The beginning of the 2012 Major League Soccer season is right around the corner and the folks over at MLS Soccer have released their first preseason power rankings. As expected the LA Galaxy are on top, while the New England Revolution get no love, as MLS Soccer ranks them below the expansion side Montreal Impact.

Major League Soccer revealed its 95-match Reserve League schedule for the 2012 season on Monday.

The league's 19 teams will each play a ten-match reserve league schedule, giving young players and bench players more opportunities to play and develop their game over the course of the 2012 MLS season.

Sporting Kansas City's quest to repeat as Eastern Conference regular season champions began today with a 2-1 pre-season victory against the San Jose Earthquakes in the pre-season opener for both clubs.

Kansas City midfielder Konrad Warzycha delivered the game-winning goal, converting a free kick to break a 1-1 deadlock.

Social media has been a revelation for players and fans to engage in talks, express themselves to each other and establish a stronger relationship. There's a downside to tweeting before thinking things through, however.

Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder Lee Nguyen used a homophobic slur in a joke-toned tweet at teammate Brad Knighton Monday night, drawing immediate backlash.

Photo by David Bernal/ISIphotos.com

As it turns out, Arturo Alvarez won't be suiting up for Chivas USA heading into the 2012 MLS season after all.

Alvarez, who was selected by Chivas in the first stage of the MLS Re-Entry Draft but never came to terms with the club as he sought opportunities overseas, has reportedly signed with Portuguese top-flight club Pacos de Ferreira on a two-and-a-half-year contract.

Portland and Vancouver have done well in preparing for their sophomore seasons. (Getty Images)

Yesterday I took a look at the 10 clubs from the Eastern Conference in how they've done so far this winter. Naturally right after the post was put up one of those clubs went out and signed a DP.

Today, we'll look at the nine clubs from the Western Conference to see how they've been doing so far this winter.

Did you feel that? That little shiver down your spine as you clicked on this story to read it. Was it too much caffeine this morning? Or was it the sense that the beginning of spring and the MLS season ...
Visit http://www.majorleaguesoccertalk.com for the rest of the story.

Photo by Howard C. Smith/ISIphotos.com

The Montreal Impact tried their hand at picking a forward and getting trade value in return once again.

After picking Brian Ching from Houston in the expansion draft only to deal him back to the Dynamo for a draft pick, the Impact used their place atop the MLS allocation order to select Eddie Johnson before promptly dealing him to the Seattle Sounders.

photo by JN Santos/ISIphotos.com

By FRANCO PANIZO

The man responsible for the tumultuous offseason the Colorado Rapids endured is prolonging his stay with the club.

Technical Director Paul Bravo signed a new three-year deal with the Rapids on Wednesday, extending a stay that began in 2009.

Good news everyone!

The remainder of the Dynamo's local TV deal has finally be revealed and it's all about Fox Sports Houston and FSHouston Plus....more importantly, all broadcast will be in glorious high definition. Happy dance time!

"This agreement with Fox Sports Houston, coupled with our overall television package, creates the strongest broadcast situation in club history," said Dynamo president Chris Canetti.

STARTERS
5 minutes into their first preseason game of the year Atiba the Hun Harris of Vancouver picks up a yellow card for a reckless tackle. The more things change the more they stay exactly the same!
dN
Crazy cool idea! All Colorado Rapids fans that have renewed their season tickets for the 2012 season, as well as those that purchase new seats by March 1, 2012, will have their names printed into the design of the Rapids authentic home jerseys in 2013 and 2014!

Photo by David Bernal/ISIphotos.com

By ADAM SERRANO

CARSON, Calif. – The Colorado Rapids squeaked past Chivas USA, 1-0, in a physical preseason scrimmage between the two sides on Tuesday.

Second-half substitute Quincy Amarikwa put the Rapids ahead in the 85th minute.

The Dynamo have added another forward/midfielder to the roster, trading a conditional draft pick to the Colorado Rapids for Macoumba Kandji. Kandji is a tall, atheltic forward with good quickness, but he's had his injury struggles the last couple seasons.

It's an inexpensive move for Kinnear to make and makes good sense as Kandji has experience in the league and has shown the ability to score goals and create chances for teammates in the past.

Photo by Tony Quinn/ISIphotos.com

The Houston Dynamo are still actively trying to improve their forward options, and they took a step in that direction by swinging a trade Wednesday night.

The Dynamo traded a conditional 2014 draft pick to the Colorado Rapids for Macoumba Kandji, adding the athletic, Senegalese striker to a stable that currently has Calen Carr, Will Bruin, Cam Weaver and rookie Colin Rolfe.

Jonathan Tannenwald has released the Philadelphia Union's local TV broadcast schedule on his Goalkeeper blog ahead of the official release later this week.

Monday, March 12: at Portland Timbers, 9:30 p.m. (ESPN2)
Sunday, March 18: vs. Colorado Rapids, 4:00 p.

Ching squared off against his old club yesterday. (Photo via Montreal Impact)

As bad as it was back in November, both Brian Ching and the Houston Dynamo are ready to move past the whole expansion draft fiasco.

Ching now a member of the Montreal Impact played the Dynamo yesterday in a preseason scrimmage.

Images courtesy of the man himself, Lance Parker.

Footballer and male model, Lance Parker, is obviously cool with posing in his underwear.

Coincidentally, we are too.

Since he seemed down for our interview games and uncontrollable flirting tactics, we decided to spice up our Q&A style a bit.

