"You are just on loan Dave..."
A SALARY CAP FAR, FAR
AWAYIn the most uneventful (in a good way) pre-season of Toronto FC's history, we can't help but gaze
into the distance at our next meaningful opponent, LA Galaxy. In one of the shrewdest moves in MLS
governance, Galaxy persuaded the league to allow them to use Mexican Pesos as their salary cap
currency.
"You are just on loan Dave..."
A SALARY CAP FAR, FAR
AWAYIn the most uneventful (in a good way) pre-season of Toronto FC's history, we can't help but gaze
into the distance at our next meaningful opponent, LA Galaxy. In one of the shrewdest moves in MLS
governance, Galaxy persuaded the league to allow them to use Mexican Pesos as their salary cap
currency.
It's "Springtime for Winter" as Toronto FC today released the names of the 41 players (so far) who
are taking part in the club's pre-season training camp. The major difference from past years on
first glance is the absence of any professional trialists. Just a year ago, the likes of Javier
Martina, Mikael Yourassowsky and King Osei Gyan (for you TFC trivia buffs) were training with The
Reds in hopes of grabbing a contract but this year seems quite different.
Monty Hall... a proud father"
The boys are back in tow-owu-wow-own!" Oh,
sing it yourself then. It's true though - like well-paid groundhogs in shorts, our beloved Reds are
making their annual late-winter appearance! And guess what? Spring is coming early! (March 7th at
SkyDome - operators are standing by) It's always fun to see old faces return and new faces emerge
(except on defence where we are apparently in tip-top shape) and catch up on all the news and
gossip from a long off-season.
The San Jose Earthquakes have snapped up FC Dallas striker Marvin Chavez for allocation money.
The 28-year-old Honduras international scored six goals in 31 appearances for Dallas last season,
having previously played for Victoria and Marathon in his homeland.
He also scored the decisive goal in Dallas' 1-0 victory at Pumas UNAM in the group stage of the
CONCACAF Champions League in August, the first-ever victory by an MLS side in Mexico in any
competition, and has been popular among the soccer betting tips ever since.
The Netherlands' # 1 feline holiday celebrity - Suarez SoolsmaOne of the great things about the Holiday Season is the nightly treat of festive television
specials. From claymation to variety specials and all things puppet-related in-between, December is
a cornucopia of sugary TV treats.
Soon to be heading in the same directionToronto FC got into the holiday shopping
mood on Tuesday with the acquisition of defender Jeremy Hall. The 23-year old Florida native
arrives from FC Dallas after previous MLS stops with Portland and New York. Primarily a right back,
Hall was the 11th overall pick in the 2009 MLS SuperDraft and provides The Reds with a little more
depth on the corners of their back line.
Soon to be heading in the same directionToronto FC got into the holiday shopping
mood on Tuesday with the acquisition of defender Jeremy Hall. The 23-year old Florida native
arrives from FC Dallas after previous MLS stops with Portland and New York. Primarily a right back,
Hall was the 11th overall pick in the 2009 MLS SuperDraft and provides The Reds with a little more
depth on the corners of their back line.
Jeremy Hall is acquiring quite the jersey collection in a short amount of time.
The one-time U.S. youth product and Generation adidas signing is on the move again after being
traded from FC Dallas to Toronto FC on Tuesday in exchange for a second-round pick in the 2013 MLS
SuperDraft.
Houston Dynamo (10-9-12) vs. FC Dallas (13-10-7) September 24, 2011 -- Pizza Hut Park, Frisco TX
Attendance: 10,849
Scoring Summary:
HOU -- Geoff Cameron 5 (Brad Davis 14) 87
Houston Dynamo -- Tally Hall, Andre Hainault, Bobby Boswell, Geoff Cameron, Corey Ashe,
Adam Moffat, Luiz Camargo, Brad Davis, Danny Cruz (Je-Vaughn Watson 58), Brian Ching (Carlo Costly
78), Calen Carr (Colin Clark 64).
With 6 games remaining I started thinking about the season and how the Portland Timbers got to
be where they are now. The more I thought about it the more I came to realize that the Timbers
season could have been much much worse, say Vancouver Whitecaps like (even they are figuring things
out right now).
There is no game bigger than this. Our at least there shouldn't be, but there was that Seattle
Sounders win down in Monterrey. There will be bigger games later in the season of course, and in
the CONCACAF Champions League, but tonight knockout tournament history can be made. On a Tuesday
night in Tukwila, WA FC Dallas will attempt to crush Seattle's US Open Cup hopes and streaks.
