Another Philadelphia Union player is on his way out of the club, as Kyle Nakazawa will be traded, the Brotherly Game has learned.

Sources tell the Brotherly Game that the Nakazawa will be moved to the LA Galaxy in a move that one of the sources said will be announced tomorrow. The trade has been in the works since sometime last week.

We've admittedly given short shrift to the fate of the WPS, which announced that it was suspending operations for 2012. Over the years, we had expressed cautious optimism about the league both on this site and elsewhere. The three year old league has definitely had some ups and downs in the last couple of years.

Photo by Jose L. Argueta/ISIphotos.com

By AVI CREDITOR

Santino Quaranta likely deserved a less abrupt end to his playing career. Instead, he is getting an unprecedented chance at a new beginning.

After not being offered a new contract with D.

In a Major League Soccer press conference yesterday morning in Philadelphia, it was announced that the AT&T 2012 All-Star game has been awarded to the Philadelphia Union.

The Union will host the game at PPL Park on July 25th at 8 p.m.

Although the opponent for the MLS All-Stars will not be revealed until a later date, the league stated that the game would feature an international opponent for the ninth time in MLS history.

With Martin Luther King's legacy being commemorated across the country, it's an eye-opening shame that blatant forms of racism still exist around the world, specifically in the soccer forum.

Over the weekend, U.S. midfielder Maurice Edu and Rangers teammate Kyle Bartley were the subject of racial abuse via Twitter, an incident that resulted in the arrest of a 41-year-old man who was due to appear in a Scottish court on Monday.

"Etoile Ultras" with their distinctive banner on matchdays"Etoile's sit out is not a surprise for me."
That was the first comment by Mr Pierre Foucaud, the group leader of "Etoile Ultras" - the independent Etoile FC's fan club on the 2010 S.League Champions' decision to sit out of the upcoming 2012 season.

Photo: Daniel Gajdamowicz

Philadelphia Union

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.

The Philadelphia Union will welcome the Colorado Rapids to Chester, PA to open PPL Park for the 2012 MLS regular season, a great deviation from what many people have been speculating about the season's schedule on Facebook and Twitter.

A source with knowledge of the Union's 2012 regular season schedule tells the Brotherly Game that the Union will host the Rapids on March 18, which will be Philadelphia's 2012 MLS First Kick home game.

So we've already seen the appearance of Toronto FC's schedule which has the Portland Timbers playing them, away, on May 12th. This also means that the full MLS schedule should be released very soon. All my surces and tips are telling me that it will be released tomorrow at 2:00PM EST. Regardless of time, if true, it would be a marked improvement over the schedule's release last year which was delayed well into February, if memory serves me right.

Courtesy of the Evansville Courier Press, January 2, 2012
As we put a close on the Year in Soccer for 2011, here are some lasting impressions for fans at the local, national and international levels.
FIFA Women's World Cup: The American women were defeated in dramatic fashion in the final, but not before topping Brazil on June 12 in a stunning World Cup quarterfinal match.

The MLS incarnation of the Seattle Sounders is a very young franchise with only three seasons under its belt. That combined with the relative lack of player movement in the single-entity MLS means that there really aren't that many ex-Sounders. But I thought it'd be nice to take a look back at some Sounders of yore and see what they're up to now.

When rumors of Carlos Ruiz's imminent arrival in Philadelphia surfaced, PSP's Mike Servedio wrote, "Ruiz is known as a mixed bag, a temperamental striker who has had some big seasons in terms of goals in the MLS, but is just as well known for his flagrant diving. The Union could definitely use an experienced goal-scoring striker, with only three out-and-out strikers on the roster, but with Ruiz' reputation he might have to work to win over the Union faithful (myself included).

After eight weeks of MISL action Baltimore and Milwauikee continue to reside at the tops of their respective divisions. The Wave remain the lone undefeated MISL club at 7-0 while Norfolk continue their inaugural season without a win at 0-9.
League-wide attendance has remained steady throughout the 2011-2012 campaign.

There is one thing you have give to the Philadelphia Union, so far during this and the previous off season they've had needs on the team and pretty much filled them up. After the inaugural season it was painfully obvious to anyone that wasn't Helen Keller that Chris Seitz was not going to be the answer at Goalkeeper.

