Sounders sign Blaise N'Kufo

"Johnny Inkslinger found a dog lying in the street dead
He was shot with a BB gun
He was BB'ed to death
Good news
Good news
Good news
Good news is rock 'n' roll"


             Wesley Willis - Good News is Rock & Roll
      (Pictured at Right - If that's N'Kufo we're all screwed)


I do not believe Wesley Willis knew it at the time, but when he penned these auspicious words several years ago, he was portending the ultimate destruction of MLS by SSFC in 2010.  I only wish I could find the words to effectively convey the magnitude of the signing of Swiss National Team target man Blaise N'Kufo.


Before we move on, let's be clear. It's spelled "N K U F O." Not Nfuko. I've seen that mistake all over the place, and quite frankly I'm tired of lazy journalists taking stabs at the proper spelling of the man's name. If there's one thing a journalist should get right, it's the spelling of a person's name. So I checked it on Wikipedia, and of course, they say his name is spelled differently. What the hell do I know. Who really cares, we all know who we're talking about here. Moving on...


I love this move. People will criticize it because they don't know much about this guy, or because he's old (34). But when you look at what he does well (or I should say when you read about what he does well, because, let's be honest, none of us have ever seen him play), this move makes a lot of sense for Seattle. N'Kufo is a target man. He's 6'2 and strong. He wins headers, he maintains possession, and he scores goals. To me, that sounds like a lot of the stuff we wanted Fredy Montero to do last year. And some of it he did do. He just wasn't very consistent about it. Which is fine, he's 21 years old. We can't expect Montero to be Pele yet. Which is why N'Kufo's size and consistency will make a tremendous impact. The man scored consistently for the last five years in Holland. If he can finish half the chances that Montero wasted last year, he'll end the season with 10 goals.

N'Kufo won't be amazing us with his speed or incredible technical ability. Honestly, I'm fine with that. In MLS, technical ability gets you fouled repeatedly, and it all amounts to nothing more than a lot of bruises unless there's somebody on your team that can take advantage of your skills. And now SSFC has that. Now, when Freddie Ljungberg cuts through the defense with a great pass, or when he creates some space with the ball at his feet and creates a scoring opportunity in the box, N'Kufo AND Montero will be there to finish it. I think we're going to see a marked increase in the number of goals SSFC scores once N'Kufo joins the team in July. Let's just hope they are well position by that point in the season to take advantage of N'Kufo's skills.


And one last thing. With the rumors that Thierry Henry is coming to the league this year after the World Cup (mostly unsubstantiated, but I would not be surprised to see it happen), SSFC had a legitimate risk of losing one of their grumpiest, drunkest, and least rational fans. Our friend Dan would have no choice but to become a fan of whatever team Henry joined, since he's had an uncontrollable crush on the man for some time. Now, with a guy like N'Kufo, Dan should be able to easily transfer his crush to a SSFC player, and thereby guarantee that his allegiance does not stray.


In October of 2010, when SSFC is 8 points clear of the 2nd place team in the Western Conference, we'll look back on this signing and praise the all-knowing SSFC front office. Until then, somebody start emailing Dan pictures of this guy.