photo by Howard C. Smith/ISIphotos.com

Tim Ream returned to England earlier this week with all the necessary paperwork completed for him to suit up for Bolton Wanderers, and he might not have to wait long at all to make his debut.

Bolton manager Owen Coyle told reporters on Thursday morning that Ream, and two of the other club's recent acquisitions, will be on the gameday squad that will take on Wigan Athletic in a match with relegation implications on Saturday.

While I'm relatively certain that most dedicated followers of MLS will know what United are getting with the likes of Maicon Santos and Danny Cruz, there's still an element of mystery surrounding the acquisitions from the mid-tier Euro-leagues. Most of us see precious little from Swiss or Austrian clubs outside of perhaps the odd Europa League highlight.

Glenn Davis on Dynamo Player Acquisitions and Trialists

Some interesting info from Glenn Davis. Most notable the name of one of the trialists (and intriguing fellow), and a quick poke at the Boniek Garcia rumors. Keep hope alive 2012!

Agudelo: One Foot Out the Door?When the New York Red Bulls' disappointing 2011 season drew to a close, both Hans Backe and Erik Solér assured fans that they had identified the team's main weaknesses and would be taking steps over the winter to address them. But with 2012 preseason training camp having opened this week, the RBNY roster is still a work in progress, with question marks hanging over the heads of several players and doubts remaining about key positions and bench depth.

Thursday morning marks the beginning of training camp for the Seattle Sounders. Training camp is the MLS version of musical chairs. While the music is playing every one at the party gets to play. But once the music stops, some of these men are going to find themselves without a seat. The current roster of 28 players will be augmented in camp by 7 draftees and a collection of trialists.

Last season a small tweetmeme of #TheTrialist started after Seattle Sounders FC reported non-drafted, non-contracted players as "trialist" in their reports of pre-season scrimmages. There were occasions when "Trialist 1" passed to "Trialist 4." Due to Major League Soccer's various player acquisition methods this was done to reduce the chances of said player being claimed prior to Seattle claiming the player as their own.

2012: Rise of the Chinese Football Empire? is a post from: Just Football

Following the arrival of Nicolas Anelka and Jean Tigana at Shanghai Shenhua, the Chinese Super League (CSL) has received more attention in a month than it has previously done in almost a decade.

The CSL itself is coming up to its ninth year as China's top league since it superseded the Jia-A League in 2003.

On Monday we held a the last live Q&A on the Brotherly Game for the 2011 year. Some of the formatting got screwed up by the conversion to SBN. Here's the transcript:

Hello everyone! Welcome to the Brotherly Game's last live Q&A of the 2011 year. Ask your questions as we head even closer to the 2012 MLS season.

Peter Nowak spoke to the press today, only hours after the Union announced Costa Rican left back Porfirio Lopez as the team's fifth offseason signing.

"Porfirio [Lopez] has a great capacity going back and forth and taking pride at defending, and that's a part we take a look at very closely," Nowak said.

Featured image: Paul Rudderow

Editor's note: At the end of the 2010 season, we posted a series of season reviews of every Philadelphia Union player. Over the next several weeks PSP continues with a review of the 2011 season.

A striker can go missing for long stretches, only to pop up and score with a single touch.

FC Dallas traded Honduran winger Marvin Chavez to the San Jose Earthquakes on Friday, securing an allocation in the process.

The deal sent Chavez, who enjoyed a standout season in Dallas, to San Jose, where he should slot right in as the team's starting right winger.

Chavez delivered six goals and four assists for FC Dallas, providing a perfect complement on the right wing to Brek Shea's forays from the left flank.

On Novara's synthetic surface, Roma had to dig deep, and dig they did, unearthing three much needed points thanks to a blend of persistence and vision. Against dogged and at times enterprising resistance, Roma looked to their new acquisitions as architects of an away day three points, rekindling the capital club's assault on Serie A but then came an unfortunately timed break for.

Behind the Axe looks at the offseason's key dates for the various MLS drafts and player acquisitions methods, including the Expansion Draft and Super Draft. The 2011 MLS Cup is previewed with all 10 participating clubs and the general schedule of matches.