Cascadia Cup! Epic Rivalry! "Derby" Game (not really)! Sensationalistic media extravagance
wordplay! Have we got that all out of the way now? Figured I'd get you guys attuned to the usual
jargon we're used to hearing around the media whenever a Cascadia game looms. While tonight's game
won't be as intense as a Portland Timbers - Seattle Sounders match, the Whitecaps are equally apart
of our little slice of Northwestern heaven.
For the second time this inaugural season, we say goodbye to another member of the Timbers
family. Today's departure: D/M Jeremy Hall, who is now moving on to FC Dallas. Luckily, we will not
see them until next season, so Hall will not be able to flame us like our previous departure
(Moffatt) did.
The Portland Timbers made an adjustment to their roster today, trading midfielder/defender Jeremy
Hall to FC Dallas for midfielder Eric Alexander. Hall was amongst the first players acquired by the
Timbers during the offseason, and after initially starting along the backline, Hall had struggled
to find consistent playing time.
Big things were expected from Eric Alexander after a strong showing down the stretch of his
rookie season led to a call up to the U.S. national team's January camp and an appearance in a
friendly against Chile.
While those big things may still unfold for the second-year midfielder, they won't be doing so
in Dallas.
Despite the international transfer window being closed for MLS teams, that doesn't mean there
can't be any movement between MLS sides. Today is just such an example of that. When we all thought
that the Timbers might be done for the season, it appears they had one more trick up their
sleeve.
Today we say goodbye to back right defender Jeremy Hall in exchange for FC Dallas midfielder
Eric Alexander.
I'm in Wamic, OR right now! With no internet connection or anything like that. I'll be home
before the game, but since I decided to take a mini-vacation to a lake out here I've had to
schedule this post a few days prior. So hello from Friday!
Anyway, enough humor, we've got a game to preview.
Quick Recap:
The Portland Timbers scores first and against the run of play in the first half but gives up a
goal in the second half to take 1 point from the San Jose Earthquakes on the road.
First Half:
By far the starting line-up for this game was the most unusual line-up the Timbers haves used
all season.
By CALEB SONNELAND
There was no separating the San Jose Earthquakes and the traveling Portland Timbers Saturday
night as the two sides slugged out a 1-1 draw at Buck Shaw Stadium. Having initially fallen
behind to a Timbers goal, the hosts clawed their way back into the game to salvage a result.
Second road game in a row and a second chance for the guys to prove they can win when they're
away from home. Unfortunately, this week's opponent isn't nearly as weak as the Chicago Fire were
last weekend. The Columbus Crew, despite not having any big name players, is still third in the
Eastern Conference with a 7-6-7 win-loss-draw history for the season.
Quick recap:
Portland finally scores first on the road from a penalty kick by Captain Jack. Portland works
hard and gets some help from the goal posts as Portland finally wins their first road game of the
year. Portland 1-0 over Chicago.
First Half:
Again Portland came out in the 4-5-1 with the only changes being Jeremy Hall at right back and
Kevin Goldthwaite in for the suspended Eric Brunner.
Assuming Sigi Schmid was being serious, it looks like we'll see Roger Levesque get another
chance to build on his Cascadia Cup legend. The Seattle Sounders coach told KJR that Levesque will
be in the starting lineup against the Portland Timbers, and we're willing to take him at his word.
Aside from that, we don't really expect too many surprises.
Lifeless first half. Energetic, aggressive second half. Inconsistent play throughout. Rinse.
Repeat. This has been the formula for the Portland Timbers during their winless streak which now
sits at 6 games after a 2-1 defeat at the hands of once lowly Sporting KC Saturday night at another
wasted, loud and sold out Jeld-Wen Field.
Quick Recap:
Portland once again has a horrific start to the game, giving up 2 goals in the first 20 minutes
of the game. They continue to work and get one back before half but to no avail as the 2nd half has
no goals. Portland goes down 2-1.
First Half:
True to his word John Spencer made two major changes to the starting line-up.
There are many roads to becoming a professional player. A very select few are born with the
God-given gifts of being an elite player without a healthy amount of coaching and training. After
all, there's only one Messi, one Cristiano Ronaldo and few can add "dinho" to their name and remain
sane.
During November and December 2010, the Oregon Ducks men's basketball team had some nasty losses.
