By Tony Edwards - San Jose, CA (Jan 19, 2012) US Soccer Players -- In today's edition, Tony asks about Everton's tactics and upcoming schedule, looks at Steve Cherundolo's Hannover '96 back in action in Germany, wonders about the Rapids' priorities going into the season, and asks Joe Cannon not to quit his day job.

The Colombia-to-Portland pipeline is back in action.

The Portland Timbers announced the acquisition of 24-year-old defender Hanyer Mosquera, a 6-foot-1 centerback expected to come in and add a dominating presence along the Portland back line. Mosquera becomes the fourth Colombian on the Timbers, joining Designated Players Diego Chara and Jose Adolfo Valencia and forward Jorge Perlaza.

With 2012 marking the beginning of the USA's FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign and the players here hoping to make a big impression, we decided to look back at the January camp roster from this time in the previous two cycles to see if there is any forecasting to be done on how many players will actually reach the World Cup.

The Vancouver Whitecaps' first season in MLS ended as so many other "expansion" teams' season have ended in U.S. leagues throughout the years: basement and struggling to build for the future.* After the near immediate success of recent MLS additions ...
Visit http://www.majorleaguesoccertalk.

By AVI CREDITOR

Don't expect to be wowed by the second edition of the MLS Re-Entry Draft now that most of the big names initially available are off the table.

Between Bobby Convey being traded to Sporting Kansas City, Bobby Boswell re-signing with the Houston Dynamo, Ante Jazic re-signing with Chivas USA and Santino Quaranta retiring, the quality of the draft pool has dropped immensely.

Photo by Brad Smith/ISIphotos.com

By FRANCO PANIZO

We've seen the last of Santino Quaranta as a professional soccer player.

Quaranta has called it a career after 11 seasons in MLS, according to the Washington Post. Feeling that there's nothing left to accomplish, Quaranta ends his time as a player with 27 goals and 29 assists in 180 MLS matches and 15 caps and one goal for the U.

Thorrington now unavailable in Re-Entry Draft; Jay Nolly to the Fire?

UPDATE 1 - 9:00 AM on December 5: This is now official according to the Chicago Fire. Chicago acquires Nolly for a first round selection in the 2013 Supplemental Draft

John Thorrington and Joe Cannon re-sign with the Vancouver Whitecaps

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This comes via Benjamin Massey over at 86 Forever in response to MLS releasing an updated list of players who will be available for the Re-Entry Draft that starts this Monday.

By Tony Edwards - San Jose, CA (Dec 1, 2011) US Soccer Players -- In today's edition, Tony finds it's a tough time to be an experienced MLS goalkeeper, looks at the going rate for luxury suites in not-even-built MLS stadia, asks about an opportunity for FIFA reform, and examines the zen of home openers.

Major League Soccer has revealed the names of the players who will be made available in the upcoming MLS Re-Entry Draft.

Bobby Boswell, Bobby Convey, Joe Cannon and Andy Williams are just some of the veterans left exposed by their MLS teams in the Re-Entry Draft, which will be held on Dec.

Ever read those posts on SI.com, Fox Soccer, or ESPN.com with the "five thoughts about ..." and then, well, lo and behold, they offer you five random thoughts about a topic?

Yeah, I always thought they were mailing it in too, too rushed or whatever to come up with a lede, coherent structure for the column, etc.

By Andrew Villegas The problem with the MLS expansion draft candy dish is that you have to wade through a hundred stale Tootsie Rolls (some of which cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, go figure) to get to that proverbial Snickers bar. This is the worst kept secret in American soccer. Teams stack the unprotected [.

Houston Dynamo vs. Philadelphia Union October 30, 2011 -- PPL Park, Chester PA Eastern Conference semifinals -- Game 1 Attendance: 18,539

Scoring Summary:
HOU -- Andre Hainault 1 (Brad Davis 1) 5
PHI -- Sebastien Le Toux 1 (Michael Farfan 1, Justin Mapp 1) 7
HOU -- Calen Carr 1 (Brian Ching 1) 30

Houston Dynamo -- Tally Hall, Andre Hainault, Bobby Boswell, Geoff Cameron, Corey Ashe, Danny Cruz (Je-Vaughn Watson 65), Adam Moffat, Luiz Camargo, Brad Davis, Brian Ching (Carlo Costly 71), Calen Carr (Will Bruin 76).

