Dynamo Press Release

CARSON, CA (Sunday, February 12, 2012) -- The Houston Dynamo lost their first match of the preseason, falling to the Portland Timbers 2-0 Sunday morning at The Home Depot Center, in Carson, Calif. Jack Jewsbury and James Marcelin provided the second-half goals for Portland.

The Chicago Fire put their undefeated preseason streak to the test when they take on Chivas USA today at 2:00 PM CST. Live audio of the game will be available with Fire Communications Manager Brendan Hannan and Team Writer Jeff Crandall teaming up on the play-by-play. Per Crandall, this will be the 4th time the combo has called a game.

The Portland Timbers played their second pre-season exhibition on February 10, facing the Montreal Impact, a former rival from the Timbers' previous days in lower division soccer that now joined them in MLS. While the action was brisk at points, neither side could muster a goal as the teams played to a scoreless draw.

Jurgen Klinsmann has been a polarizing figure since being named head coach of the USMNT, for me the jury is still out. Soon the US U23's will begin the qualifying rounds to earn their ticket London and the 2012 summer games. The problem I have at the moment (and this just might be my brain) is that Klinsmann isn't being too positive about the whole thing.

Ching squared off against his old club yesterday. (Photo via Montreal Impact)

As bad as it was back in November, both Brian Ching and the Houston Dynamo are ready to move past the whole expansion draft fiasco.

Ching now a member of the Montreal Impact played the Dynamo yesterday in a preseason scrimmage.

Jonathan Tannenwald has released the Philadelphia Union's local TV broadcast schedule on his Goalkeeper blog ahead of the official release later this week.

Monday, March 12: at Portland Timbers, 9:30 p.m. (ESPN2)
Sunday, March 18: vs. Colorado Rapids, 4:00 p.

You might have caught wind of reports that the Portland Timbers were getting ready to sign 20 year-old left back Juan David Duque out of Colombia. Stumptown Footy had solid looking reports up on January 25 and February 1. Here we are on February 8 though and still no Juan David Duque inking a deal.

This is a bit delayed, but in case you missed it, earlier this week the Revolution welcomed 5 new trialists to training camp. Three of them are relatively unknown: Patrick Otte, Gabe Mercier, and Brandin McClay. Otte, a midfielder, currently plays for the Fort Lauderdale Strikers of the NASL.

Catching up on the various Timbers news all up and down the West Coast, from the team securing their first victory of the 2012 season in their initial pre-season match versus Los Angeles to the status of Jose Adolfo Valencia's surgery to giving fans the chance to secure tickets to any of the 2012 Portland Timbers home matches

For those of you not lucky enough to have season tickets this year then you'll probably be relying on nabbing a few of these single game tickets. Luckily, you now have plenty of time to request February 28th off from work and get in line nice and early to ensure that you're able to attend at least a few games.

Photo by ISIPhotos.com

By ADAM SERRANO

CARSON, Calif. -- The rich got even richer on Tuesday as the Los Angeles Galaxy solidified their role as odds-on MLS Cup favorites by re-securing Brazilian midfielder Juninho on a year-long loan.

Juninho, who served as the Galaxy's midfield engine during the past two seasons, returns to Los Angeles after departing in December to return to Brazilian parent club Sao Paulo.

It would appear the Seattle Sounders may be getting close to announcing details of their summer friendly. A league source has confirmed to Sounder at Heart what Michael C. Lewis originally tweeted that the Sounders' home game against Real Salt Lake will be moved from July 18 to Oct. 17 in order to accomodate an international friendly.

File this one under the category: most likely to attract choice commentary from Seattle Sounders supporters.

As the Sounders-less MLS First Kick fast approaches, we here at Stumptown Footy are spooling up the statistical analysis drives in preparation for the 2012 campaign. Lacking much in the way of hard data so far, with just one preseason match under our belt, we've decided to start with the schedule.

The Portland Timbers have released a few billboards across the Rose City. I have to say, most are on par with last year's bunch. Check the rest out here.

The Portland Timbers have released a few billboards across the Rose City. I have to say, most are on par with last year's bunch. Check the rest out here.

BY ADAM SERRANO

CARSON, Calif. -- Cameroonian midfielder Franck Songo'o stole the show for the Portland Timbers as the trialist set up a pair of goals to help lead the Timbers to a 4-1 win against the Los Angeles Galaxy on Tuesday in the first MLS pre-season match for both teams.

*Despite the presence of watching projected NFL top draft choice Andrew Luck in Carson today, the Galaxy lost 4-1 to the Portland Timbers at Home Depot Center. Dan Keat had a goal on a bicycle kick in the losing cause. The Galaxy starting lineup: Saunders; Jordan, Meyer, DeLaGarza, Dunivant; Franklin,

The Portland Timbers wasted no time in beating their first opponent in for their trip down to California as the Timbers came away a with a whipping 4-1 victory over LA. Those of you who were around for last season will remember a similar goal ratio during LA's visit to Portland (3-0).

The goals came from Bright Dike, Jorge Perlaza, James Marcelin and Futty Danso with Franck Songo'o apparently playing a rather large role in the first two goals and in setting up a number of other chances.

PORTLAND, Ore. – The Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps FC announced today that their regular-season matchup on Oct. 20, at BC Place in Vancouver, B.C., has been changed to Sunday, Oct. 21, at 4 p.m. (Pacific) due to a conflict with the Canadian Football League (CFL) schedule.

