Earlier this week, I realized I hadn't done a Hat Trick and Question of the Day since before the MLS SuperDraft. Yikes. There have been very good reasons for this though: Between covering the draft in Kansas City, looking at the St. Louis soccer landscape and interviewing both current and former members of the Fire organization, it's been a very good time to write for Hot Time in Old Town.

Kenny Cooper opened his New York Red Bulls account on Tuesday, doing so against his former club in the process.

Cooper scored the opening goal in the Red Bulls' 2-0 preseason victory over FC Dallas in Cancun, Mexico, a game that was postponed from Monday because of field conditions.

photo by David Bernal/ISIphotos.com

By FRANCO PANIZO

D.C. United added more depth to its midfield on Monday, signing a player who is no stranger to MLS.

United announced the acquisition of midfielder Marcelo Saragosa, the 30-year-old Brazilian who previously had stints with FC Dallas and Chivas USA.

While four trialists with European experience joined the New England Revolution in Arizona, five Americans are joining the Revs in their return to Foxboro. Luke Kreamalmeyer, Blake Wagner, Patrick Otte, Gabe Mercier, and Brandin McClay are all currently on trial with the team according to the club's latest preseason roster.

By DAVID GUBALA

The Chicago Fire are now a good two weeks into their first phase of preseason camp and have been making all of the necessary adjustments as the start of the new 2012 campaign nears. Part of the preseason activity, though, has included shooting down rumors of a superstar Designated Player acquisition.

The Philadelphia Union were expected to announce the signing of Lionard Pajoy last week, but the team has yet to officially recognize the striker as a player. According to a Colombian league report, Pajoy is experiencing visa problems, which are keeping him from joining the Union.

The 30-year-old had problems getting out of his contract with Itagui Ditaires, per a source that talked to Kerith Gabriel, of the Philadelphia Daily News and Philly.

Photo by Michael Janosz/ISIphotos.com

The Los Angeles Galaxy and Philadelphia Union both made their fair share of headlines this week, so it is only appropriate that they combined for another one.

Los Angeles acquired central midfielder Kyle Nakazawa and a second-round pick in the 2013 MLS SuperDraft from Philadelphia Wednesday in exchange for an international roster spot.

The Philadelphia Union have officially completed a trade of Kyle Nakazawa to the LA Galaxy. Nakazawa will be sent to California with a second round selection in the 2012 MLS SuperDraft for one of the Galaxy's international roster spots.

Nakazawa was reported to be on his way to the Galaxy early this morning, when the Brotherly Game published a storywith information from a source knowledgeable on the situation.

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.

Aston Villa will be the host team of yet another Philadelphia Union player on trial, according to soccer agent Richard Motzkin.

Former first overall SuperDraft pick Danny Mwanga will train with Aston Villa, of the English Premier League, for ten days. Mwanga joins Freddy Adu (Rayo Vallecano), Michael Farfan (Sunderland), Zac MacMath (Everton), Amobi Okugo (SC Freiburg), Sebastien Le Toux (Bolton Wanderers) and Zach Pfeffer (Hoffenheim) as members of the Union that have spent time training with overseas clubs prior to the 2012 MLS season.

Tonight I was watching Metro Sports Zone on Metro Sports, watching a feature that was being done on Kyle Miller and Matt Kuhn and their attempts to become the 5th and 6th local players on Sporting KC's current roster. It struck a thought in my head that I'd been thinking about yesterday after an announcement from the Seattle Sounders.

The 2012 NSCAA Convention could once again be called: The busiest week of my life. Here's the play-by-play, through a few select photos from the camera on my iPhone. I've posted the photos in chronological order, enjoy!

Tuesday, January 10

Arrived in Kansas City and made my way over to the Kansas City Convention Center to check things out.

The Dynamo announced today that midfielder/winger Danny Cruz has been traded to DC United for allocation money. The trade was announced around 2:45pm CT.

Cruz graduated from Generation adidias in the off-season and the Dynamo declined his contract option. The team had made attempts to re-sign Cruz but apparently a deal could not be reached.

The MLS 101 series will be a "living/breathing document" in that I will continue to edit and update these post to keep up to date with the inevitable changes that MLS will make. I encourage you to bookmark the post so you can use them as a reference going forward.

