Sacre bleu! And that's enough stereotypical French speak for now... In any case, it appears that today's pre-season friendly against the Montreal Impact was not quite as fruitful as their previous game against the LA Galaxy earlier this week when they won 4-1 against the former MLS Champs.
In any case, as with the previous game we don't have too much information to go on for this match since we weren't there to actually cover it.

Here's another former SKC Wizards update. The MLS season is getting closer. Some of the names in the unknown category will probably start to jump onto teams here in the near future. Here's the rest of the update.
Active without a club or unknown
Stephane Auvray
Chris Brunt
Doug DeMartin
Mauro Fuzetti
AJ Godbolt
Willy Guadarrama
Santiago Hirsig
Eddie Johnson
Mike Jones
Chris Konopka
Michael Kraus
Jonathan Leathers
Scott Lorenz
Amir Lowry
Rauwshan McKenzie
Ryan McMahen
Michal Mravec
Anthony Noriega
Ryan Pore
Ofori Sarkodie
Sam Scales
Scott Sealy
Milos Stojcev
Ivan Trujillo
Lance Watson
MLS
Davy Arnaud - Montreal - Season is over.

The season is just over a month away and the roster is almost completely set. Of course there is still the possibility of adding a few more pieces or dropping a few of the newer players. For the most part the Timbers have the core of their starting line-up signed. With all the changes to the roster will John Spencer go away from the 4-4-2 formation or will he go with a different formation?

The Portland Timbers returned to another closed practice today away from the prying eyes of the media after resting on Wednesday. Sebastian Rincon, known from Tuesday's practice report as the mystery player, continued his trial with the team, while Brent Richards was once again missing from practice.

Another week of Sporting KC Wizards updates. As mentioned yesterday, 8 former players are up for the US Soccer Hall of Fame. Coming up soon, Stephane Auvray will figure out his new team in India when the new premier league holds it draft for "lesser known" and Indian players. Also, Neal Kitson is on the move, joining Northampton Town of the Football League 2.

As everyone by now knows, Kris Boyd will officially be a Timber sometime in the next few weeks, barring any unforeseen circumstances. Regardless of how we really feel about that, it sure was exciting to see Merritt Paulson bounding out of the tunnel on his way to us members of the press waiting on the side of the field.

First week's training has finally concluded. It was a good week and I hope you guys enjoyed our coverage of it. We really tried to get to as many trainings as possible and, I believe, we only missed one so we were able to cover most bases. Heading into next week we'll try something similar, but I'm not sure if we'll be able to keep up the same pace.

Huge congrats to Capt. Jack Jewsbury & family on the birth of their 2nd daughter today! Welcome to the two girls club, its been good to me

@merrittpaulson

Huge congrats to Capt. Jack Jewsbury & family on the birth of their 2nd daughter today! Welcome to the two girls club, its been good to me

@merrittpaulson

Fitness continued to be the focus for the Portland Timbers as they neared the end of their first week of preseason training in 2012. The sun shone brightly on the turf and allowed some players to shed their extra layers. Again the players participated in an 8v8 half field scrimmage after warming up and doing a few drills, but the consistent theme throughout the session was keeping everyone constantly in motion.

A day late due to the Comets game last night, but here is this week's former SKC Wizards update. In news this week, Shavar Thomas has a new team, having signed for the expansion Montreal Impact. Here's the rest of this week's update.
Active without a club or unknown
Stephane Auvray
Chris Brunt
Doug DeMartin
Mauro Fuzetti
AJ Godbolt
Willy Guadarrama
Santiago Hirsig
Eddie Johnson
Mike Jones
Michael Kraus
Jonathan Leathers
Scott Lorenz
Amir Lowry
Rauwshan McKenzie
Ryan McMahen
Michal Mravec
Anthony Noriega
Ryan Pore
Ofori Sarkodie
Sam Scales
Scott Sealy
Milos Stojcev
Ivan Trujillo
Lance Watson
MLS
Davy Arnaud - Montreal - Season is over.

The Portland Timbers held a lively practice today, playing some of what could actually be called soccer for the first time this preseason. After the usual warm-ups and passing drills, the Timbers played games of 9v9 which was a deviation from last season which saw the Timbers doing purely fitness and passing drills for their first several weeks together.