Granted, nothing much was expected of the Ducks last season, but still, the losses were painful. By
New Year's Day, Oregon fell four times to teams ranked outside the top 100 in the RPI, and three of
those games were at home.
Sorry for the sudden dearth of news and links yesterday. I'm not sure if everybody took the day
off or what, but there was a serious dearth of anything at all relating to the Portland Timbers and
very few articles regarding other MLS teams. All in all it was just kind of weird. Today has been a
little better, especially since I was able to scrap together two days worth of links, but it's
still a little light considering.
Another great episode of this RBNY-themed podcast. This week, Mark and Dave discuss the important
win against the New England Revolution, preview the upcoming away match @Portland and discuss the
RBNY Marketing Fail that was Vettel-gate. Their guests this week are former Red Bull, current
Timber, Jeremy Hall and NY Post RBNY beat reporter Brian Lewis.
It's been six long weeks, but RBNY finally brings home 3 points in an challenging win over the
Revs. Dave & Mark sum up the win, preview NY's first trip to Portland, talk with former RB &
current Timber Jeremy Hall as well as Brian Lewis from the Post. Then they answer your emails.
It's a happy recap (finally) on Seeing Red!
Dutch champion Ajax Amsterdam completed its two-game tour in the United States with a 2-0
victory over the Portland Timbers in a friendly at a sold-out Jeld-Wen Field Wednesday night.
Lorenzo Ebecilio and Demy de Zeeuw scored the goals for Ajax, which also defeated D.C.
Today was the day the CONCACAF nations participating in the regional championship had to have
their final 23 man roster submitted. There are quite a few MLS players on these rosters, including
our own Steve Purdy and some of them could be gone as long as 1 month. So the question how does it
affect the Portland Timbers?
Quick Recap:
Portland Timbers come out flat in the first half but the Columbus Crew fail to capitalize. The
Timbers come out strong in the second half and come away with their 3rd consecutive 1-0 home
win.
First Half:
Columbus came out with a different formation than they usually use, going from a 4-5-1
to a traditional 4-4-2, as they were trying to combat the size of Portland's back line.
The Portland Timbers have gone on a pretty impressive run these last few weeks with only a
single loss and a single tie in the regular season since the home opener against the Chicago Fire.
Part of me is jubilant that the Timbers are resisting the trend to be just another "expansion" team
in their first year in MLS.
It's the Friday before the weekend's slew of games and you know what that means: PREVIEWS! As
you can expect, there are an assortment of previews from around the league, including some others
concerning the Portland Timbers vs. Columbus Crew match up.
Aside from that we have some interesting pieces regarding the Timbers training from yesterday,
an Alaska Airlines "chant" sheet from a commercial they were recently shooting, and an article
surrounding the connection between left and right back defenders Rodney Wallace and Jeremy
Hall.
Ryan Gates already doled out the news in brief yesterday that Futty Danso, Jake Gleeson and
Steve Purdy were each called up for national team duty. This editorial is more about how to fill in
the holes left by our soon departing team mates.
For both Steve Purdy and Jake Gleeson this is probably a non-issue.
Sometimes life isn't flaming rainbows, towel ninjas and shaving bunnies. Instead it is preparing
for your most heated rival and finding out that the desired formation and lineup will have to
change - again. The Seattle Sounders did not play poorly against the Portland Timbers. Both teams'
goals were in fact indicative of their very style of play.
Everything we are hearing is that Brad Evans should be back this week, which leads us to believe
we'll see a very Seattle Sounders similar starting lineup (4<4>2) as the one that played
against DC United and Toronto FC. We're projecting that Tyson Wahl will start at left back against
the Portland Timbers, but it could just as easily be Leo Gonzalez.
Forgive me. I didn't want to sit through this game again. You have got to understand its an ESPN
televised game which means having to try and ignore the stupid scroll for two hours. Plus the
announcing, while not bad, is incredibly boring. Do these guys like the game? I have no idea. Would
it have killed them to let Max Bretos call this game so I could have gotten over the top goal
calls?
Jack Jewsbury, Portland Timbers vs Chivas, Photo: Gary Sheldon | ProstAmerika.com
Have you caught a Portland Timber's game yet? If not, Farmer's Gastropub now has the MLS DirecTV
package. A call to the restaurant can ensure that you'll catch the game and a good meal. Here's
some reports from Week 3:
Soccer by Ive's provided his wrap-up
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION 1, PORTLAND TIMBERS 1 (HIGHLIGHTS)
Man of the Match Shalrie Joseph.
