Photo: Paul Rudderow

Michael Farfan talks about his training stint with Sunderland, most of which was spent with the Sunderland reserves. "I don't think it was any change of play compared to here," Marfan says. "It was a good level and I held my own.

Marfan says players were interested to learn more about MLS.

With no news from the Union, or anywhere else I can find, on the team's draw with Florida Gulf Coast University on Saturday other than this tweet, our featured image today is of a crate of oranges. No information about lineups, formations, who stood out, no photos, nothing. Meanwhile the Internet is littered with reports, video, analysis of the preseason games of other MLS teams.

Philadelphia Union drew 1-1 in a friendly against Florida Gulf Coast University on Saturday. Carlos Valdes scored for the Union. So far, there's little info available on the game, so if you were there or have photos or more info, please share observations, links, etc. in the comments below.

For those of you wondering, FGCU made the NCAA tournament last year and will play Seattle next week.

Union

The Tweet of the Week comes from relationship guru Amobi Okugo: "Safehouse and the vow come out tomorrow ... Some people will have to compromise." Compromise movie idea: The Vowhouse. Denzel Washington vows to build a house for the love of his life. Then he roundhouse kicks everyone who comes into said house.

Photo: Nick Waters

Porfirio Lopez describes what he will bring to the Union: "Having a winning mentality is the most important thing in soccer. I'm going to try to bring my experiences and positive attitude into the group. Without a doubt, winning championships is the priority.

The Goalkeeper has a transcript of Wednesday's press conference with Peter Nowak. Among the highlights:

On Pajoy: "He's a guy who brings not only character but also a mentality to the game. He's very physical, and very fast as well. He can change the game, because he's a different option.

Photo: Nicolae Stoian

What a difference a week makes. The headline for last Tuesday's news roundup? "Saddest day for me:" Sebastien Le Toux confirmed he had been traded to Vancouver a day after Faryd Mondragon's return to Colombia was confirmed and WPS announced that it had cancelled the 2012 season.

Photo: Daniel Gajdamowicz

Several Union players talk about preseason training at YSC SPorts last week. The team landed in Orlando on Sunday.

Danny Califf, acknowledging that only he and Brian Carroll are the only players remaining on the Union who are older than 27, tells MLSsoccer.

Photo: Random free speech/satire from the Internet

Philly native Dan Borislow continues to show he has absolutely no shame or class by pushing for his Florida club to play friendlies this season while the rest of WPS had to cancel their season because of legal battles with Borislow.

Photo: Nicolae Stoian

In an interview on MLSsoccer.com's ExtraTime Radio podcast, Sebastien Le Toux tells Union fans who are angry that he was sold to Vancouver that it is important that they continue to support the Union: "To have you in the stands—it is always great to play in front of you and all of the guys who played with me are wonderful players and they need you.

Photo: Nicolae Stoian from 2011

The offseason can be crazy in the business that is soccer and sometimes it can be all too easy to forget that in the end, it's really about the game. If you are looking for some inspiration to help you get your soccer head back on straight, go to the Ritz East tonight to see the Philadelphia premier of Laduma.

Photo: Earl Gardner

It just won't stop.

As suggested by the 130 readers' comments posted on PSP in less then 24 hours since the Le Toux transfer news broke, if the sadness felt by Union fans at the news of Sebastien Le Toux's transfer to Vancouver wasn't enough, subsequent comments from Peter Nowak and Le Toux will, for many, see that sadness turn to anger.

Photo: Daniel Gajdamowicz

Sebastien Le Toux tweets, "Just got traded to Vancouver ! Saddest day for me in my Philadelphia Union story.... Still can't believe it"

The Union host Vancouver Whitecaps on March 31.

Take a look at Adam Cann's roundup of the evolution of Sebastien Le Toux to Vancouver rumors for links, but to summarize, the Union appear to be trading Le Toux to Vancouver for allocation money.

Photo: Paul Rudderow

The silly season got sillier for the Philadelphia Union over the weekend. Following word from England that Sebastien Le Toux reportedly did not sufficiently impress while on trial with Bolton, and the news that Danny Mwanga is training for two weeks with Aston Villa, the Union transfer rumor well still wasn't dry.

Photo: Paul Rudderow

Yesterday he's going, today he is staying. An article from sportinglife.com suggests that Le Toux "did not impress sufficiently" at Bolton. Owen Coyle is quoted in the article, "Sebastien came in for a couple of days, and to be fair to him he hadn't trained for four or five weeks.

