Three or four Portlanders may still be unaware, but the Rose City is going through some pretty intense troll wars soul-searching over the value of Major League Soccer right now. More here. Economists say MLS is unlikely to make Portland any actual money, so the mayor has been pushing soccer as an "amenity" for the "community" over recent weeks. Still I was struck pretty hard this afternoon by another inevitable side effect of overpaying testosterone-loaded young men to kick a ball about occasionally: Rape allegations. They happen against football players in England, all the time!

Now Multnomah County has one. As Stranger editor Christopher Frizelle reported earlier, a suit was filed Tuesday right here in Portland alleging that Seattle Sounders player (and last week's man of the match) Nate Jaqua sexually assaulted a woman when she was attending the University of Oregon on a soccer scholarship in 2007:

At midnight, she headed home alone, but says Jaqua insisted on walking with her for several blocks.

That's when Jaqua attacked the plaintiff and "subjected her to a brutal, forcible sexual assault," the lawsuit claims. Jaqua allegedly penetrated her vagina and anus with his fingers and penis, and then ejaculated and urinated on her.

And there I was thinking soccer fans just sang about "shagging" strangers.

The alleged victim is seeking $5million in damages, and of course it should be stressed that these are all just allegations at this stage. Calls to her attorney and to the Seattle Sounders are yet to be returned.