Editor's note: At the end of the 2010 season, we posted a series of season reviews of every Philadelphia Union player. Over the next several weeks PSP continues with a review of the 2011 season.

While much has been said about the arrival of Faryd Mondragon and its effect on the stability of the Union's defense, the arrival of Carlos Valdes has been just important.

By 1916, exhibition soccer games on Christmas Day were a Philadelphia tradition that dated back at least to the inaugural season of the city's first organized league, the Pennsylvania Football Union, in 1889. As was the case then, the exhibition game in 1916 took place at the grounds of one of Philadelphia's professional baseball teams, this time at the Phillies Ball Park.

RUGBY TOWN JUNIORS 0–5 LOUGHBOROUGH STUDENTS Saturday 10th December 2011 Midland Combination Under-21 section; East / North Division Kilsby Lane
The first part of a "double" today, as having been impressed with the Students when I saw them beat Stapenhill 4-1 in October, decided to take in their away fixture at Rugby Town Juniors.

Backpackers FC is a unique sports holiday that enables you to work, play football and play some more in Perth, Australia's sunniest state capital, enjoying over 3000 hours of sunshine a year. In 2012, Backpackers FC will kick off their inaugural season in the Perth Metropolitan Football Competition.

Backpackers FC is a unique sports holiday that enables you to work, play football and play some more in Perth, Australia's sunniest state capital, enjoying over 3000 hours of sunshine a year. In 2012, Backpackers FC will kick off their inaugural season in the Perth Metropolitan Football Competition.

The Philadelphia Union picked up midfielder Nizar Khalfan in the MLS Waiver Draft after Vancouver Whitecaps FC waived him earlier today.

The Union have waived goalkeeper Thorne Holder and defender Juan Diego Gonzalez.

A native of Tanzania, Khalfan played in 22 Major League Soccer regular season matches with Vancouver, scoring one goal and four assists.

There won't be grass, but CenturyLink Field will have a new turf for the 2012 Seattle Sounders season. The latest generation of FieldTurf will be laid down in February, shortly after the end of the Seahawks season and just in time for the Sounders to get used to it prior to their game against Santos Laguna on March 7.

Photo from our first "Better Know A Supporters Group"The Portland Timbers missed the playoffs in their inaugural season in Major League Soccer, but that should take away anything from the incredible support the side saw from its supporters, the Timbers Army (and more).
Check out this short documentary film about the club's home opener against the Chicago Fire.

By Jimmy LaRoue
The complete roster for the Norfolk SharX has been announced, and the names and faces should be familiar ones to followers of the outdoor brand of USL soccer, with 10 players having various levels of league experience.
The SharX are introducing themselves and their new Admiral uniforms Tuesday and are opening their inaugural season at home this Friday against Syracuse.

By Jimmy LaRoue
The complete roster for the Norfolk SharX has been announced, and the names and faces should be familiar ones to followers of the outdoor brand of USL soccer, with 10 players having various levels of league experience.
The SharX are introducing themselves and their new Admiral uniforms Tuesday and are opening their inaugural season at home this Friday against Syracuse.

Last night saw the conclusion of the Conference semifinals (or, in reality, the quarterfinals) with the Los Angeles Galaxy overcoming their East coast rivals the New York Red Bulls 2-1 (3-1 on aggregate). This means that LA will be taking on Real Salt Lake on Sunday. Looking more to the midwest, we saw Sporting Kansas City overcome the Colorado Rapids and Houston overcome the Philadelphia Union to head to the Eastern Conference finals.

It seemed so fitting. So perfect, even. The Philadelphia Union were seeking their first ever playoff match victory and playoff series victory in the same place where they took their first-ever road victory, and opened their second season with a victory: Robertson Stadium in Houston. But it was not to be.

The 2011 regular-season attendance of 17,872 marked an all-time high for the 16-year-old league, whose highest attendance average came in its inaugural season of 1996.
For MLS team attendance rankings and attendance history ...
* MLS's 17,872 attendance average in 2011 marked an 11.

