Charles Renken is now a Timbers. (John Dorton/ISI)

It has been one of those days. First the Sebastien Le Toux trade now these two stories.

First up is former US youth phenom Charles Renken has been signed by the Portland Timbers. The Timbers got the youth star off of waivers somehow.

Charles Renken is now a Timbers. (John Dorton/ISI)

It has been one of those days. First the Sebastien Le Toux trade now these two stories.

First up is former US youth phenom Charles Renken has been signed by the Portland Timbers. The Timbers got the youth star off of waivers somehow.

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.

After playing in the fall with Hoffenheim's U-19 team, American Charles Renken is returning to MLS where he will join the Portland Timbers of MLS.

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?

By JOEY SAMUEL

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 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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

BROADCAST INFORMATION: FOX Sports Houston Plus - 7:30 p.m. (Comcast: 110; AT&T U-Verse: SD= 692 HD=1692; DirecTV: SD=680 / HD=680-1; Dish Network:SD=443 / HD=9581) MultiMedios Houston - 7 p.m. KBME 790 (ENG Radio) La Ranchera 850 (SPN Radio)
REFEREE: Chris Penso. MLS Career: 18 games; FC/gm: 22.

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.