Someone in this pile is wearing Tim Ream's genitalia like a hat. How nice. Image: Mike Stobe/Getty Images North America.

It's taken several hours of screaming, sulking, bribery and threats to stop our resident photoshopper from producing an anatomically correct illustration of the above caption.

After a first half completely bereft of ideas by either team (I commented at half that the best hope for either team to score was an own goal) the second half perked up and resulted in the Rapids clinching a home playoff game.
The half started on a bad note though as Vancouver scored 4 minutes in.

Real Salt Lake's Collen Warner was shown a straight red card for a handball in the 42nd minute, with Vancouver's Camilo converting the resulting penalty. That opened the door for a Whitecaps rout in front of 20,113 fans at BC Place. Camilo converted a second penalty in the 53rd minute, with Nizar Khalfan scoring in the 88th.

By DAVID GUBALA

The inaugural Major League Soccer game at the newly renovated BC Place wasn't necessarily a one to remember for the Vancouver Whitecaps.

The Portland Timbers managed to spoil Vancouver's stadium opening with a 1-0 upset thanks to a cracker of a goal from Kenny Cooper on Sunday afternoon.

Quick Recap:

The Portland Timbers played a great tactical game and got the early goal from a brilliant strike from Kenny Cooper. The Vancouver Whitecaps tried to make a game of it but looks like they decided they might as well go for the Wooden Spoon. Portland wins 1-0.

First Half:

Portland really came out looking good despite missing their captain and one of their dynamic play makers.

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.

As one of the lucky ones who happened to travel to Vancouver for Saturday's Cascadia Cup game, I won't pretend to have the most nuanced view of the game. Soon enough, I'll have a full recounting of my experience, but for now I'll try to let the highlights and stats do the talking for the Seattle Sounders' 3-1 win over the Vancouver Whitecaps.

Any day when the Captain of the Seattle Sounders can raise a cup is a good day. When Kasey Keller can raise a Supporters Cup on the grounds of the opposition it seems even sweeter. That he was handed it by a member of the Emerald City Supporters after it was handed over from the Timbers Army increases in power.

A 3-0 win might be considered an easy night for any soccer team.

Just don't tell that to the Los Angeles Galaxy, certainly not on Saturday night against the Vancouver Whitecaps.

Vancouver certainly didn't play like a team that was in last place in the Western Conference with only 22 points against the vaunted Galaxy on Saturday night.

BY ADAM SERRANO

CARSON, Calif.-- The Los Angeles Galaxy showed no ill effects from their midweek loss in the CONCACAF Champions League, beating the Vancouver Whitecaps in relatively easy fashion for the second time this season.

Mike Magee scored twice and Robbie Keane tallied the other adding an assist as the Galaxy were able to handle the Whitecaps, 3-0.

On the day before the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, the NY Red Bulls remembered the victims of that dark day with a beautiful pre-game ceremony. They then proceeded to deal their playoff hopes another massive blow by drawing 1-1 (and dropping 2 badly needed points) against the lowly Vancouver Whitecaps.

With last night's win the Portland Timbers have proven that they're still very much interested in getting into the play offs this year. A couple weeks ago I had (almost) counted them out entirely. I don't think I've ever been happier to be proven wrong. Of course, the race isn't over yet. The Timbers have a lot of fighting left to do to actually secure a spot.

Amazing subplots were cast over MLS action this past weekend. Robbie Keane scored in his debut for the Galaxy while newly transferred Juan Pablo Angel did the same for Chivas USA. Coming of brilliant Champion's League success FC Dallas took on Seattle. New York and New England fans were treated to more of the same from their respective teams and Portland fans found reason to cheer.

After returning from my lengthy vacation, it took me some time to get back into my usual rhythm regarding the Whitecaps. The game against Portland is the first game I've seen for about six solid weeks, and I can't say I saw any improvements in my Whitecaps.
Like usual I got home late and turned on the TV with the game already started.

Prior to this MLS season, few expected the Columbus Crew to have the view from the top of the Eastern Conference mountain after a roster overhaul that saw numerous veterans get swapped out for unheralded youngsters.

Yet with the calendar turning to August and after a win at perhaps the toughest venue in the league, that's exactly where Columbus stands.

