The quarterfinals of the CONCACAF 2009 Gold Cup are set to take place on Saturday and Sunday with many of the same teams from the 2007 tournament. Many of the favorites are still alive and here's a preview of the matches this weekend.

United States v Panama - Saturday - Philadelphia - The United States takes on Panama as they are undefeated in the last 2 Gold Cup tournaments.

MLSR has learned from a trusted source moments ago that Rohan Ricketts as had been widely rumored for weeks, has been released by the Toronto football club. Ali Gerba, former MK Dons striker a TFC target for months and also rumored to sign with TFC has agreed to terms and his contract is awaiting the final seal of approval.

The San Jose Earthquakes continued their roster reconstruction by sending veteran defender Nick Garcia and the Discovery rights to Canadian striker Ali Gerba to Toronto FC for a third-round pick.

Why did the Earthquakes just trade the veteran leader of their defense? Well, they did it because he has been absolutely awful this year and has been to blame for countless goals allowed by San Jose's awful back-line.

Toronto FC has completed the signing of Canadian national team striker Ali Gerba, the club announced on Monday. Gerba joins TFC after parting ways with English club MK Dons.

Toronto acquired Gerba's rights in a deal with San Jose earlier this month that also brought veteran defender Nick Garcia to Toronto.

Toronto FC announced today that Johann Smith has been waived. This is probably to help make room for Ali Gerba.
We signed Smith last August on the day the transfer window closed, and Laurent Robert was released to get him. In fact, if I recall correctly, we sent New England an international spot to move up in the allocation order in order to acquire Smith.

The Toronto FC roster is likely to look a little different in the coming weeks, as Director of Soccer Mo Johnston is again wheeling and dealing in hopes of improving his club's fortunes. A few personnel moves have already been announced, while a few others are rumored to be in the works.
It started last week when TFC traded their third-round pick in next year's MLS SuperDraft for established defender Nick Garcia and the rights to Canadian international Ali Gerba.

According to the CONCACAF website, we could be missing five players during the Gold Cup (assuming Ali Gerba signs). Stephen Hart has named his 30-man preliminary squad ahead of the tournament, and included are Dwayne De Rosario, Adrian Serioux, Nana Attakora, Kevin Harmse, and Ali Gerba. Here is the full 30-man squad.

El Salvador scored the biggest upset of the Gold Cup so far as they beat Costa Rica through Osael Romero's brace, 2-1. Costa Rica had previously won 6 of their last seven encounters with the one draw.

La Selecta have been on a winning streak in their last five matches with just one loss against Honduras.

The last time Canada went undefeated in Gold Cup group play was 2000. Just saying.

What a strange feeling going into a game knowing you have already secured a spot in the knockout. It's not something I am used to and I have to say it actually took a bit of an edge off watching it. Still, any time we get a result against Costa Rica it is good.

According to the Score's Kristian Jack, the Julian de Guzman to TFC deal is 90% done. JDG has apparently been offered a 3 and a half year deal worth $10 million.
In some respects, he's the ideal candidate to fill our designated player spot. He's Canadian, he's still in his prime, and he's from Toronto.

Striker Ali Gerba scored for the second straight game to give Group A leaders Canada a 1-0 win over El Salvador on Tuesday in CONCACAF Gold Cup. The win almost assures Canada of a spot in the quarter-final round of the tournament. Celso Borges' 64th minute goal gave Costa Rica a 1-0 win over Jamaica in [.

There are three MLS teams competing in the Preliminary Round of the Champions League. Sadly these opening games look like ripe for more MLS failure.
DC United takes on LA Firpo of El Salvador. This year's DC side seems deeper than last year's edition, and MLS changed things around a bit so they weren't competing in both this tournament and the Superliga.

EL SUPER RATON

Any one following the recent Gold Cup surely heard his name thrown around. He plays for a lowly national squad and an un-heard of club in the U.A.E. None the less he was the tournaments second best goal scorer tallying 3 goals and 1 assist. It is none other then El Super Raton, Blas Perez.