Here's another week of former SKC Wizards updates. First, came word last week that Craig Rocastle will not be playing for the Missouri Comets. Instead he has moved to Greece where he's joined his former club, Thrasyvoulos Fylis FC, who is currently at the bottom of the second division in Greece. In other news, Ryan Smith has come out with his side of what happened when he left KC.

Here's this week's former SKC Wizards update for you.
Active without a club or unknown
Stephane Auvray
Chris Brunt
Doug DeMartin
Mauro Fuzetti
AJ Godbolt
Willy Guadarrama
Santiago Hirsig
Eddie Johnson
Michael Kraus
Jonathan Leathers
Amir Lowry
Rauwshan McKenzie
Ryan McMahen
Michal Mravec
Anthony Noriega
Ryan Pore
Ofori Sarkodie
Sam Scales
Milos Stojcev
Shavar Thomas
Ivan Trujillo
Lance Watson
MLS
Davy Arnaud - Montreal - Season is over.

The MLS Player Combine continues today with a second round of games available to stream on the MLS website. With the first games out of the way and two more days of practice together for the teams, expect today's games to be much more interesting as the invitees get to know each other.

The first game of the day, adiPower vs adiZero at 11:30 am, will feature several names that the Timbers will want to keep an eye on.

Another week of former SKC Wizards updates, some extra news this week as well. By now you've heard about Craig Rocastle signing with the Missouri Comets, but there's other news as well. Eddie Johnson's club career continues to spiral down for him, as he's already out at Puebla in Mexico. Apparently the forward failed his physical and was not fit and was released basically 2 days after showing up in Mexico.

Ah new year, new MLS season. I've said that ad nauseam now, but it's true. And with a new season comes, well, new everything! We'll see new players, new tactics, new matches, new business partnerships... really the door is wide open.

As such, I've decided to compile a list of 2012 predictions.

First I just want to wish everybody a happy New Year and I hope everybody got home safe last night. If you're reading this now then I'm also happy you're not suffering from a severe hang over. Seriously, kudos! I managed to escape one myself!

In any case, with 2011 now officially over I thought it might be a good time to relive some of the year's more interesting moments.

Continuing the stat updating for you tonight, it's time to update the 10,000 minute club.
In league play one new player joined the 10,000 minute club, as Michael Harrington became the 12th player for Kansas City, Davy Arnaud also jumped up 1 spot on the list moving ahead of Jimmy Conrad.

An incredibly quiet week in former SKC Wizards news with the Christmas season in full affect. But here is your update for this week.
Active without a club or unknown
Stephane Auvray
Chris Brunt
Doug DeMartin
Mauro Fuzetti
AJ Godbolt
Willy Guadarrama
Santiago Hirsig
Michael Kraus
Jonathan Leathers
Scott Lorenz
Rauwshan McKenzie
Ryan McMahen
Michal Mravec
Anthony Noriega
Ryan Pore
Craig Rocastle
Ofori Sarkodie
Sam Scales
Milos Stojcev
Shavar Thomas
Ivan Trujillo
Lance Watson
MLS
Davy Arnaud - Montreal - Season is over.

Good article on MLSsoccer.com about Gavin Wilkinson and his travels abroad. I think we all already knew this, but he pretty much spelled it out that we're going to see a couple new faces this off season from abroad which shouldn't be surprising given the amount of scouting he's been doing in recent months.

The "expansion" Portland Timbers had a debut MLS season to remember. The team quickly became the darling of the TV networks with their passionate and creative fans, the team played an exciting brand of soccer, and the resurgence of Jack ...
Visit http://www.majorleaguesoccertalk.com for the rest of the story.

More stats to update for you. This time it's the leading scorers in MLS play now through the 2011 season. First here are links back to the previous years.
1996 - 1997 - 1998 - 1999 - 2000 - 2001 - 2002 - 2003 - 2004 - 2005 - 2006 - 2007 - 2008 - 2009 - 2010
One new player joins the list this year, and another continues to shoot up the list.

A day late on the former SKC Wizards update, but being a day late has given me a little extra news to post. Word on the Twitter account for Mexican club, Puebla FC is that they are signing former Wizards player, Eddie Johnson. Johnson would join the brother of another Wizard, as DaMarcus Beasley also plays for Puebla FC.