Odds aren't in favor of Nate Jaqua appearing in a New England Revolution uniform in 2012, according to his representative.

New England Soccer Today initially learned on Monday that Jaqua, a Revs Stage 2 2011 MLS Re-Entry Draft pick, isn't likely to sign with the team.

Nate Jaqua struggled in his final two seasons in Seattle, but the 6'3" striker could look to revive his career in New England.

Photo by David Bernal/ISIphotos.com

After a one-year hiatus, the Columbus Crew will have a jersey sponsor once again.

The club announced a five-year sponsorship deal with shaving products company Barbasol, which is headquartered in the Columbus suburb of Dublin, Ohio.

The MLS season is getting closer, and we're approaching the end of the former SKC Wizards season. Some former are still on trial with different teams, including Scott Sealy who looks set to sign with Dallas. In other news, former player, Scott Lorenz, will be playing in Florida this year with the Fort Lauderdale Strikers, who had former players Aaron Hohlbein and Abe Thompson on the team last year.

Team: Colorado Rapids Coach: Oscar Pareja Last Season: 12-9-13, 5th West, 6th Overall Twitter Hashtag: #Rapids From MLS champions to gutted in the past season, the Colorado Rapids enter the season wondering "what if". A new front office and new coach will try to ...
Visit http://www.

Team: Colorado Rapids Coach: Oscar Pareja Last Season: 12-9-13, 5th West, 6th Overall Twitter Hashtag: #Rapids From MLS champions to gutted in the past season, the Colorado Rapids enter the season wondering "what if". A new front office and new coach will try to ...
Visit http://www.

The reinvention of the Colorado Rapids as an attacking, Latin-flavored side continued on Thursday with the club announcing the acquisition of an attacking midfielder.

Martín Rivero, a 22-year-old playmaker, most recently played with Rosario Central in his native Argentina. Rivero will be added to the roster as an international player and is expected to join the club before the team's trip to Hawaii.

The reinvention of the Colorado Rapids as an attacking, Latin-flavored side continued on Thursday with the club announcing the acquisition of an attacking midfielder.

Martín Rivero, a 22-year-old playmaker, most recently played with Rosario Central in his native Argentina. Rivero will be added to the roster as an international player and is expected to join the club before the team's trip to Hawaii.

The Colorado Rapids recently hinted that a playmaking midfielder was on his way to the club. We now know who he is.

The Rapids announced on Thursday the acquisition of Martin Rivero on loan for the upcoming season. Rivero, 22, most recently played for second division side Rosario Central in his native Argentina, where he had earned a starting role through the first half of the 2011-2012 season before joining Colorado.

Their Words "We have been spending a lot of time on our defensive shape and with the middle of the field, trying to get the ideas with them. Offensively, that's going to be something we'll be working on the next coming days." Colorado Rapids coach Oscar Pareja. Other Sources Rehabbing Gonzalez is patient - from ESPN LA's Scott French: David Beckham agrees with the approach.

Promotion candidates across the second, third and fourth tiers of English soccer will look to spring some surprises on Sunday, as the fifth round of the FA Cup continues.

League Two side Crawley Town gets a crack at Stoke City; League One club Stevenage, coached by former Colorado Rapids manager Gary Smith, will look to topple Tottenham; and League Championship side Brighton & Hove Albion gets a crack at bringing down Liverpool with places in the quarterfinals on the line.

Today, MLS released this year's reserve schedule for all teams. Once again Sporting is in the Central Conference, where they will play each of the other 5 teams home and away to give them a total of 10 games. Sporting though, has already announced one other reserve game, on their schedule on their team site.

Just in case you didn't hear, the MLS reinstated the Reserve League last season as part of the new collective bargaining agreement signed between the league and the player's union. If you'd like to check out all the rules and regulations associated with the Reserve League, you can enjoy them here.

Npower League One promotion hopefuls Stevenage Football Club hosted third place EPL side Tottenham Hotspur in the fifth round of the English FA Cup this past weekend in front of a capacity crowd of just over 7,000 at Broadhall Way. Stevenage was led by a familiar face to MLS fans.
Only a few weeks ago, Stevenage announced the arrival of their new manager Gary Smith, formerly of Major League Soccer's Colorado Rapids, who has led an impressive opening few weeks in charge already seeing his new club to two wins and a draw in the league and now this Sunday's impressive FA Cup draw against Tottenham.

I'm sure we'll see an official announcement tomorrow, but Tim Hinchey just tweeted this:

I would like to welcome Luis Zapata to the Colorado Rapids!

So add one more to the roster! That puts us at 30 signed players and 6 out of a possible 6 internationals. Now if any of the other trialists wants a job they'll have to beat out a signed player to do it.

While it was Thierry Henry's return that drew most of the attention during the New York Red Bulls' friendly against Mexican club Pumas UNAM, it was unheralded rookie Ryan Meara's play in goal that emerged as a talking point.

With a two-man race underway for the Red Bulls' starting goalkeeper job, Meara stood tall in the face pressure from the top-flight Mexican opposition and made a number of top-notch saves to post a clean sheet in the 0-0 draw at Chase Field Thursday night.

I am so ready for the season to start it's not even funny.

Due to injuries and illness to three members of the USMNT, Coach Jurgen Klinsmann has called up Brek Shea and Sacha Kljestan to replace Timmy Chandler (Hamstring), Jose Fransico Torres (Hamstring) and Landon Donovan (Bronchitis). Dovovan missed his last match of his loan stint with Everton and has been back in the states for a week and has yet to train with the LA Galaxy.