Featured image courtesy of Philadelphia Union

While posing a hypothetical question to the Union Twitterati whether they would accept $2.75 million for Sebastien Le Toux, Jonathan "The Goalkeeper" Tannenwald mentions, "I've been told there has been no offer yet."

Meanwhile, Daily News reporter Kerith Gabriel writes, "It's likely the Union will start the 2012 campaign without Frenchman Sebastien Le Toux.

Some amazing PSP original work from the past few days: Earl Gardner's sweet photo essay from the SOB Help Kick Hunger event, info on the MLS All-Star game, Ed's fantastic piece on the last All-Star game in Philly, Dan's take on the possibility of selling Le Toux, and Eli's examination of the U's post-Seba strike force.

Sebastien Le Toux tweeted this morning, "I spent a great week at BWFC. Great club with great people. Now back in Philly." We are waiting for confirmation on this from the Union on this and if this means there will be no transfer to Bolton.

Following the successful appeal to secure Tim Ream the UK work permit necessary to complete the defender's move to the Wanderers, Owen Coyle tells The Bolton News that he plans to "add one or two more to take us on to the second half of the season" before the close of the transfer window on January 31.

Le Toux spotted with Tim Ream at Bolton's win over Liverpool on Saturday. Photo courtesy of Kyle Scott and crossingbroad.com

A report from The Bolton News on Friday quotes Wanderers' manager Owen Coyle on Sebastien Le Toux, "I've had some decent reports on him. He's very industrious, hard working and looks a very good team player, which is what I'm all about.

Photo: Paul Rudderow

The U.S. women's national team won 14-0 over the Dominican Republic on Friday. Yes, the women's soccer team won by that score. Amy Rodriguez scored five goals.

At halftime, Abby Wambach told her teammates to keep scoring in the Olympic qualifier, despite being up 7-0, because goal differential can impact Olympic qualifying qualifying.

Sky Sports reports that Bolton manager Owen Coyle "claims no decision has been taken as yet regarding a permanent deal" for Sebastien Le Toux.

Jonathan Tannenwald tweets, "A Union source says the team 'would not use Tim Ream as a benchmark' in any negotiations over Le Toux regarding transfer fee.

Photo: Nicolae Stoian

Bolton manager Owen Coyle confirms Sebastien Le Toux is trialing with the Premiership club. "We have received good reports about Sebastian, so we thought we would give him an opportunity to come into the group," Coyle told the Daily Mirror. "He will train with us for a week and we will see where we are after that.

Photo: Nicolae Stoian

Jack McInerney scored in the US U-23 team's 1–1 draw with the USMNT. McInerney, Amobi Okugo, and Freddy Adu started the first half. Zac MacMath and Sheanon Williams started the second half.

John Hackworth says of Tom Brandt, the Union's first pick in the Supplemental Draft, "We wanted to get a quality player in the back and we feel like we did that with Tom Brandt.

Supplemental Draft

The MLS Supplemental Draft takes place at 2pm ET today. There is plenty of talent available this year since the SuperDraft was shortened to two rounds. The Union have the 13th selection.

Local club Reading United AC have five players near the top of the Supplemental Draft class: UPenn midfielder Christian Barreiro, Delaware winger Evans Frimpong, Virginia forward Brian Ownby, West Virginia defender Eric Schoenle and Creighton keeper Brian Holt.

Featured image: Nicolae Stoian

The next edition of the Philly Soccer Show podcast, scheduled to be recorded tonight, will feature USMNT U-23 coach Caleb Porter and the Philadelphia Union's top pick in Thursday's SuperDraft, Chandler Hoffman.

Sunderland blog the Roker Report tells fellow SB Nation affiliate the Brotherly Game that team manager Martin O'Neill responded to a reporter's question about rumors of a possible Michael Farfan loan by saying people should not read too much "into these things.

The Philadelphia Independence drafted six players in Friday's WPS draft, with University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee forward Sarah Hagen being the top pick. The big question is whether they'll get her to move over from Bayern Munich, where she's under contract.

The Independence then took UC-Irvine defender CoCo Goodson and Florida State defender Toni Pressley in the second round, Santa Clara goalkeeper Bianca Henninger and Portland forward Danielle Foxhoven in the third, and Maryland forward Jasmyne Spencer in the fourth round.

