Few would disagree that last year's New York Red Bulls were a tremendous disappointment. The
acquisition of French legend Thierry Henry, joining a cast of international players including Rafa
Marquez, Tim Ream, Juan Agudelo, and Joel Lindpere (and briefly Dwayne De Rosario), was supposed to
make the Red Bulls the LA Galaxy of the Eastern Conference.
Part of what is fun as a fan of the Timbers has been following the building shaping of the team.
A growing league like MLS has nearly limitless options for finding new players. As one may recall,
to populate the initial roster last season, the Timbers utilized their USL roster, their U-23
roster, the expansion draft, the Super and Supplemental drafts, the allocation ranking process for
returning US internationals, trades, and foreign signings.
It has taken me a couple of days to post my thoughts.Forgive me, Wednesday night gave us a lot to
take in. The settingI am not a fan of the Rogers Centre. I think it managed toget the ambience wrong,
the connection between fan and field is too often missing.It works best for baseball, though even
then it has it's flaws.
The West Coast teams no doubt have a great amount of talent and continued to add to it
throughout the offseason. Defending MLS Cup champions and Supporters' Shield winners LA Galaxy
enter the season on top, but the West is filled with teams ready to take the crown for themselves.
After the jump is the final installment of my off-season transaction review as we look at Chivas
USA, Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle, San Jose, and Vancouver.
Sometimes items from Soccer America can be a total miss but check out today's MLS Confidential
on the Galaxy. For anyone out there that couldn't get how the LA Galaxy was able to squeeze in
Edson Buddle to their salary cap, check this article out.
By bringing back Edson Buddle into the fold, even if he costs slightly more
than the $178,488 salary he earned in 2010 before leaving for Germany, the Galaxy probably hasn't
crunched its salary cap to any great extent, because of player departures as well as amassing
allocation money.
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.
In case you haven't heard the news, it appears that the Red Bulls have made a move for their third
Designated Player. Everton FC of the English Premier League announced on their website that
32-year-old attacking midfielder/forward, and Australian international, Tim Cahill, is on his way
to New York.
Today the Rapids traded an international roster spot in 2014 for Montreal Impact defender Tyson
Wahl. Wahl was drafted by Kansas City in 2006taken in Seattle's expansion draft in 2009, then
traded to Montreal in this past offseason for allocation money. He's played in 82 games between his
3 prior teams, including 11 games for Montreal this season.
Yesterday Montreal used its #1 spot in the allocation order to take Eddie Johnson with the idea of
trading him. Colorado was the expected destination but at the last minute Seattle swooped in,
trading Mike Fucito and Lamar Neagle for him.
At that price I'm fine with not getting Eddie Johnson.
When the Montreal Impact selected Dynamo icon Brian Ching in the expansion draft last November,
Ching and some Dynamo folks really developed a strong dislike for Montreal Impact coach Jesse
Marsch. It would be a stretch to say those feelings completely went away when Ching was traded back
to the Dynamo before the season, but [.
The wheeling and dealing north of the border continues.
The Montreal Impact dealt defender Tyson Wahl to the Colorado Rapids Friday, acquiring an
international roster spot for the 2014 season. The Impact originally acquired Wahl from the
Seattle Sounders for allocation money on the day of the expansion draft.
Building from the ground up in MLS is no easy task, but if anyone knows something about a
successful expansion season, it's Montreal Impact head coach Jesse Marsch.
A member of the D.C. United club that won the first MLS Cup and a member of the Chicago Fire
club that won MLS Cup in its expansion season, Marsch embarks on his first head coaching gig with
the Impact, who made the leap from NASL to MLS and have created quite a buzz north of the
border.
Sporting KC is back in preseason action today as they kick off the Disney Pro Soccer Classic down
in Orlando, Florida. KC's opponent today is the Houston Dynamo, who defeated the Wizards in the
Eastern Conference final last year 2-0 to earn a trip to MLS Cup ahead of Sporting.
The Dynamo have Brian Ching back after spending time with the Montreal Impact, who selected him in
the expansion draft.
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.
Just four months after American striker Brian Ching was selected by the Montreal Impact in the
MLS Expansion draft, a deal had been reached between the clubs that will send the forward back to
Houston in exchange for a first-round pick in the 2013 SuperDraft.
Ching is the Dynamo's all-time leading goal scorer (63 goals in 168 games played) and played in
Houston's first ever game, recording four goals in that contest.
This release came from the Houston Dynamo at 10:30 a.m., about the same time he walked out to
practice, probably the first and last time he'll be the last guy out to the field. Someone on
Twitter said it best. All Dynamo newbies are about to get an object lesson on what it means to
train and play the Dynamo Way.