Well, it's that time of year again. The National Hockey League, and in particular the Toronto Maple Leafs, are back tonight meaning that every sports station, every news channel and every newspaper in the city will devote 90% of its coverage to every minutiae of the sport that is Frozen Stick Soccer.

It has been reported that Canadian international Ali Gerba has been released by MK Dons of England's Football League One. Already the speculation is that he will return to North America and play out the USL season with the Montreal Impact or probably with the San Jose Eartquakes of MLS who own his rights.

Here is a press release.
The club announced today that we've acquired defender Nick Garcia from San Jose, along with the rights to Canadian striker Ali Gerba.
In Nick Garcia, we've acquired a veteran defender who at 30, is still in his prime as a centre half. He captained the Earthquakes 2.

Toronto FC released Johann Smith today from their roster. A young (22) depth player who has spent less than a year with Toronto, most fans will wish him well. However, he did not seem to build on his scattered appearances. Smith had speed and energy in abundance, but all other categories needed a top-up.

It was the first day of matches in the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup with Group A playing. In the first match at the Home Depot Center, Canada defeated Jamaica 1-0 and in the second match El Salvador defeated Costa Rica 2-1. Here's a full recap with video highlights of both matches.

Canada edges Jamaica 1-0 - Video Highlights - Canada moved to 1-0 in group play with a 74th minute goal from Ali Gerba against Jamaica on Friday night.

TORONTO FC VS. D.C. UNITED
BMO Field - Saturday 4:00 PM EST
TV: Rogers Sportsnet -- Radio: The Fan 590
How do two teams react after being punched repeatedly in the face by Spanish billionaires? It will be interesting to see which club gained the most out of being Real Madrid's b*tches last week.

Toronto FC has parted ways with goalkeeper Greg Sutton to make room for San Jose Earthquakes defender Nick Garcia. Toronto also picks up the discovery rights to Ali Gerba. "First and foremost we want to thank Greg for everything he has done for this club," Toronto manager Mo Johnston said. "Greg has always been the consummate professional, he was the first goalkeeper signed by this club, and this was a difficult decision to make.

Check this out.
"Watch these highlights of Ali Gerba, one of the newest acquired players for Toronto FC." Interesting...

So, we haven't signed him yet.
According to Mo Johnston though, Gerba could be signed by this Monday or Tuesday. He'll likely be at tomorrow's match against the hapless Red Bulls, and contract talks will go on from there. One area of concern could be the money aspect. Though Mo isn't too worried about the money issue, the main reason that he never signed with the Earthquakes was because of the salary he was looking for.

It's official.
Rumours surfaced today that Rohan Ricketts had been released, and the club just confirmed it. I think it's pretty clear that Ali Gerba's signing is imminent. In fact, word on the street is that the paperwork is at the MLS head office. Stay tuned...

Toronto FC supporters rejoice. According to our credible source in this email, you have got your man:
Ali Gerba has finalized his contract to play for Toronto FC.
Leave me anonymous please

It was all a matter of time, but Ali Gerba is officially a member of Toronto FC. The Canadian striker had been training with the side for a week or so now before it became official, but he is ineligible to play until the MLS summer transfer window opens on June 15. He will be playing with Canada at the Gold Cup until then, which will keep him in match fitness.

Osael Romero scored two goals, including the winner in the 86th minute, to give El Salvador a surprise 2-1 victory over Costa Rica in Group A at the Gold Cup on Friday night. In the other Group A match, striker Ali Gerba scored from a side volley for the only goal in a match in [...]

Week number 20, hard to believe we are already here and in almost in August for that matter. But indeed the dust has settled on the All-Star break and it is time to get back to work for several MLS clubs this weekend.

Some clubs will get games in the middle of a long week like DC and Toronto.

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.

According to Canada's French CBC, it appears that Montreal Impact of USL has made a serious bid for Ali Gerba. Impact technical director Nick De Santis has stated that the club is interested in seeking the services of the 27 years old Canadian striker. However, De Santis will have to wait until July 15 when the transfer window reopens again in the UK.

