The 2010 Crew look a lot like the 2009 Crew, does that mean another Supporter's Shield is on the way? (Getty Images)

I had hoped to get this post out of the way earlier in the day but some issues on the back end of my site kept me busy all day (some PHP bug!). But I felt like it was still alright to move on with out look at each Major League Soccer club and how they are doing this offseason.

Saturday at 4:30 on FSW the LA Galaxy travel to Columbus Crew stadium to take on the Crew in a showdown of the two best teams through the first third of the MLS season. You can watch it on TV or you can follow along with the liveblog that Jen will be moderating.

The Galaxy bring their 8-0-2 record in to face Columbus' 6-0-2 mark in the toughest challenge the team has faced all year.

**Updated** Kansas City came from behind to tie Columbus 1-1 today in Phoenix. Brian Carroll scored a first-half goal for the Crew, with Graham Zusi answering after the break. Kansas City's final test of the Arizona trip comes Sunday with a game split between the Arizona Sahuaros and Grand Canyon University.

The U.S. National Team is ready to travel back to South Africa, this time to face Bafana Bafana in the Nelson Mandela Challenge Cup. As of Thursday, Bob Bradley has announced the squad of 18 that will be heading to Cape Town. Let's take a look:

The two goalkeepers who will be going with the squad are Brad Guzan of Aston Villa and 24 year old Dominic Cervi, who currently is a reserve over at Scottish giants Celtic.

Today's trade and Expansion Draft news is coming in unpredictable bursts and we'll have a more reflective piece up tomorrow morning. This is what is known so far:

At around 5:35pm, the Union announced via Twitter that they have acquired defensive midfielder Brian Carroll from Columbus Crew.

Check out the Crew's Brian Carroll, with the left footed one timer at around the one minute mark.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Columbus Crew forward Stephen Lenhart headed in two brilliant goals to sink Philadelphia Union 2-1 on Thursday night at PPL Park.

Lenhart scored off perfect passes from Guillermo Barros Schelotto and Emilio Renteria in the 43rd and 50th minutes, respectively, to lead Columbus to the win in front of 18,001 fans in Chester.

The expanded CONCACAF Champions League has meant more games for more MLS teams. The group stage guarantees at least six games added to the schedule, which means that 40+ game seasons are no longer an unusual occurrence.
Already this season, Toronto is on schedule to play 42 total games. Columbus and Seattle are in line for 41, while Real Salt Lake gets a slightly lighter load of 38.

Holding a one-goal lead going into the second leg at Crew Stadium, Colorado needed penalties to get past Columbus on Saturday night after losing 2-1 in regulation. With the aggregate score at 2-2, neither team could get a goal in overtime. Columbus's Brian Carroll missed their final penalty attempt with Colorado advancing 5-4.

I understand the point of this game is to test fringe players and give the young up-and-comers a chance to impress. But I'm left scratching my head over the inclusion of 29-year-olds Nat Borchers, Logan Pause, and Brian Carroll particularly the latter two.

You can make an argument that testing out our options in defense is a necessity, given our current lack of depth.

Just before kickoff Neil sent an email to the TYAC staff that said "BORNSTEIN is your captain gentlemen. Try not to kill yourselves." I wrote back "I hate to tell you I told you so....." because Neil and I had a talk about this last weekend and I was convinced that this was going to happen. Levy countered with a couple jokes about his tribe.

Union

While there has still been no official announcement that Faryd Mondragon will be joining the Union, this news from Germany seems to be another unofficial confirmation: former FC Köln keeper Markus Proll is on trial with the club to see if he is a suitable replacement for Mondragon.

Prost Amerika tabs Guillermo Barros Schelotto and Juan Pablo Angel as the top choices in today's second round of the Re-Entry Draft.

Since it is unlikely that we'll be around a computer what with all of the mumming we'll be doing tomorrow, let us be the first to wish you a safe and happy new year. See you on Broad Street.

Union

Brian Carroll didn't want to leave Columbus, but he says, "However, if it's any place I'm going to go, I'm glad it's Philly and I'm glad it's with Peter.