I found a good article the other day about a few MLS guys that could use a transfer. While I doubt the author meant for any of these five to be transferred out of MLS I do think a few of these selections were pretty good as far as getting some of these guys with a new club.

This all got me thinking of a few guys that would be worth trading to mix things up here for other MLS clubs.

Made it out to practice today and along with the interview with Kevin Hartman, I thought I'd throw out a few observations from practice today. First, the Wizards 3 long term injuries, Eric Kronberg, Chance Myers, and Adam Cristman all continue to recover and get closer to actually being back. Kronberg today was actually able to do some light diving during some keeper drills today.

Houston has plenty of guys worth protecting here. (Getty Images)

Today we move another day closer to the 2009 expansion draft. Now we turn our focus to the Houston Dynamo.

The Dynamo are a tough team to figure out due to the number of quality players that are both young and old.

Protected Available Exempt Corey Ashe Wade Barrett Danny Cruz Bobby Boswell Mike Chabala Geoff Cameron Ryan Cochrane Brian Ching Tyler Deric Ricardo Clark Tally Hall Brad Davis John Michael Hayden Andrew Hainault Richard Mulrooney Stuart Holden Dominic Oduro Luis Angel Landin Pat Onstad Brian Mullan Abe Thompson Eddie Robinson Erik Ustruck Craig Waibel Cam Weaver

Either way they stand to lose a good player this year.

The 2010 MLS SuperDraft is quickly approaching. On January 14, 2010, the 15 teams will select 60 players through 4 selection rounds. Of course not all teams have the same number of picks. Several trades by the Houston Dynamo has resulted in a very poor draft position, a position the Dynamo should be accustomed to.

The Swope Park Rangers defeated UMKC today out at the Swope Park training complex 2-0 this afternoon. Unlike the Creighton game earlier this season, the reserves dominated play the entire game, giving UMKC very few chances to work with. KC took the lead early in the first half, when Abe Thompson played a great ball through the middle that Michael Kraus ran onto.

The former Wizards season in MLS continues to wind down and while there weren't a lot of goals this week by players, there was some news involving former Wizards. First I've added two new players to the list, as the Jermaine Hue and the Jamaican league started up a little bit ago. And the Wizards 4th round draft pick this past year, Akeem Priestly is now playing in the top division in Azerbaijan.

That was a tough one yesterday. For long periods of time, it looked like we held possession better and were the better team. Toronto scored the lone goal, however, and Stefan Frei was strong in goal during their 1-0 win. Check out the quotes and notables from the match below:
Notables:
· Kansas City is now 3-3-1, 10 pts in a tie for 2nd place in the Eastern Conference with Chicago.

So, yeah, the season has already started. Maybe I#8217;m being a little half-as free with the word #8220;preview.#8221; But since the Wizards have not yet played a game, I#8217;m still technically correct in my labeling. (Get back to me on Monday, when I will still be posting these.) This preview is [.

The Swope Park Rangers, the Wizards reserves, completely destroyed Springfield's PDL team, the Demize, today at the Swope Park training complex 11-0. The Rangers today were made up of all the players that didn't play in LA Saturday, along with Graham Zusi and Abe Thompson, who appeared as subs on Saturday.

The KC Wizards and Swope Park Rangers took part in a scrimmage today against PDL side, the Des Moines Menace today at the Swope Park training complex. Unfortunately I didn't find out about the game until after it had already started so I missed the beginning of the game. In the first half though, the Wizards starters (minus Santiago Hirsig who was rested due to a minor injury) played against the Menace.

When I saw that Kei Kamara had been traded for Abe Thompson, I was a bit surprised. If you take a closer look at the numbers, it makes a little more sense. Here's the stat lines involved:
77 gm 14 g 12 a .18 gpg (3547 min)
58 gm 9 g 2 a .15 gpg (2957 min)
There's not too much to distinguish these players, other than the fact that one of them seems to be a much better passer than the other.

The Wizards are back in Kansas City after finishing their training in Florida at Bradenton. Before they left, they had one more scrimmage against a team from the IMG Academy. The Wizards won the game 7-1. Graham Zusi got another preseason goal off an assist from Jimmy Conrad (whose birthday is today, Happy Birthday Jimmy) to open the scoring in the 25th.