Brian Ching is once again a member of the Houston Dynamo, with the club completing a trade with
Montreal. In return, the Impact get a conditional draft pick. Ching was left unprotected in the
expansion draft, where he was selected first overall after publicly saying he wouldn't play for
Montreal. He later agreed to join the club and was with them in training camp.
Here's a little look at some of the reaction after Jesus Ortiz made known the news that the Dynamo
had worked out the deal they'd been eyeing since the MLS Expansion Draft: Getting Brian Ching back
in orange in time for opening day at BBVA Compass Stadium. [View the story "Brian Ching's return to
the [.
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.
Unless Montreal has a tremendous change of heart and things deteriorate tremendously, Brian Ching
will be in Orange by late this week. The Dynamo's all-time leading scorer wants to play in Houston
as much today as when he told me a day before the expansion draft last November that he would
retire rather than play [.
The storyline that has been at the forefront of the MLS offseason appears to be on its way to
reaching its resolution.
According to reports out of Houston, the Houston Dynamo are engaged in advanced talks with the
Montreal Impact for a deal that would send former Dynamo captain and forward Brian Ching back to
Houston.
Dominic Kinnear was predicitably asked after the match about former Dynamo capatain Brian Ching
and he made a slightly surprising comment:
"I think in the beginning, we were a little bit liberal with what we were saying," Kinnear said.
"I think it was a little bit rude, and I apologize for that, back when Brian first got selected by
Montreal in the Expansion Draft.
Brian Ching, the man who built BBVA Compass Stadium, is set to see his former Dynamo teammates
today for the first time since the Montreal Impact picked him in the expansion draft last November.
The Dynamo and Impact will play today at a practice field at Home Depot Center. I was in contact
with Ching [.
Chivas USA added some quality defensive depth on Friday with the acquisition of the rights to
veteran MLS centerback Bobby Burling. The Goats landed Burling's rights from Montreal in exchange
for an international roster slot in 2013.
Burling returns to Chivas USA, where he played from 2007 to 2009.
Chivas USA is no longer a bad team. Though, that may not matter, they were one of the ones that
had Seattle's number for most of the MLS era. Saturday's 7:30 PM game should be entertaining. Both
sides are defense first teams with offensive players who are inconsistent, yet able to take over
any game against any team.
So the first pre-season tournament game has come and gone. Honestly, it wasn't the result or
performance that I was hoping for. Granted a few key players were missing: Eric Brunner, Kris Boyd,
Franck Songo'o to name a few, but I still expected more from a home opener and I expect more from
them tomorrow night against Chivas USA, a team which suffered a disappointed 2-nil loss against
Swedish side AIK.
For Seattle Sounders signing Sigi Schmid was clearly one of the most important parts of their
success as an expansion franchise, as was picking Brad Evans from the Columbus roster in the
Sounders expansion draft. As much as Sounders have been a model for MLS 2.0, Columbus Crew were a
model franchise for the beginning of MLS.
While most soccer players his age are too consumed with their careers to worry about an
education, Amobi Okugo is balancing his professional life with earning a college degree. The U.S.
Under-23 Men's National Team midfielder left UCLA after his freshman year to join Major League
Soccer and he was selected by the Philadelphia Union sixth overall in the 2010 MLS Expansion
Draft.
Whether your speak Francais or not, it's not hard to pick up on the "Middle Ages Crusaders" theme
that new boys Montreal Impact are bringing to Major League Soccer. The intimidation and the
audacity is set pretty high, but why not?
The idea even reminds us of a little "Phun With Photoshop" we did on Impact coach Jesse Marsch a
few months back after he cleaned up at the Expansion Draft.
The Philadelphia Union announced that Keon Daniel, along with Danny Mwanga, has joined the team
at its preseason training camp in Florida today.
The 25-year-old has been missing from the Union since a September call up to the Trinidad and
Tobago national team. Daniel left the United States on August 28 or 29, then did not re-enter the
country until possibly today.
By Tony Edwards - San Jose, CA (July 26, 2012) US Soccer Players -- Thursday, and Tony looks at a
classic MLS club, wonders how statistical data powered an expansion draft, and salutes an
underappreciated American in the EPL. Which American club has FIFA.com chosen to include in their
‘Classic Clubs' series?
One of the factors in yesterday's trade that got little notice was that the Seattle Sounders
shipped out two more American players in Mike Fucito and Lamar Neagle. Of course they got an
American in return in Eddie Johnson, but, in addition to that transaction, the list of Americans
the Sounders have lost this offseason is substantial.
Not only today did quite a few of KC's rookies and trialists finally get a good run out in one of
the preseason games, there was also a new trialist that started at the forward position, replacing
Bobby Convey for the last 30 minutes. KC hasn't really had many known trialists other than the 3
that stayed with the team after their week of training in KC, so it's interesting to see that we're
looking at what trialists we've brought in.
