Union cut three trialists and three Supplemental draft picks. Who cares if Adu hookahs? USA in Honduras news. Report says Liverpool CL game was fixed. FIFA wants offside rule clarified. More news.
Le Toux on where he sees himself in the Union formation. Lots of players in camp equals lots of GKs. Has MLS arrived as a feeder league? More on USA v Canada. Match-fixing in Canada.
No big surprise today that a few Portland Timbers players were waived today ahead of the Waiver Draft, though one such player could be seen as a bit of a surprise. As of today the Portland Timbers have declined options on three players:
Freddie Braun
Ian Hogg
Charles Renken
The latter player comes as a bit of a surprise considering his age, but then we also haven't really seen him play.
After arriving from Germany in the offseason as a well known youth prospect, Renken never got his chance to crack the first team but showed potential in practice and with the reserves. In one of the many convoluted acquisitions of the 2012 preseason, Charles Renken entered the league after a year abroad in Germany, playing for the Hoffenheim's U-19 side but seeing little time on the pitch thanks to a series of knee injuries.
The Timbers held another closed practice session at their Beaverton training facility today in the run up to Saturday's Cascadia Cup match against Seattle. With several players returning to practice after yesterday's sparsely attended training, the Timbers are looking close to full strength to close out the season.
With tomorrow's big game the first since the trading away of both Troy Perkins and Mike Chabala,
there's been a lot of opinion and suggestions coming from the fan base on what the Portland Timbers
FO should do with regards to players. Obviously, most of you probably wouldn't have traded Perkins
away, some of you probably would have traded Chabala.
Robbie Keane's former team and current team battled to a stalemate.
David Junior Lopes cancelled out Gareth Bale's goal to give the Los Angeles Galaxy a 1-1 draw
with Tottenham at the Home Depot Center in a meeting that touched on a couple of career stops for
Keane, the only one of the Galaxy's three Designated Players to feature in the match.
In all the euphoria over the first team's victory Saturday over Sporting Kansas City, I forgot
the reserve side was traveling up to Vancouver this weekend. Well, they did, and they scored three
against the Vancouver Whitecaps reserves, while MLS reserve keeper Brian Rowe recorded his second
straight clean sheet for the Timbers.
With undefeated Sporting Kansas City coming to town tomorrow, the Portland Timbers held a closed
practice at Jeld-Wen Field this morning. Reacclimatizing to Jeld-Wen's turf after a practice on the
grass pitch of their new training facility yesterday, the Timbers had all hands on deck for
practice today.
The Portland Timbers are back for year two in Major League Soccer, and they are hoping a new
star striker, along with another year of experience, can put them over the hump and into the
playoffs.
Portland came close to making the playoffs in their debut season last year, finishing just four
points shy of the tenth and final spot.
The Portland Timbers braved the elements today as they prepare to face Chivas USA tomorrow. The
practice was a closed one with only the warm-ups and post-practice workouts available to the
press.
Rodney Wallace, Steve Purdy, and Futty Danso were all away on international duty today and will
be returning tomorrow, with Purdy the most likely to take part in the game.
Today's Portland Timbers practice was an open one, meaning we got our first look at Kris Boyd on
the field.
The Timbers trialists were all still present and taking part fully in the practice. Darlington
Nagbe, Sal Zizzo, and Lovel Palmer worked on their rehabilitation today and both Zizzo and Palmer
even touched a ball toward the end of the day.
Following Kris Boyd's official introduction, the Portland Timbers held a closed practice beneath
cloudy skies at Jeld-Wen Field. Boyd joined the team for his first practice as a Timber and seemed
to fit in right away during the team's warm-up sessions. From the moment the team was on the pitch
Boyd looked at ease and spent time chatting with Eric Brunner as the team did their early
running.
The Portland Timbers were welcomed home to the Rose City by a slight drizzle and some short
field, 9v9 scrimmaging. New signing Franck Songo'o was on display, looking dangerous as a left
midfielder and sporting bright orange shoe laces that could probably be seen from space while
Charles Renken got his first taste of training in Portland.
The Portland Timbers beat the Chicago Fire 2-0 over the course of 120 minutes of play today in
the Timbers' final preseason game before returning to Portland. Franck Songo'o continued his
impressive preseason form, assisting on goals by Eric Alexander and Jorge Perlaza.
In the first half, the Timbers fielded what looked like a reserve side backstopped by Troy
Perkins.
One of the more potential-filled midfielders in the U.S. youth pipeline is coming to MLS.
The Portland Timbers have acquired U.S. Under-20 midfielder Charles Renken through the MLS
waiver process, according to a team release, bringing the 18-year-old to the Pacific Northwest from
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.
While it's possible something else wiggled through the window, it appears Edson Buddle rejoining
L.A. and Charles Renken heading to the Portland Timbers will stand as our late fireworks.As I was
informed to be likely, the DaMarcus Beasley move to Nancy did not come off, most likely because
Puebla execs are too busy trying not to go to jail.
The Portland Timbers are certainly not resting on their laurels heading into February as they
just announced a new player acquisition in Charles Renken, a midfielder, via the MLS waiver.
According to assistant coach Amos Magee:
"While only 18, Charles is a talented player who is already accustomed to the professional
environment," said Amos Magee, Timbers assistant coach.
The Timbers trained today at Jeld-Wen Field in preparation for their first Cascadia Cup match of
the year. With the match against the Vancouver Whitecaps tomorrow night, practice was closed after
warm-ups.