Arnaud.
The folks from MLSnet.com caught up with Davy Arnaud while the team was down in Florida for a few words (5 minutes worth) on the upcoming MLS season. He spoke, among other things, about how we finished last year and what that means for us going into the 2009 campaign. Go watch it now.
Don't forget that the guys are now back in town and will be training today at our Swope Park Training Center at 2 p.

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It was fun out at practice today, the scrimmages are always fun but after practice was the most entertaining. I will put that up in another post later on...Practice observations: There was another warm body in camp today that I did not recognize, probably a player to fill out the practice but I could not find out any info for sure.

Swope Park Rangers and MSU pose for pre-game picture.
Abe Thompson plays a cross between his two goals.
Kurt Morsink poses as teammate Jack Jewsbury snaps a picture during the first half.
If you were following along via our Twitter account, you already know this, but the KCW Reserves/Swope Park Rangers defeated a well-organized Missouri State team 3-0 today on the strength of first-half goals from Abe Thompson and a second-half strike from Kurt Morsink.

Yesterday, our KCW Reserves/Swope Park Rangers crushed the Springfield Demize of the PDL 11-0. Wizards goals scored by: Thompson (5), Zusi (2), Wolff, Kraus, Leathers and Morsink. Boris Pardo was in goal for the full 90, recording the shutout. For a full rundown of the game, visit Down the Byline or go back and read through the Wizards Twitter feed at www.

The Swope Park Rangers won again today, defeating the KC Brass 6-0 today. The lineup today was made up of all the players that didn't start yesterday against the Crew along with a few guest players. Here's the way the Rangers lined up to start the game:
Pardo
Leathers - Josh White - McKenzie - Marquess
Morsink
Harrington - Zusi - Souter
Thompson - Kraus
Both teams started off the game fairly even, with the game going back and forth.

It was the 34th minute on a less than exciting game when New England attacker Michael Videira went up for a ball with KC defender Aaron Holhbein. In his effort to head it he swung his elbow back and struck Hohlbein in the face. Referee Jorge Gonzalez pulled out the red card right away and sent Videira to the showers.

Cannonball!!

Kei Kamara has been traded to Kansas City for Abe Thompson. Details to follow.

FOREVER ORANGE

Luis Angel Landin is one of the new faces in MLS. (Getty Images)

I guess you could really say its just been a rather slow week in terms of news. Sure rosters were finalized on Tuesday night for the rest of the year and the league announced their big break next summer but other than that it's been rather calm in Major League Soccer this week.

The Houston Dynamo's 2009 regular season came to an end on Sunday as they beat Chivas USA 3-2 at the Home Depot Center. Coming into Sunday's match, both teams had secured playoff berths, but the outcome would decide the seeding of the teams. By beating the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday, the L.

Watch and enjoy. Abe (while still with Dallas) and Wolff (while with us) make this goal-heavy highlight reel.

After having schedules not line up with other MLS clubs in town, we played a scrimmage yesterday against a team from the IMG Academy in Bradenton. We won 7-1 on three goals in the first half and four in the second.
Lineup: Hartman (Pardo 46); Leathers, Conrad (McKenzie 65), Hohlbein (Besler 46), Marquess (Kraus 65); Zusi, Jewsbury (Morsink 60), Arnaud (Pizarro 65) Souter (Watson 46); Wolff (Cristman 46), Lopez (Thompson 65).

The Wizards came from a 2-1 half time deficit to take a 3-2 lead before settling for a 3-3 draw with Salamanca FC's reserves tonight in Mexico. The players that didn't get the start against Chivas de Guadalajara's reserves earlier this week got the start tonight. The only exception was Santiago Hirsig, who played in the first half.

The Swope Park Rangers took care of business today against Missouri State, winning 3-0 over the Missouri Valley team. The Rangers started the game off fast taking the game to the Bears and winning an early corner. Herculez Gomez took the corner which when over the crowd in the middle of the box, bounced once and was met by the head of Abe Thompson who buried his header into the net to give the Rangers the early lead.

It took more than it probably should have, but the KC Wizards advanced to the quarterfinals of the US Open Cup after their penalty kick win over the Minnesota Thunder last night. Coach Onalfo made 9 changes to the lineup that started on Sunday against Santos Laguna. The only hold overs were Lance Watson and Roger Espinoza.