Luis Suarez is confident that, under the stewardship of Kenny Dalglish, Liverpool can add some silverware to the Anfield trophy cabinet this season.
The Reds are without a notable trophy since the 2006 FA Cup final triumph over West Ham - and five years represents an unaccustomed period of time devoid of glory for a club with such a rich history.

Torino defender Angelo Ogbonna has attempted to distance himself from rumours linking him with a move to Liverpool.
Reports in recent weeks have suggested the Reds are pursuing the Italian centre-back and could make an offer for his services in January.
And, despite initially suggesting Liverpool would be a 'dream club' to play for, the 23-year-old now says he was unaware of Kenny Dalglish's alleged interest.

Liverpool owner John W Henry concedes he may have overspent on some players, but believes it was important to put down a marker.
Since completing a takeover at Anfield in October 2010, the Fenway Sports Group has pumped £110.5million into the pursuit of fresh faces.
The likes of Andy Carroll, Luis Suarez, Jordan Henderson and Stewart Downing have been snapped up for big money, with the Reds aware of the need to spend in order to compete.

Manchester City's Spanish forward David Silva slammed Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque for his biased team selection and claimed that the only reason he never featured regularly for his national team was because he was not a Barcelona or Real Madrid player.

City are indeed having a good season so far and many people are starting to take their title ambitions very seriously.

Spurs late summer looked a lot like the one experienced across North London at Arsenal. What the acquisitions lacked in romance and long term strategic benefit they more than made up for in being effective near-term band-aids. Spurs needed something new at forward and a deep-lying player to both win the ball and start the attack.

Right, so now as the dust settles on another tansfer window, where we made some great early progress with players such as Cabaye, Marveaux, Obertan, Abeid and Ba, and a couple of late window acquisitions in the shape of Elliot and Santon, we're all set for the next big game in the stop/start beginning to [.

Former Arsenal player Frank McLintock is not impressed with the new acquisitions this transfer period. The Gunners have added Gervinho, Park Chu Young, Santos, Arteta, Benayoun and Mertesacker to the squad but McLintock doesn't think those players are up to scratch. Speaking to TalkSport Radio he said: "I'm not impressed with the names, I hope [.

Christian Poulsen has revealed he was persuaded to leave Liverpool by Evian coach Pascal Dupraz.
The 31-year-old was signed by former Liverpool coach Roy Hodgson for £4.5million from Juventus last season.
Poulsen arrived at Anfield with an impressive reputation but struggled to find his best form at Liverpool.

By DAVID GUBALA

BRIDGEVIEW, Ill -- After five years without lifting a trophy, the longest drought in the club's 14-year history, the Chicago Fire moved one step closer to giving their fans a new trophy to celebrate.

The Chicago Fire defeated the Richmond Kickers, 2-1, in the semifinals of the U.

I was wrong to write off Fergie five years ago and Arsenal fans are wrong to write off Arsene now

Now and again, a ­journalist will write an article that is proved ­spectacularly wrong by time. I wrote a book about Bill Shankly and Sir Alex Ferguson. It was published five years ago.

With big expectations this year, Liverpool has been busy as ever in the transfer market though most of their acquisitions have been to their midfield. Only recently did Liverpool start addressing their defensive concerns by signing left back Jose...
This is a content summary. Visit http://www.

[Editor's note: Quality fanpost, though it does leave out Harvey's impact a bit too much - he is mentioned. Front page'd]

Faryd Mondragon. Carlos Valdes. Brian Carroll. Carlos Ruiz.
These were the Union's four biggest offseason acquisitions. The first three have played almost every minute of every game, providing stability in the back.

New Liverpool signing Jose Enrique is determined to make the most of his opportunity to play at a "big" club and has set his sights on winning the Premier League.
The Spanish left-back completed his £6 million move from Newcastle in time to be considered for today's season-opener at home to Sunderland.

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- QPR are Back!
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- Throughout the day, the QPR Report Messageboard has news updates, comments and perspectives - even links to other board comments of interest re QPR matters (on and off the field) along with football (and ONLY football) topics in general.

Galaxy bound? Fiery Irish striker Robbie Keane is on his way to the Galaxy media reports suggested today - and the Galaxy have not denied the rumors (AP Photo).