In this edition of MLS 101, it's time to tie up some lose ends about MLS roster rules, along with player movement and acquisition.

Amobi Okugo has had a busy offseason, shuttling around the world playing for various US youth National team squads and MLS special tournament teams, but it appears to have all worked out for the midfielder. The 20-year-old is ranked eighth on ESPN on a list of under-21 US soccer players, and is one of three of those players on the list that are on the sports site's front page.

David TiemstraEclipse Select Communications
CHICAGO -- Eclipse Select Soccer Club alum and Clarendon Hills, Ill., native David Tiemstra is headed to Major League Soccer's San Jose Earthquakes.
Tiemstra, a graduate of Hinsdale Central and a two-time Big Ten Conference Defensive Player of the Year out of Ohio State, was selected by San Jose during Tuesday's 2012 MLS Supplemental Draft.

The expansion Montreal Impact used their first pick in franchise history to select the versatile Andrew Wenger with the top pick in the 2012 MLS SuperDraft on Thursday afternoon in Kansas City.

Wenger, considered to be the most talented and complete player in the draft, enjoyed a successful career at Duke University.

This past week has been a whirlwind for Fire fans. We had the MLS SuperDraft hoopla last week with a couple of new player signings sprinkled in (Robayo and Puppo). On the heels of that we had a sponsor announcement and new jersey unveiling. Somewhat lost in the shuffle was the announcement of the changes to the U.

Sebastien Le Toux's flight to England appears to be training ahead of a possible transfer, according to Fox Soccer. Bolton is the destination if the Philadelphia Union's star striker is transferred during the January international transfer window.

The transfer was originally reported by Ives Galarcep, who writes for Fox Soccer and his own site, Soccer By Ives.

As we enter the 2012 season, there are many questions surrounding the Union, but one of the biggest is what to make of our young striker, Danny Mwanga.

After a fantastic rookie year, Mwanga seemed to regress in 2011. He started fewer games and scored fewer goals than he did his rookie year, and his appearances were inconsistent: during some games he looked like an absolute world-beater, while more often he was anonymous.

The Houston Dynamo have always seemed to have a love-hate relationship with the MLS SuperDraft. In the franchise's early years in Houston, Dynamo Coach Dominic Kinnear seemed to have no qualms about trading away a top draft pick in order to obtain a player who filled a need or role right away for his squad.

The Houston Dynamo have always seemed to have a love-hate relationship with the MLS SuperDraft. In the franchise's early years in Houston, Dynamo Coach Dominic Kinnear seemed to have no qualms about trading away a top draft pick in order to obtain a player who filled a need or role right away for his squad.

Today's du Nord post is dedicated to one of our heroes: Muhammad Ali born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr on this day, January 17, in 1942. Happy 70th my man!
STARTERS
I spent 2 great days last week in Kansas City at the NSCAA Convention, including taking in the MLS SuperDraft.

There's a scene in the musical 1776 where John Adams is at somewhat of a low point. Adams and Ben Franklin praise Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence only to see it mutilated by the members of the Continental Congress. There is amendment after amendment, crossout after crossout, desecration after desecration.

Yay, another day, another MLS draft. Today should be the last one for a while (that is unless there is a lottery taking place which could very well happen here soon too). The MLS SuperDraft was cut a round for the second straight season and because of that the Supplemental Draft's first round will still feel like the SuperDraft's third round to some.

The recent changes to the Major League Soccer schedule and competition format are hardly the only ones impacting professional soccer teams in North America.

Coinciding with the MLS SuperDraft, U.S. Soccer and CONCACAF announced major changes to the CONCACAF Champions League and U.

Photo: Paul Rudderow

With the SuperDraft behind us, thoughts now turn to the nitty-gritty of the 2012 Union season. Naturally, questions arise. Over a two-part series we pose ten questions to our Union beat reporter, Eli Pearlman-Storch, beginning in part 1 with a focus on formation, roster depth and leadership roles within the starting XI.

