Arena in Augsburg, Germany.

Read the match report at ASN's USWNT page.

The U.S. Under-17 Men’s National Team rebounded in their second game of the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup, defeating Malawi 1-0 with a goal from midfielder Alex Shinsky at Sani Abacha Stadium in Kano, Nigeria.

Get the full report at ASN's U.S. Men's National Team page.

One of ASN's beat writers praises the Sounders' impact on the local sports scene and hopes the best is yet to come.

Yura Movsisyan put away a Bouna Coundoul deflection in the 90th minute to give Real Salt Lake a season-ending 1-1 draw with the Colorado Rapids at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce, Colo. With the point RSL earned its first trip to the Major League Soccer playoffs, retained ownership of the Rocky Mountain Cup, and ended the season for the Colorado Rapids (ASN, Oct. 26, 2008).

Movsisyan would repeat his magic a week later, scoring again in the last minute to defeat Chivas USA in the first leg of the Western Conference semifinals en route to eventually eliminating the Los Angeles club. In the Western Conference finals RSL lost to the New York Red Bulls 1-0.

In this year’s Rocky Mountain Cup finale, again held on the last day of the regular season, Movsisyan again concluded the scoring as RSL again eliminated their archrivals to again qualify for the postseason at the last minute. But the match was nowhere near as close as last year. RSL coasted to a 3-0 victory. Fortunately for Colorado, Movsisyan will not be around to complete the trifecta next season. The 22-year old striker will join Danish side Randers FC during the offseason.

In Kano, Nigeria, the U.S. U-17 Men’s National Team fell in their opening round match against Spain 2-1, despite an early red card to Spanish defender Sergi Gomez and a Jack McInerney strike in the fourth minute. Spain managed to take the lead with two counter-attacking goals in the 22nd and 30th minutes. The Spanish side withstood several late second-half chances by the U.S. to get the win as the game was broken up by lighting outages on two occasions. The result leaves the United States in third in Group E, and they will look to rebound with a win against fourth place Malawi on Oct. 29 at 11 a.m. ET.

Saturday, Oct. 24 was the day of the last professional soccer game at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. While The Swamp has many pleasant memories for soccer fans, particularly those old enough to remember the New York Cosmos, for the New York Red Bulls the end could not have come soon enough. Next year the team moves into its own soccer-specific stadium in nearby Harrison, N.J. But the final game was (weather aside) a positive experience for the home fans, who saw their team shut out Toronto FC 5-0. You’ve read the match report and seen the videos. Here is a photo montage, put together by Scott Marsh.