Stories Of the Day: Sounders owner sued; strike ends; Sweden-bound

Some overlooked stories in a day with UEFA & CONCACAF Champions League, MLS and NASL games…

Sounders co-owner Joe Roth sued: Sure, lawsuits and legal entanglements are not exactly rare in Hollywood, but this one is an eye-catching headline with the $50 million dollar figure attached to it. Seems Roth is being accused by a former employee/partner that claims he helped create the new FX show ‘Anger Management’ and was supposed to have backend ownership of the show. The new show’s value is due primarily for the involvement of Charlie Sheen, who in the small world of Hollywood worked on Two and Half Men with Ryan Stiles, a friend a co-star of another Sounders co-owner Drew Carey on ‘The Drew Carey Show,’ ‘Whose Line Is It Anyway?’ and ‘Drew Carey’s Improv-A-Ganza.’

More Money Matters: A week-long strike of construction workers at a Brazilian World Cup venue came to an end today. The workers at Fonte Nova stadium, located in the city of Salvador, accepted a 10.5 percent raise and better benefits. It was the second group to return to work this week with a two-week strike ending at a stadium in Fortaleza Monday.

Going Home - US Women to play in Sweden Invitational: Preparations for the Olympics will include a trip to the native country of head coach Pia Sundhage. They will play host Sweden June 16 and Japan two days later in the three-team event. All three clubs are also participants in the upcoming London Olympics. Both games will be held Halmstad, one of the host cities for the 2013 European Women’s Championship.

LD Update: MLS signings and friendlies

Dynamo blank Laredo Heat: In the midst of an off week, the Houston Dynamo broke from intra-squad play to face the USL PDL’s Laredo Heat, picking up an easy 5-0 win – rosters not available – at the Houston Amateur Sports Park.

Not a lot can be gleaned this far before the season for a USL PDL team because the college players do not report until May 1, but the Heat are one of a handful of teams that tend to have a number of older players. “Under normal circumstances we would not be playing teams such as the Dynamo so early in the preseason,” General Manager J.J. Vela said. “However, because of their schedule and the start of their season we welcomed the challenge to firstly help them out with an exhibition game and also to see what we have in order to secure the best players for our Premier Development League season.

The Dynamo, “ramped up a bit” following the loss at Seattle according to Brad Davis were expected to utilize much of their squad.  “I think we’ll mix it up,” Dynamo coach Dominic Kinnear said about his planned approach to Thursday’s match. “We’ll probably make a lot of changes like we’ve done in preseason.” 

Philadelphia Union to play affiliate Reading: The MLS club and its affiliate, Reading United AC, will continue their series of friendlies with a third installment. The Union will face the PDL club Saturday, June 9 at Albright College’s Shirk Stadium. Last year the two clubs played to a 1-1 draw at the end of May.

Battery bring in Sanyang: There seems to be an unexpected pipeline between Seattle and Charleston, SC. The Sounders have signed two former Battery players in Osvaldo Alonso and Alex Caskey over the years. Now it looks like it is a two-way path as former Sounder Amadou Sanyang was added by Charleston along with University of Washington product Taylor Mueller.

Despite only being 20, Sanyang has already been around MLS for three seasons having originally signed with Toronto FC at the age of 17. The Gambia youth international spent last season with the Sounders.