To kickoff 2012, my first (and only) blog entry centered on a plea for the New England Revolution to be "blog worthy" in 2012. A hope that it would "show the fanbase how big the Revolution dream is, and steps you are taking to achieve it."

Given a week of activity, I'm concerned the team still cannot explain the vision of the team's future the way I'd like, but its actions actually give me hope.

The MLS SuperDraft is over and teams are now gearing up for the start of training camps later this month. As typically happens this time of year, some of the best exposure for MLS came in the form of local newspaper articles about draftees. By covering the success of their locals products, these hometown papers expose the league and its teams to new audiences that typically don't receive coverage of soccer in their paper.

Adu had some moments.The U.S. Men's National Team opened up 2012 with some very interesting talking points. Certain call ups, certain omissions, scrimmages and of course the obvious questions that accompany such things. First up would be the scrimmage between the full team and the Under 23's.
The senior squad paid a lesson to the U23 Olympic team with a 4-0 dismantling of their younger brothers.

Adu had some moments.The U.S. Men's National Team opened up 2012 with some very interesting talking points. Certain call ups, certain omissions, scrimmages and of course the obvious questions that accompany such things. First up would be the scrimmage between the full team and the Under 23's.
The senior squad paid a lesson to the U23 Olympic team with a 4-0 dismantling of their younger brothers.

As the dust settles on the 2012 MLS SuperDraft, I thought it would be a good time to catch up with the Portland Timbers and their offseason moves so far in this, their true first offseason as a Major League ...
Visit http://www.majorleaguesoccertalk.com for the rest of the story.

Dynamo still negotiating with Ibeagha

In this report for Fox Soccer regarding various news and notes from the MLS SuperDraft, Ives Galarcep reported the following: "The Houston Dynamo continue to negotiate with Academy product and US Under-23 national team defender Sebastian Ibeagha but have yet to reach an agreement with the Duke standout.

The changes to the CONCACAF Champions League may have slipped by some due to all the MLS SuperDraft news. The new format breaks into four positives and three negatives. Travel for most clubs will be reduced, for the clubs in the Preliminary Round that advance it can drop by about 10,000 miles through the elimination of two cross-continental trips (there was a scenario last year where Seattle could travel 4700 miles one way in the Group Stage).

Hunter Jumper Selected 28th Overall by Chicago Fire in MLS SuperDraft Cavalier defender was a second-team all-region pick in 2011
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - Virginia defender Hunter Jumper (Sr., Plano, Texas) was selected by the Chicago Fire Thursday in the second round of the Major League Soccer SuperDraft, held in Kansas City, Mo.

To the outside observer, the 2012 MLS SuperDraft seemed to be breaking almost perfectly for the Seattle Sounders. Despite holding the No. 15 pick in the first round, three Generation Adidas players were available to them when their turn finally came around.

Forward Dom Dwyer, who many seemed to think was high on the Sounders' list, was one of those players.

The 2012 MLS SuperDraft has come and gone. With only two rounds this year, the draft flew by like never before. There were no trades during the draft to make it interesting and overall, there weren't too many surprises.

I figured I would give it almost a day before I came back with my draft grades.

Photo: Courtesy of the Philadelphia Union

It's the MLS Superdraft/WPS Draft edition of the KYW Philly Soccer Show!

In part one, KYW's Greg Orlandini, along with Philly Soccer Page writers Eli Pearlman-Storch and Mike Servedio, are joined by Philadelphia Daily News writer Kerith Gabriel from the SuperDraft in Kansas City to discuss the Philadelphia Union's newest members, forward Chandler Hoffman, midfielder Greg Jordan, and defender Raymon Gaddis.

Philadelphia Union

Are the Union shopping Danny Mwanga, as was reported by Ives Galarcep on Wednesday? "For the record we are not shopping Danny Mwanga," Diego Gutierrez tells Kerith Gabriel. "A lot of teams are finding themselves in a tough spot in the market and are looking within the league to supplement.

Image via MLS on Facebook.

Kickettes, give a pageant queen wave hello to Dom Dwyer, Sporting Kansas City's first round draft pick at yesterday's 2012 MLS SuperDraft. There's a lot to learn about Dom, but because he's still so box fresh, we're only sticking to the need-to-know facts for today.