Multiple media reports today have linked Tottenham Hotspur striker Robbie Keane, 31, to the Galaxy with forward Juan Pablo Angel being traded to an East Coast MLS team to make room for a player that would become the latest Los Angeles DP.

The new Chicharito? What Liverpool fans can actually expect from Marco Bueno

Football Spy has signed up some of the web's top foreign football experts to provide you with first-hand information on the latest Premier League transfer targets. Here's Joe Krishnan on Liverpool target Marco Bueno.

Kenny Dalglish's Anfield spending spree

In pics: Kenny Dalglish unveils Liverpool's summer acquisitions.

View the full story here: The Telegraph

A news article on 2011-08-03 17:04:33 from: The Telegraph

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Real Madrid wrapped up it's American jaunt in the 2011 Herbalife World Football Challenge with a modest 2–1 result in their friendly against the local MLS club Philadelphia Union. Their match featured a few recent acquisitions, as well as most of their first team players.

To read more about this friendly, visit this link.

Amidst a plethora of midfield signings at his club, Liverpool winger Dirk Kuyt has expressed his excitement about the upcoming season.
Despite scoring 13 goals and being a mainstay of the Liverpool side throughout last season's Premier League campaign, playing in 33 matches, Kenny Dalglish's spate of transfer acquisitions has left Kuyt with some serious competition for a first-team place.

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- Throughout the day, the QPR Report Messageboard has news updates, comments and perspectives - even links to other board comments of interest re QPR matters (on and off the field) along with football (and ONLY football) topics in general....Also Follow: QPR REPORT ON TWITTER
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- QPR report back to training.

I haven't had the chance to gauge the general sentiment of the fans about the transfer of Clichy to Man City so I will just share my views. I think this transfer is good for all concerned.

From the player's point of view, this move will give him a fresh start in a completely different environment where he will get much better defensive support than he did at Arsenal in the last three years.

I've already gone on record in thinking that NUFC are among the mid-table clubs that have done very well for themselves thus far. They've gone from highly volatile and a bit long in the tooth to more solid if perhaps a little less potentially spectacular. West Brom has quietly solidified themselves in the back with some solid acquisitions as well.

photo courtesy SAFC.com Gardner is a Black Cat | Latest Sunderland News | Team & Transfer News | Sunderland AFC | Sunderland Steve Bruce has completed the signing of Craig Gardner from Birmingham City. The Solihull-born 24-year-old joins Sunderland on a three-year contract for an undisclosed fee, becoming the Black Cats' third signing in just over 24 hours following the acquisitions of Connor

This rumor appears to be a little late, but it appears that KC was interested in trying to acquire Panamanian forward Orlando Rodriguez. Rodriguez was recently let go from his contract with Leon de Huanuco in Peru and appears set to rejoin his former club Arabe Unido for the 4th time in his career. Rodriguez was on the 2009 Panamanian Gold Cup team and apparently during this year's Gold Cup was on the radar for Sporting KC, along with Chivas and the Red Bulls before apparently making the decision to return to Arabe.

Photograph by David Bernal/ISIphotos.com

By THOMAS FLOYD

When the D.C. United front office rebuilt a lackluster roster that compiled a league-worst 6-20-4 record in 2010, no two offseason acquisitions were prized more than midfielder Dax McCarty and striker Charlie Davies.

Liverpool striker David Ngog is reportedly set to join Sunderland for a £5 million fee.
According to News of the World, the Black Cats have agreed to buy the striker and thereby reduce the fee due for the transfer of Jordan Henderson earlier this week to around £11m.
Henderson passed his medical at the Anfield club on Wednesday, allowing his transfer to be completed and mark one of the first major Premier League acquisitions of the summer.

Liverpool striker David Ngog is reportedly set to join Sunderland for a £5 million fee.
According to News of the World, the Black Cats have agreed to buy the striker and thereby reduce the fee due for the transfer of Jordan Henderson earlier this week to around £11m.
Henderson passed his medical at the Anfield club on Wednesday, allowing his transfer to be completed and mark one of the first major Premier League acquisitions of the summer.