For the first time this season the Timbers were missing no players due to injury at practice
today.
When I started this site back in 2009, I had expected the site to devote a significant amount of
ink to the transfer market and the finances involved in buying and selling players. Over time the
focus has shifted to marketing, promotions, broadcast and other business issues facing soccer in
the United States.
An interesting mix of guys played a half-field scrimmage today. After the full squad warmed up
and most of the starters went back inside for their regen workouts, the players who did not start
Saturday's match took to the field. Interestingly, Kris Boyd and Eric Alexander joined the players
who didn't start, and Andrew Jean Baptiste was on the field as well, in spite of having also played
over 60 minutes on Saturday.
Finally under a month to go until the Timbers kick off the 2012 season! Currently Portland has 8
players who are not signed to contracts that are fighting for 4 spots. The break down of the 26(27
with Valencia) spots is as follows:
Keepers: 2 - Troy Perkins and Jake Gleeson
Defenders: 10 - Eric Brunner, Futty Danso, Lovel Palmer, Mike Chabala, David Horst, Rodney
Wallace, Steve Purdy, Christ Taylor, Andrew Jean-Baptiste and Hanyer Mosquera.
The international transfer window close a couple days ago. This doesn't mean too much, but it is
a milestone in that MLS teams can no longer actively seek in-contract trades with other teams
outside MLS. Still, the roster freeze date isn't until March 1st so we may yet still see more moves
made, even if it isn't Juan David Duque (Franck Songo'o?
This is Part II of TSG's discussion with Amsterdam-based Greg Seltzer of MLSSoccer.com and No
Short Corners. You can find Part I, here.
Gatt and a legend...
Matthew: So who are the key Americans abroad that US fans should truly be
excited by? So many times one goal is enough to chop a forest worth's of timber to power the hype
machine.
Cobi Span was on the 2009 Academy SelectRed Team before joining
Djurgarden. Brian "Cobi" Span has joined Swedish club Djurgarden and will start
trianing with the team early next year.
Span, who got his nickname from U.S. Men's National Team star Cobi Jones, was a member of the U.
Renken (middle) is Back in Camp with the Natinoal Team
We spoke to midfielder Charles Renken about his experience in this U-23 Men's National Team Camp.
The midfielder seems like he has been around awhile - he was in Residency in 2008 - but he's still
only 17 figures to be a part of Tab Ramos' player pool during the U-20 cycle.
With the US U-23 team in camp in Germany, one player who is making his highly anticipated return to
US youth national teams is Hoffenheim midfielder Charles Renken.
*Midfielder Jose Villarreal, a Leuzinger High product, and defender Zarek Valentin, who made 24
starts for the Goats this season, were among 31 players selected for the camp, which will run
Monday through Nov. 16 in Germany under Claudio Reyna, U.S. youth technical director.
And check out all those German-based players on the full squad:
Goalkeepers: David Bingham (San Jose), Cody Cropper (Ipswich, England), Sean
Johnson (Chicago), Jon Kempin (Sporting KC)
Defenders: Gale Agbossoumonde (Eintracht Frankfurt, Germany), Anthony Brooks
(Hertha Berlin, Germany), Sean Cunningham (Molde, Norway), Royal-Dominique Fennell (Stuttgarter
Kickers, Germany), Greg Garza (no club), Perry Kitchen (D,C.
Thirty-one players were called in for the combined U-20/U-23 training camp in Duisburg, Germany,
from Nov. 7-16.
GOALKEEPERS David Bingham (San Jose Earthquakes; Pleasanton, Calif.), Cody
Cropper (Ipswich Town; Athens, Ga.), Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire, Lilburn, Ga.
Conor Doyle will be in action for the US (not Ireland)
U.S. Under-23 Men's National Team head coach Caleb Porter has named 31 players to the roster for
the upcoming training camp in Duisburg, Germany, which also features several players who are
age-eligible for the U.
Joe Corona will get his chance with the United States after all.
The Tijuana attacker and one-time Mexican youth international is among 31 players called into a
United States Under-23/Under-20 combined training camp by new U-23 coach Caleb Porter.
The players will train in Duisburg, Germany, from Nov.
John Hackworth must really enjoy having knowledgeable fans. The Philadelphia spent another day pursuing a new team mission operative of transparency and supporters of the club were aflutter on social networks at the substantial change in club policy.
Per Kerith Gabriel, in today's Daily Doop, the Union have "midfielders Nicolas Medina, Charles Renken and goalkeeper Tunde Ogunbiyi" on trial in camp this preseason.
The Portland Timbers began the process of creating their 2013 roster by waiving three players before a Waivers Draft taking place later in the day. The Timbers said goodbye to defender Ian Hogg, midfielder Charles Renken, and midfielder/defender Freddie Braun.
The Timbers were back training in full stride today as fitness coach John Ireland reminded the
team to stay well hydrated ahead of what will likely be a trying match in the altitude against
Colorado this weekend. Today's practice at the Beaverton training facility was closed after warm
ups but the team was still working on the pitch when the press was let back out onto the field.
Though not overly long, what a strange trip it's been. I will return to NSC-world tomorrow to gonzo
it up with the tales of my journey for you all, the highs and lows and misadventures and
macarons.Awesomeness sneak preview: Like me and Ian Joy, Charles Renken is an Imo's Pizza fiend.
That kid is my dude!
In the first game the U-23 Men's National Team beat VfL Bochum 3-1. It was a combo of some pros on
Bochum as well as some youth players. Here's the lineup the U-23's put out:
