Colorado outplayed Houston for much of the match, but yet again an untimely injury changed the match and Houston managed to scramble back into it for a point. The Rapids were the dominant team in the first half, pressing Houston repeatedly and not being afraid to get physical with them. Harris had the first two chances but couldn't get them on frame.
The Rapids made what will probably be their final move of the preseason today, sending their first round pick in 2015 to Portland for forward Danny Mwanga. The Congolese forward was the #1 pick of the 2010 draft by the expansion Philadelphia Union and had 12 goals in 61 appearances for the club before he was traded to Portland in the middle of last season.
The Portland Timbers acquired Danny Mwanga on June 6, 2012, from the Philadelphia Union in exchange for Jorge Perlaza in a deal seen at the time -- and since -- as a rather lopsided trade. Philly would later drop Perlaza from the squad, but Mwanga stuck around Portland for the remainder of the season.
The Portland Timbers continued to remake the roster with two moves today. After sending out Danny Mwanga they signed veteran striker Frederic Piquionne after he trialed her in Portland. Caleb Porter must have not seen enough from Mwanga for him to trade him less than a year after the Portland Timbers traded Jorge Perlaza for him.
When Danny Mwanga signed a new deal with the Portland Timbers back in December, many thought he was being considered an integral part of the club's future.
So much for that.
Danny Mwanga's time with the Timbers came to a close on Thursday, as Portland dealt him to the Colorado Rapids in exchange for a first-round pick in the 2015 MLS SuperDraft.
Here's a rumor for you to digest this morning. Ives Galarcep is reporting that sources are telling him the Portland Timbers will be sending forward Danny Mwanga to the Colorado Rapids in exchange for a 1st round 2015 SuperDraft pick. Here is the exact tweet:
Sources tell me Rapids trading a 2015 1st-rd pick to Portland for Mwanga.
The Portland Timbers have been busy preparing for 2013 by making a number of moves in the early stages of the offseason, and on Tuesday they made another by re-signing forward Danny Mwanga.
The Timbers signed Mwanga to a new contract, assuring that the 21-year-old will stick with the club for the foreseeable future.
It appears that Danny Mwanga is quite the focus of today's Portland Timbers news headlines as the club has officially announced that they've resigned him to a new contract. Those who were with us throughout the 2012 season will remember that the Timbers traded Jorge Perlaza to the Philadelphia Union over the summer in exchange for Mwanga.
Under former head coach Peter Nowak, and Sporting Director Diego Gutierrez, Colombia was a
source of talent for a Philadelphia Union team that needed an influx of it during an offseason. Now
Colombia has become a place of departure for exiting Union players.
First it was Faryd Mondragon returning to Deportivo Cali, the team he began his professional
soccer career with, and today it was Jorge Perlaza, heading to Millonarios after his rather
forgetful time with the Union.
The Philadelphia Union's trade haul for former No. 1 overal MLS SuperDraft pick Danny Mwanga did
not last very long at PPL Park.
Colombian forward Jorge Perlaza was unceremoniously cut by the Union not even three months after
being acquired from the Portland Timbers in exchange for Mwanga in early June.
Controversy seemed to have started to slip away from the Philadelphia Union in recent weeks,
excluding questions surrounding Freddy Adu and his ability to handle a benching. It was, however,
simply a calm before a storm.
The Philadelphia Union and Jorge Perlaza chose to mutually part ways yesterday, according to a
report by Philly.
With tomorrow's big game the first since the trading away of both Troy Perkins and Mike Chabala,
there's been a lot of opinion and suggestions coming from the fan base on what the Portland Timbers
FO should do with regards to players. Obviously, most of you probably wouldn't have traded Perkins
away, some of you probably would have traded Chabala.
Jack McInerney's controversial red card, handed out against the Montreal Impact for his
involvement the post-Martin Rivas headbutt 'scrum,' has left a hole at the starting false nine or
central advanced forward role in the Philadelphia Union's hybrid 4-3-3.
The Union's options to replace McInerney have little starting experience in Philadelphia colors,
but they do provide the team with some attributes not seen on the field otherwise.
Not much new to talk about here from our perspective, but the MLS Players Union has released an
updated mid-season salary list for all MLS teams, including our own Portland Timbers. While the
Timbers haven't been terribly active this mid-season with regards to bringing in new players,
specifically new players from outside the league, the two new players, Danny Mwanga and Kosuke
Kimura, you probably didn't catch last time salaries released are now there.
The Portland Timbers held a closed practice at Jeld-Wen Field today ahead of their game against
Chivas USA tomorrow: their second in as many weeks. Practice was closed after the team went through
their usual warm ups and some passing drills and not reopened until after eleven.
Eric Brunner once again practiced with the team, staying on the pitch through the end of
training.
The Portland Timbers were facing a daunting task on July 3 when they met the San Jose Earthquakes
at home. The Timbers were reeling a bit after a tough loss in Colorado, while San Jose has been the
talk of MLS with their torrid play that has vaulted them to the top of the Western Conference.
However, showing their ability to rise to the occasion, the Timbers knocked off the Earthquakes 2
to 1 behind goals from Danny Mwanga and Jack Jewsbury.
On getting players ready after loss to Colorado:
"I think it's easy to get up for games here. The passion and energy that's in the stadium is just
tremendous.
Happy belated Fourth of July everyone. Although not every match in the mid-week line-up offered its
own dose of fireworks for the MLS faithful there was still plenty of soccer to watch on Tuesday and
Wednesday night. And the late game dramatics of the Los Angeles and Philadelphia game capped off a
spectacular slate of Holiday activities.
PORTLAND, Ore. – It was a night of firsts as both Danny Mwanga and Jack Jewsbury scored their
first goals of the season to lead the Portland Timbers to a 2-1 victory over San Jose Tuesday night
at JELD-WEN Field. Photo Gallery
It resulted in the first loss for the Earthquakes – who came into the game with MLS' best
record – since May 27, ending their three-game winning streak and knocking them off their high
from Saturday's 4-3 victory over the LA Galaxy.
Just three days after what was arguably their worst game of the year, the Portland Timbers
responded to that disappointing show against Colorado by putting together the kind of victory has
just might spark a full-blown turnaround.
The Timbers scored goals in each half, including Danny Mwanga's first for Portland since joining
the team from Philadelphia, to earn a 2-1 victory against the San Jose Earthquakes on Tuesday
night.
Last Sunday the Portland Timbers faced a huge test against their northern rivals the Seattle
Sounders and they came out on top. It wasn't a pretty game. It wasn't an overtly dominant
performance by the Timbers, but they dragged out a 2-1 victory... and that's what really matters,
especially against a rival such as Seattle.
Today is the last day of June which means tomorrow is the official opening of the International
Transfer Window (ITW). While the ITW isn't required to make trades between other MLS teams as we
saw with Danny Mwanga and Mike Fucito, most teams typically wait until about this time to make all
their big moves, especially if they are planning on using the ITW to bring in a big international
player as that usually means they have to move their respective squads around.
Portland Timbers continued their dismal MLS campaign with a 1-0 defeat to fellow strugglers LA
Galaxy, heaping further pressure on under-fire manager John Spencer.
The result defied soccer betting tips and saw the Timbers once again fail to score a goal,
continuing a theme that has been running throughout the team all season.
Big day. Big match. Big EVERYTHING. There's really not much I can say about the rivalry today
that most of you don't already know. But if this IS your first time heading to a match between
these two sides, all I will say is be prepared. There's nothing timid about a Portland Timbers -
Seattle Sounders match.
The Portland Timbers are not a good MLS team right now. Sure, they have the nobility of support
(as Seattle fans we've been through that with the Seahawks, Sonics and Mariners), but the team
itself is poor. John Spencer and those above him are trying to rebuild on the fly. They recently
added Danny Mwanga and Mike Fucito to add to the offense.