The Philadelphia Union's unexpected announcement of a partnership with CBS Radio's SportsRadio WIP came less than six hours before its highly-anticipated match against the New York Red Bulls, and while the aftermath of that match will garner much of the attention and newspaper ink dedicated to the team over the next few days, fans and followers of the Union need to make sure they don't overlook the ramifications of this deal.

October 20, 2011–Brandon Massie will return home to play soccer and goes down Norfolk SharX history as the team's first-ever signing. He'll also get to celebrate his 25th birthday a few days early.

Massie, who played high school soccer at Hickory and collegiately at Virginia Wesleyan–where he is also an assistant coach–will be on the field Nov.

October 20, 2011–Brandon Massie will return home to play soccer and goes down Norfolk SharX history as the team's first-ever signing. He'll also get to celebrate his 25th birthday a few days early.

Massie, who played high school soccer at Hickory and collegiately at Virginia Wesleyan–where he is also an assistant coach–will be on the field Nov.

With the cancellation of the Reserve League Playoffs, as reported by Kelly McLain over at Timbers Insider, the Portland Timbers' inaugural season in the Reserve League is now officially over.

The MLS Reserve League was created in 2005 to help teams develop young talent and keep lesser used players fresh, but it was canceled after the 2008 season because of a lack of funding.

Setting: Saturday, October 8 at CenturyLink Field in Seattle, Wash.; kickoff scheduled for 10:06:30 PM Eastern

Broadcast Information: Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia (Marc Zumoff, Bob Rigby), with coverage beginning following Flyers Post-Game Live / KONG 6/16 and NewsRadio 97.

Sigi Schmid has found success at every stage of his coaching career, from the collegiate ranks through the US National Team and in Major League Soccer.
Seth Vertelney of Goal.com writes of how Schmid has built a consistent power with Seattle Sounders FC of Major League Soccer.
After his team had taken care of business by winning its third consecutive U.

Montreal Impact head coach Jesse Marsch continues to fill out his staff for the team's entry into Major League Soccer with the announcement that Mike Sorber will join the team as an assistant coach. Marsch and Sorber previously worked together as assistant coaches with the U.S. national team.
"Mike's experience both coaching and playing at the international level will be invaluable for our organization as we build towards 2012," Marsch said in a statement.

Mike Woitalla of Soccer America reports on the continued attendance success by Major League Soccer.
The league remains on pace for its best attendance average ever. The 12 games in Week 29 games averaged 18,284 fans as Vancouver sold out its new home and two Wednesday night matches drew unusually big crowds.

The Syracuse Silver Knights are looking to make a serious splash in their inaugural season as they continue to build their roster. Most recently the Silver Knights announced the signing of Andriy Budnyy, a Ukrainian forward who recently played for USL Pro Club Wilmington Hammerheads.

The Syracuse Silver Knights are looking to make a serious splash in their inaugural season as they continue to build their roster. Most recently the Silver Knights announced the signing of Andriy Budnyy, a Ukrainian forward who recently played for USL Pro Club Wilmington Hammerheads.

Seattle Sounders have won the US Open Cup in each of the three years of their existence in MLS. Although Sounders have been a model franchise for expansion their model of success was the Chicago Fire. Chicago Fire had been the last expansion team to make the MLS playoffs, not to mention winning the MLS Cup, in their 1998 inaugural season and winning the US Open Cup.

The Vancouver Whitecaps had the look of a team intent on winning their final game at Empire Field, their MLS home during their inaugural season in the league. The Seattle Sounders looked like a team doomed to be punished by a terrible start and an inspired opponent.

Unfortunately for the Whitecaps, they could only manage a single goal during their early-game domination, which allowed the Sounders to recover from their slow start to rattle off three goals and post a convincing 3-1 victory on Saturday night.

By JOHN BOSCHINI

After a grueling season spanning nearly six months and consisting of 27 games, it all comes down to the final weekend in the inaugural season of the NASL.

The NSC Minnesota Stars and the Montreal Impact enter the weekend in a fight for the final playoff spot, while FC Tampa Bay and the Fort Lauderdale Strikers jockey for third place.