The Score's Footy Blog is reporting that Rohan Ricketts has been bought out by Toronto FC. This has been long rumoured or should I say long twittered ? Ricketts began the 2009 season as a starter, but soon lost his place and never seemed to be fully on the road back. Even if the Ricketts departure leads directly to the Ali Gerba arrival, Toronto FC would still have 22 players on a maximum 24 player roster.

Yesterday Toronto FC announced that Ali Gerba has signed with the team. Since he cannot be officially registered with TFC until the MLS transfer window opens, he will not be able to play until after July 15th. Playing for Canada in the Gold Cup should keep him busy in the mean time.
I am optimistic that Gerba can bring some strength and scoring touch to the TFC collection of strikers.

Luis Robles, a strong candidate to make the US World Cup Team in 2010 played two seasons in the PDL

Last week we discussed on this site that two of the key players in the (arguably) USMNT's most remarkable run Jay DeMerit and Charlie Davies had played in USL as well as College Soccer but had not played in MLS.

Canada started off the Concacaf Gold cup this Evening in Los Angelas on the strong foot by downing Caribbean Giant Jamaica 1-0. Not an easy feat for Canada who just a year ago in world cup qualifying failed to get by Jamaica.But that was under much maligned Manager Dale Mitchell.In his stead Steven Hart has returned to take the reigns of Canada.

A well organized week of group stage matches have ended and now the real drama begins as 8 teams remain alive in their quest to be CONCACAF's best. The Gold Cup is down to the quarterfinals.
On Saturday, in Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field, Canada will face Honduras:
VS.

So that was Toronto's soccer team playing in Toronto's soccer stadium last night.
I have just returned from a great holiday and I am finding it hard to fall back into old routines. Perhaps this is a part of a great holiday, you return home and find yourself in a strange state. You start to see many of the old familiar things in a new light.

With the transfer market in full swing, I wanted to bring our readers up to speed on all the outgoing transfers involving American clubs thus far this window. (This does not include trades within MLS or USL since those are NOT transfers in the traditional sense. This list also does not include loan deals such as KC's loan signing of Zoltan Hercegfalv)

OUTGOING

Rico Clark Houston -> Livorno (ITA) January

Yura Movsisyan RSL -> Randers FC (NOR) January

Kenny Cooper FC Dallas > 1860 Munich(GER/2)

Anton Peterlin Ventura County -> Everton (ENG)

Cody Arnoux Carolina Dynamo -> Everton (ENG)

Richard Perdomo Miami FC > CD Platense (HON)

INCOMING

Chris Birchall Brighton H&A > LA Galaxy

Ernst Obster Red Bull Salzburg -> Red Bull BY

Danny Szetela Brescia > DC United

Ely Allen Seattle Wolves > DC United

Ali Gerba MK Dons -> Toronto FC

Jamie Smith Aberdeen > Colorado Rapids

Facundo Diz Platense > Colorado Rapids

Hicham Aaboubou Carabins > Montreal Impact

Ramon Sanchez Alainza -> SJ Quakes

Andre Luiz Chiapas > SJ Quakes

If I have left anyone out, which is likely, please leave it in the comments section and we'll update the post.

This realization has taken a few weeks longer this season, but it's still just as painful. After watching TFC shit the bed this past weekend in Colorado, my faith in our ability to bounce back and hit a good run of form is effectively dead. I'm not too urked by a 1-0 loss away to the Rapids - they've been a good team this year.

It's do or die for Toronto FC. (Getty Images)

Big time weekend ahead for Major League Soccer. Four clubs have punched their tickets to the post season dance with four remaining spots left open to possibly all get snatched up this weekend.

You can pretty much put a playoff implication on every game this weekend.

Toronto will certainly protect their stars but who won't be protected? (Getty Images)

The 15h and final club in our expansion draft speculation lists is Toronto FC. Yesterday they announced Preki as their new head coach and his first big task will be helping General Manager Mo Johnston with figuring out who to protect and who to leave exposed in the expansion draft.

Tomorrow MLS will hold the 2009 Expansion Draft so the new Philadelphia Union can select their team for next season. That means they get to select 10 players from the MLS's 15 teams. Each team gets to protect 11 players and the rest are fair game for the Union to select. Each team can only lose one player in the draft.