With their Cascadia Cup clash against the Seattle Sounders only two days away, the Portland
Timbers held a closed training session at Jeld-Wen Field this morning. Returning from a day off
yesterday, the Timbers held a full practice session today, not wrapping things up until after
11:30.
Eric Brunner and Rodney Wallace continued to miss practice as both are still recovering from
their respective injuries.
CARSON, Calif. -- The result did not go according to plan in Danny Mwanga's
debut for the Portland Timbers, but the flashy forward had plenty to be pleased about in his first
match for his hometown club.
Hack says Union will go for it against KC. Vermes says Union could be dangerous. Jac Mack wants to be the man. Seitz donates bone marrow to save stranger's life. More news.
Hackworth says tonight's game against the Crew is huge, believes Jack McInerney is the key to the
Union getting goals on the scoreboard. Previews and power rankings. More on Freddy. With Perlaza
gone, Nowak's Mwanga deal means Union got nothing. River Cup raised $30k. More news.
Sporting KC continue their busy stretch of games with a trip across the country. The day after
playing the Sounders in Seattle, KC traveled across the country to Philadelphia where they'll play
the Union at PPL Park in Chester. The brutal stretch of 4 games in 10 days is half over at this
time, but the cross country trip isn't fun.
With two games against Colorado in six days, the Timbers had a light practice session today at
the team's Beaverton training center. Friday's starting eleven broke off and took part in a short
regen session before heading inside while the rest of the team did their fitness work and played a
short field game.
The Timbers held their first practice at Jeld-Wen Field since Gavin Wilkinson assumed the head
coach's position. Although today's practice was closed, the press was not booted off the field
until almost 10:40, a record in recent weeks. Wilkinson started things off with the usual warm ups
before moving to passing drills and games of keep away before practice was closed.
The Philadelphia Union have announced that they have agreed to a mutual contract termination
with forward Jorge Perlaza. Perlaza joined the Union this season in a trade which sent MLS
Superdraft first overall pick Danny Mwanga to Portland. This move should come as a surprise to no
one. Perlaza had not played or been available as a sub for the last ten Union games.
The Timbers held a short, closed practice today at their Beaverton training facility before they
fly out to Colorado later today.
Rodney Wallace practiced with the team today, staying on the field for the whole time for the
second time this week (the other being yesterday, which I missed).
The day after their first MLS win over the Seattle Sounders, the Timbers practiced today at
their Beaverton training facility. The team focused on regeneration today, splitting into two
groups with the players who started yesterday working inside to start practice and the subs and
reserves taking to the field.
The Timbers held a closed practice today their Beaverton training facility. With the sun out,
spirits seemed high during the team's warm-up as they mixed things up from their usual routine with
some rugby-style passing drills. Perhaps predictably, few of the American players knew what fitness
coach John Ireland meant by "rugby football passing".
Shalrie Joseph is gone. He is no longer a member of the New England Revolution. It is time to
move on.
The oddest part of this whole Shalrie trade is that ultimately we do not know what to make of
the spare piece we received. There is a second round pick in the SuperDraft - a tool for getting
players that is slowly and surely losing its relevance.
In June, the Philadelphia Union sacked their first manager, Peter Nowak, just six months after
he signed a three-year contract extension with the club. Now Nowak is suing the club in federal
court for the remaining three and a half years of unpaid wages left on his contract and severance
pay, which he feels he's owed.
Two games from Tuesday night, with Houston and Chicago ending scoreless in front of 22,039 at BBVA
Stadium. Chicago finished with only one shot on goal from six taken. Houston did one better, but
needed 13 shots to produce those two chances. In Portland, the Timbers beat the team with the best
record in Major League Soccer with a 2-1 win over San Jose at Jeld-Wen Field .