Are the Union shopping Danny Mwanga, as was reported by Ives Galarcep on Wednesday? "For the record we are not shopping Danny Mwanga," Diego Gutierrez tells Kerith Gabriel. "A lot of teams are finding themselves in a tough spot in the market and are looking within the league to supplement.

Featured image: Nicolae Stoian

We'll have updates of today's SuperDraft throughout the day as well as reaction to the Union's selection. On to the news...

Ives Galarcep's mock draft at Fox Soccer has this to say: "The Union are believed to be shopping forward Danny Mwanga, and even with the recent addition of young Costa Rican forward Josue Martinez, Philadelphia can use some depth up top.

Photo: Paul Rudderow

Tweet from SBI: "I'm told Philadelphia Union midfielder Michael Farfan will be heading to England for a training stint with Premier League side Sunderland." As of this writing, we are waiting for confirmation from the Union about this report.

Happy birthday, Seba! The Flyin' Frenchman is 28 today. Did you know he's the only remaining member of the '09 expansion draft class?

The Brotherly Game says an anonymous league source claims the 2012 MLS All-Star game will be in Philly or Kansas City. Yesterday, Broad Street Hooligans announced that a source within the Union had illegally discovered that the 2012 MLS All-Star game would be in Philly.

Photo: Daniel Gajdamowicz

Broad Street Hooligans says they have "a few connections who work down at PPL" and that these connections "may have accidentally overheard their bosses super-secret text messages" to the effect that Philadelphia will host the 2012 MLS All-Star Game.

Photo courtesy of Duke University

Pennsylvania native Andrew Wenger won the Hermann Trophy Friday as the best player in men's college soccer. The former Reading United and Duke University star is expected to be a top-3 pick in this month's MLS college draft. Stanford's Teresa Noyola won the women's award.

Photo: Nicolae Stoian

Reaction to the release of the 2012 schedule:

The Goalkeeper notes that the Union is hosting New York and DC twice. "This strikes me as unfair from a competitive balance standpoint...As such, it would seem to me to make more sense to have each team host one team once and one team twice.

Photo: Earl Gardner

MLS is scheduled to release the 2012 schedule today at 2pm. We'll post the Union schedule as soon as it is available.

Who will the Union play in their home opener? After using some logic based on what schedule details are already known (the Union open the season at Portland on March 12, play in Chicago on March 24, play in Toronto on May 26 and September 15 while playing host to Toronto on July 7), The Goalkeeper writes, "I would not be surprised if it is against the New York Red Bulls, the Houston Dynamo or David Beckham's Los Angeles Galaxy.

Photo: Earl Gardner

A leaked copy of Toronto FC's 2012 schedule obtained by Canadian Soccer News shows the Union traveling to BMO Field on May 26 and Sept. 15, with the Canadian team at PPL Park on July 7. This unbalanced schedule thing is gonna take some getting used to.

Union

Nick Sakiewicz tells the DelCo Times about starting the Philadelphia Union and how he financed the first four months of operation on his AmEx. Yikes.

The Philadelphia Sports Writers Association will hand out a Special Achievement Award to Seba Le Toux at the end of January.

Photo: Paul Rudderow

Happy New Year from all of us at the Philly Soccer Page. The Union's first kick is only 70 days away.

Philadelphia Union: Happy New Year everyone! Thanks for a memorable 2011...see you in 2012! #DOOP

Philadelphia Independence: Have a safe and wonderful New Year Independence fans, WPS fans, Soccer fans!

Photo: Daniel Gajdamowicz

Tim Ream's giveaway to Danny Mwanga that resulted in the Roger Torres game winning goal when New York played the Union at PPL in April has been named the Gaffe of the Year by MLSsoccer.com. Yeah, it was pretty gaffable.

An AP report at ESPN begins, "Major League Soccer player Freddy Adu will train with Rayo Vallecano and may join the Spanish club.

Photo: Paul Rudderow

Is Freddy Adu already thinking about returning to Europe?

A report from SI titled "Adu to train with Spanish club with eye on move" says Rayo Vallecano sporting director Felipe Minambres told The Associated Press on Thursday, "This is the first step, that he comes and trains and gets to know us and the club, and we get to know him.

Photo: Paul Rudderow

Ives Galarcep reports at Fox Soccer that Freddy Adu is heading to with Spanish side Rayo Vallecano for a two-week training stint. The report notes, "Rayo Vallecano is also a club that had been in talks with Adu about signing him last summer before Adu settled on a return to MLS.