Another former SKC Wizards Update, plenty of player movement this week. Jonathan Leathers, Rauwshan McKenzie, and Ryan Pore are now without clubs after not being selected in the second stage of the re-entry draft. They're joined by Shavar Thomas who also wasn't selected. Also looking for a new club, is Stephane Auvray whose was let go by the Red Bulls.

Here is this week's former SKC Wizards update for you. No really big news this week when it comes to former Wizards, so here's the update.
Active without a club or unknown
Chris Brunt
Doug DeMartin
Mauro Fuzetti
AJ Godbolt
Willy Guadarrama
Santiago Hirsig
Eddie Johnson
Michael Kraus
Ryan McMahen
Michal Mravec
JT Murray
Anthony Noriega
Ofori Sarkodie
Sam Scales
Ivan Trujillo
Lance Watson
MLS
Davy Arnaud - Montreal - Season is over.

Another week of former SKC Wizards updates. The MLS season is over, but there's been a lot of busy stuff going on this week. Today the league announced the players entered into the Re-entry draft, plenty of former players are available, including Adam, Cristman, Taylor Graham, Frankie Hejduk, Jonathan Leathers, Rauwshan McKenzie, Kurt Morsink, Ryan Pore, and Scott Sealy.

It is that time of the year to start speculating on exactly what the Portland Timbers' roster needs are for the next year. For starters we need to take a look at the most used formations by John Spencer and the Timbers and then fill in what the Timbers still have on the roster.

Formation(s):

The Timbers employed a 4-4-2 for almost the first half of the season.

Way back on March 1, just a couple of weeks before the start of the regular season, the Portland Timbers coaxed Jack Jewsbury away from Sporting Kansas City. Days later he captained his new team to a 2-0 defeat of the Seattle Sounders and promptly ended the debate - among the coaching staff, at least - over who would end up wearing the armband for the Timbers in 2011.

photo courtesy Jarred Donalson
Sporting KC was busy today, making one trade, another player announcement, and talk of a second trade taking place. It started during the weekend with a Tweet by Robb Heineman stating that there would be an announcement today. At 1:30 we got the first of the announcements, a surprising trade.

Just when Sporting Kansas City thought they lost defender Seth Sinovic, they get him back. Today Sporting and the Montreal Impact worked out a little deal to send the expansion draft pick back to Kansas City, along with allocation money, for veteran defender Davy Arnuad.

The 31-year old Arnaud, played 10 seasons for Sporting Kansas City after being drafted in the 2002 MLS SuperDraft out of West Texas A&M.

Here's your former SKC Wizards update for this week. Lots of news, including 6 new former Wizards. Jeferson, Scott Lorenz, Craig Rocastle, Seth Sinovic, Ryan Smith, and Milos Stojcev are all now classified officially as former Wizards. Also in the news is the movement of Tyson Wahl, who was traded from Seattle to Montreal for allocation money.

Sporting KC started a busy day today by announcing a trade with Chivas USA. Kansas City sent midfielder Ryan Smith to Chivas USA for 2 supplemental draft picks in the upcoming draft. Both sides can see this as a win for them. From Kansas City's perspective, they get something for nothing. Smith's time in Kansas City was over.

This post by TSG staff

MLS continued it's full court marketing press by issuing it's unprotected list just a day after the MLS Cup final.

2012's Jack Jewsbury...

Some fascinating players on the take (for the take?). Here's a feasible team based upon a balance of "Don't get blown out" and "Priming for growth.

The votes are in and this is what we came up with:

1. Kalif Alhassan
2. Eric Alexander
3. Eric Brunner
4. Futty Danso
5. Diego Chara
6. Sal Zizzo
7. Jake Gleeson
8. Jorge Perlaza
9. Kenny Cooper
10. Jack Jewsbury
11. Troy Perkins

More after the jump

Here are the actual numbers:

Player Yes No Rank On the list Eric Alexander 13 3 2 Yes Kalif Alhassan 22 4 1 Yes Freddie Braun 0 10 20 No Adin Brown 0 11 20 No Chris Taylor 2 8 14 No Kevin Goldthwaite 0 10 20 No Spencer Thomspon 0 10 20 No Brian Umony 0 7 20 No Rodrigo Lopez 0 7 20 No Peter Lowry 0 7 20 No Ryan Pore 0 9 20 No Eddie Johnson 1 8 18 No Steve Purdy 1 8 18 No Eric Brunner 7 0 6 Yes Futty Danso 7 0 6 Yes David Horst 2 5 14 No Mike Chabala 3 4 13 No Rodney Wallace 2 5 14 No Lovel Palmer 2 5 14 No Diego Chara 8 0 3 Yes Jack Jewsbury 5 3 10 Yes Sal Zizzo 5 3 10 Yes Jorge Perlaza 8 0 3 Yes Kenny Cooper 6 2 9 Yes Bright Dike 5 3 10 No Troy Perkins 8 0 3 Yes Jake Gleeson 7 1 6 Yes Editors Picks

Here are the rest of the editors picks

Player Will's List To Protect Ryan's List To Protect Andy's List To Protect William's List To Protect Troy Perkins Yes Yes Yes Yes Kevin Goldthwaite No No No No Mike Chabala No Yes No No Eric Brunner Yes Yes Yes Yes Darlington Nagbe Auto Auto auto Auto Sal Zizzo No Yes No No Peter Lowry No No No no Bright Dike No No No no Eddie Johnson No No No no Kalif Alhassan Yes No Yes Yes David Horst Yes Yes Yes Yes Jack Jewsbury Yes Yes Yes Yes James Marcelin Yes No Yes no Jorge Perlaza No Yes Yes Yes Eric Alexander Yes No No no Rodrigo Lopez No No No no Jake Gleeson Yes Yes Yes Yes Diego Chara Yes Yes Yes Yes Rodney Wallace No No No no Ryan Pore No No No no Adin Brown No No No no Steve Purdy No No No no Brian Umony No No No no Chris Taylor No No No no Freddie Braun No No No no Lovel Palmer no No No no Spencer Thompson No No No no Kenny Cooper Yes Yes Yes Yes Futty Danso Yes Yes Yes Yes

This week's former SKC Wizards is up for you. A couple former Wizards could be on the move. Sunil Chhetri is apparently getting ready to go on trial with Scottish club Rangers. Chhetri's had trials in England previously, but had been unable to earn a work permit. Not sure how that will change this time.

Time for the midfielders and don't forgot to vote for the others here.

How it works

• Vote by posting a Yes (to Protect) or No (don't Protect) in the subject of a comment, then explain why in the message
• We (the editors) will keep track of all the yes/no votes for each player
• At the end of the whole roster we will total up the results and post the community's Protected list
• Your list will be compared to the list of each contributing editor
• The only player we will not be voting on is Darlington Nagbe as he is automatically protected based on his Generations Adidas Status.

The 2011 Major League Soccer season was arguably the best in league history, from both a competition and entertainment standpoint, and as a result, it made for some tough calls when deciding on the league's Best XI.

MLS commissioner Don Garber will announce the league's official Best XI later today, but based on the voting of the SBI editorial staff (Ives Galarcep, Avi Creditor, Adam Serrano, Mike Nastri, Jose Romero, Thomas Floyd, Joey Samuel), we came up with a first, second and third team to honor those who put forth standout performances this season.

The MLS season is winding down. Here's this week's former SKC Wizards update.
Active without a club or unknown
Chris Brunt
Doug DeMartin
Mauro Fuzetti
AJ Godbolt
Willy Guadarrama
Santiago Hirsig
Eddie Johnson
Michael Kraus
Ryan McMahen
Michal Mravec
JT Murray
Anthony Noriega
Ofori Sarkodie
Sam Scales
Ryan Smith
Ivan Trujillo
Lance Watson
MLS
Stephane Auvray - New York - Came off the bench and played 74 minutes in New York's 2-1 loss to LA.

This week's former Wizards update is out, congrats to Kevin Friedland and the NSC Minnesota Stars on winning the NASL championship this past week. Here's the rest of this week's update.
Active without a club or unknown
Chris Brunt
Doug DeMartin
Mauro Fuzetti
AJ Godbolt
Willy Guadarrama
Santiago Hirsig
Eddie Johnson
Michael Kraus
Ryan McMahen
Michal Mravec
JT Murray
Anthony Noriega
Ofori Sarkodie
Sam Scales
Ryan Smith
Ivan Trujillo
Lance Watson
MLS
Stephane Auvray - New York - Dressed but did not play in New York's 1-0 loss to LA.