July 4, Kamara scored for Houston at CAB and pulled out a white glove as a tribute to the late Michael Jackson.
Today, we acquired striker Kei Kamara from the Houston Dynamo for striker Abe Thompson and allocation money. Kamara comes to the Wizards with 14 career goals and three career assists in 80 MLS games (50 starts) over four seasons.

Another week of former Wizards updates. The USL playoffs are inn full swing right now. Still looking for a few former Wizards still, and since Carlos Marinelli hasn't even appeared for Argentinos Juniors at all, I'm doubting he actually signed for them, so he joins the list of former Wizards I'm searching for, along with Alex Zotinca, Doug DeMartin, Jose Burciaga, Neal Kitson, Scott Sealy, and Will John.

Another week with your former Wizards update. The USL season is almost over with the finals coming up this next week. The MLS season as well is starting to get close to the end of the season. We do have a first time appearance for Chris Konopka as he made his debut for Sporting Fingal.
MLS
Nick Garcia - Toronto FC - Toronto did not play this week.

STARTERS
Don Garber will take calls on Fox Football Fone-In show on Mon Oct 26 from 6-8pm Central. Jesse Marsch of Chivas USA is also scheduled to appear.
dN
Minnesota Thunder GM Djorn Buchholz has left the team to become CEO of the Austin Aztex. On a personal note Buchholz has been a fantastic person to deal with at the team and will be greatly missed by me as a fan of the team.

After having schedules not line up with other MLS clubs in town, we played a scrimmage yesterday against a team from the IMG Academy in Bradenton. We won 7-1 on three goals in the first half and four in the second.
Lineup: Hartman (Pardo 46); Leathers, Conrad (McKenzie 65), Hohlbein (Besler 46), Marquess (Kraus 65); Zusi, Jewsbury (Morsink 60), Arnaud (Pizarro 65) Souter (Watson 46); Wolff (Cristman 46), Lopez (Thompson 65).

I found out about this game only yesterday, but the Swope Park Rangers took on KC's PDL team, the Brass today out at the Swope Park training complex. Here's the lineup that started the game.
Pardo
Harrington - Leathers - McKenzie - Marquess
Morsink
Souter - Zusi - Gomez
Kraus - Thompson
The Rangers dominated the game from the start, but didn't create many good chances early.

Just wanted to share the photos from the Wizards/Demize game on Monday. Check out Mike's writeup ot the twitter feed from Kyle on Hillcrest Road for more details.One of Abe's 5 goals...Another shot by Abe...Another goal!!!McKenzie heading a corner back across the goal...Rauwshan was close on a couple occasions.

In the sweltering heat of Saint Louis where the temperature on the field was near 100 degrees, the Wizards and Atlas ended in a scoreless draw, in a game that left alot to be desired for an international competition.

Due to "scheduling conflicts" Kansas City traveled to Saint Louis to open their Superliga first round in a game against Mexican First Division squad Atlas.

I'm a little late on getting this out, but with the month of June over, it's time to look at who won the man of the month award for the month of June. June was not a great month for the Wizards, as they only technically won one game (US Open Cup game officially goes down as a draw). Kansas City scored 8 goals in the month, while conceding 10 goals.

Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America previews the MLS matchup between the Kansas City Wizards and the Chicago Fire, which will be the debut of technical director Peter Vermes as the interm head coach.
KANSAS CITY (5-7-6) vs. CHICAGO (8-4-8), 3 p.m., TeleFutura
Interim head coach Peter Vermes takes charge of a game for the first time since the sacking of Curt Onalfo.

A late season trade is underway. The Houston Chronicle is reporting that the Houston Dynamo are set to trade forward Kei Kamara to Kansas City in exchange for Abe Thompson and possible allocation money.

The deal isn't totally finished but boy it is an interesting one to see. Thompson hasn't really done a thing in KC since being traded last season from Dallas.

The Kansas City Wizards acquired Kei Kamara from the Houston Dynamo for Abe Thompson and allocation money.Abe hanging out in the Cauldron at a recent game...I was talking to Technical Director and acting Head Coach Peter Vermes and he revealed the trade. He mentions the trade at the end of this short interview.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

With a full stable of forwards, and a player in the final year of his contract, the Houston Dynamo did what it always seems to do: finds a way to make a deal that helps the club.