The Quakes ended their 4 game streak of being shutout by the opposing team by scoring two goals against Vancouver. Both goals were scored by Chris Wondolowski, bringing his season total up to 8, which is good enough to be tied for 4th in the Golden Boot race. Unfortunately the defense fell asleep a bit Wednesday night by allowing two relatively easy goals for Vancouver, both of those goals being scoring by Eric Hassli, who is also tied for 4th in the Golden Boot race with 8 goals on the season.

Entering the match, the two sides came in limping. Vancouver were on a four match losing streak and San Jose had gone winless in six.San Jose's Strategy Frank Yallop started with a 4-2-3-1 formation, using Wondolowski on the left side instead of as a strike partner for Lenhart. Lenhart's job was to hold up the ball and he took quite a pummeling doing so.

Although there have been many wide open games in the previous 15 MLS All-Star gatherings, Colorado Rapids players have rarely stolen the spotlight.

With Omar Cummings picked at the lone representative for this year's showdown against Manchester United at the New York Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.

Although there have been many wide open games in the previous 15 MLS All-Star gatherings, Colorado Rapids players have rarely stolen the spotlight.

With Omar Cummings picked at the lone representative for this year's showdown against Manchester United at the New York Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.

By JOSE M. ROMERO

San Jose and Vancouver didn't look like two teams a long way from playoff contention Wednesday night at Buck Shaw Stadium.

In fact, it was almost a shame neither team -- both were in need of a win -- walked away victorious. Instead, both settled for a 2-2 draw.

To quote my game preview:

2-1 win, goals by Casey and Cummings. C+C Goal Factory find their rhythm and put the Rapids up 2, but the defense continues to have at least one breakdown a game to make things interesting in the second half.

That's pretty much what happened. Palguta got the second goal instead of Cummings, but otherwise I was dead on.

The Colorado Rapids are undefeated when Scott Palguta scores.

Admittedly, the reserve defender has only scored twice in his career, with both goals coming this season. Each strike, however, has been the winner in 2-1 decisions for the Rapids (6-5-9, 27 points).

Palguta, who came on when Danny Earls couldn't continue after 23 minutes, was in the right place at the right time to stroke home a rebound from a Conor Casey header and put the Rapids up 2-0 on the visiting Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday night.

By JOSE M. ROMERO

Saturday night at home gave the Colorado Rapids a good opportunity to secure three points against the team with the worst record in their conference, and the defending MLS Cup champion took care of business.

Colorado's two goals were enough to defeat the struggling Vancouver Whitecaps, 2-1, at Dick's Sporting Goods Park.

By JOHN BOSCHINI

Jeff Cunningham couldn't have chosen a better time to make MLS history.

The Columbus Crew striker scored in the final minute of Wednesday's clash with Vancouver to give the Crew a 1-0 victory. Cunningham is now tied with Jaime Moreno as the all-time MLS goals leader with 133.

Toronto FC won their third consecutive Canadian title on Saturday

Toronto FC secured their third consecutive Nutrilite Canadian Championship title on Saturday. With the first leg tied at 1-1, the champions had to come from behind in their second leg 2-1 victory over Vancouver Whitecaps in order to win the Voyageur's Cup yet again.

See those three Maple Leafs Whitecaps? Yeah, those are ours.IN THE TUNNEL:
No signs of torrential rains or other biblical wraths on the horizon as the two clubs make their way onto a hot and hazy BMO Field. The Canadian Championship and a spot in CONCACAF Champions League is on the line as familiar foes, TFC and Whitecaps, conclude what started more than a month ago.

#soccerbowl79 - So hot right now!
A common joke term used to describe Canada is "America's Hat". However, if you look at the two Canadian clubs in Major League Soccer - it's more like "America's Bib". While the perfectly perfect Vancouver Whitecaps have the excuse of being a first-year MLS club to was away their sins, the local club just has to rely on its corporate motto "Rebuilding Since 2008".

Camilo gets his head on the free kick for Vancouver's goal.
photo courtesy of Jarred Donalson
Sporting KC fell behind early against the Vancouver Whitecaps last night at LiveSTRONG Sporting Park, but were able to fight back and win all three with goals by Omar Bravo and Julio Cesar to give KC a 2-1 win over the Canadian side.