The Portland Timbers announced one change to their 2012 schedule because of a scheduling conflict at Vancouver, Canada's B.C. Place. To accomodate a CFL game for the B.C. Lions, the Timbers - Whitecaps match originally scheduled for Saturday, October 20 has been moved to Sunday, October 21.

The Cascadia Cup rivalry takes no games off, even in the preseason.

The Seattle Sounders and Vancouver Whitecaps dueled to a 1-1 draw in a 120-minute scrimmage in Casa Grande, Ariz., on Monday -- a game that included nine cautions and a red card. The game was split into two 45-minute sessions and a 30-minute one, with each team using different lineups in each period to take advantage of their expanded lists of trialists and rostered players.

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.

The Portland Timbers began their training camp in California on February 5, but the front office announced two separate trades involving allocation money, international roster spots and draft picks. The Timbers will now have nine official international spots for the 2012 season after both announced deals.

Keeping up with the many moves that have taken place with regards to D.C. United's roster over the last couple of weeks is no small task. Each day it seems as if United are releasing another press release regarding a new player signing or the release of a player. Instead of posting each individual press release here is a recap of the roster moves from the past week up to today.

Here's an interesting early morning trade for everybody. It appears that the Portland Timbers have traded with D.C. United for an international roster spot for the 2012/2013 seasons in exchange for an unknown amount of allocation money.

Naturally one would expect that this would be used on a new signing and it may very well be for the 2013 season, however, not for the season because.

In case you missed it, the Chicago Fire defeated Real Espana 3-1 in Saturday night's international exhibition. Video highlights, goal scorers, and Fire starters are after the break. The team has a recap with some quotes from Klopas up on the website. The local paper, The Times-Picayune, had a good recap too.

Photo: Random free speech/satire from the Internet

Philly native Dan Borislow continues to show he has absolutely no shame or class by pushing for his Florida club to play friendlies this season while the rest of WPS had to cancel their season because of legal battles with Borislow.

The Portland Timbers completed their last scheduled practice in Portland before heading to California on February 5 for 12 days of training and four scrimmages. While the mood was soured a bit by the news of Jose Adolfo Valencia's knee surgery, the team remains upbeat about their prospects for the 2012 season.

The Portland Timbers were finally able to talk about the long term status of their young Colombian forward, Jose Adolfo Valencia. After discovering some scarring in his left knee during a pre-season medical exam that could lead to troubles down the line, the Timbers worked with Valencia's former club in Colombia to adjust the transfer agreement, allowing Valencia to undergo surgery in Portland this year.

Yeah, I've been getting beat up a bit on Twitter and through email today about my team grades for this winter. Again, I'll revisit those later on to have a final grade.

Obviously this kind of news will impact it. The Portland Timbers announced on Friday that forward José Adolfo Valencia will undergo surgery to repair damaged cartilage in his left knee.

Yeah, I've been getting beat up a bit on Twitter and through email today about my team grades for this winter. Again, I'll revisit those later on to have a final grade.

Obviously this kind of news will impact it. The Portland Timbers announced on Friday that forward José Adolfo Valencia will undergo surgery to repair damaged cartilage in his left knee.

After an offseason full of major moves, promise and tangible signs of improvement, the Portland Timbers were hit with a sizeable dose of bad news Friday.

Colombian striker Jose Adolfo Valencia, signed as a Young Designated Player back in December, requires knee surgery to repair damaged cartilage in his left knee and is going to be out for anywhere from the next 6-to-12 months.

This was how it began:

Graphic designer Brent Diskin had long liked soccer, but grew up in a household proud of its support of Oregon State's college football team, and that was his main sporting interest until very recently. So how did Diskin end up producing the posters above, upon the Portland Timbers' elevation to Major League Soccer in 2009?

This was how it began:

Graphic designer Brent Diskin had long liked soccer, but grew up in a household proud of its support of Oregon State's college football team, and that was his main sporting interest until very recently. So how did Diskin end up producing the posters above, upon the Portland Timbers' elevation to Major League Soccer in 2009?

The silence has finally been broken and we finally know what all the secrecy was about. Jose Adolfo Valencia will be having knee surgery to repair damage cartilage in his left knee. The biggest reason this took so long to take care of was the fact that Santa Fe and Portland reworked the loan deal that brought Valencia to Portland as it is still unclear when and where the injury occurred.

Portland and Vancouver have done well in preparing for their sophomore seasons. (Getty Images)

Yesterday I took a look at the 10 clubs from the Eastern Conference in how they've done so far this winter. Naturally right after the post was put up one of those clubs went out and signed a DP.

Today, we'll look at the nine clubs from the Western Conference to see how they've been doing so far this winter.

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.

Good news everyone!

The remainder of the Dynamo's local TV deal has finally be revealed and it's all about Fox Sports Houston and FSHouston Plus....more importantly, all broadcast will be in glorious high definition. Happy dance time!

"This agreement with Fox Sports Houston, coupled with our overall television package, creates the strongest broadcast situation in club history," said Dynamo president Chris Canetti.

Having now had time to digest the news Kris Boyd rejected an offer from Houston Dynamo that Dom Kinnear and the front office worked on diligently only to later accept a reportedly hastily-assembled one from Portland Timbers, it's time to flesh out possible reasons why. Granted, there's still a bit of acid reflux felt by some fans of the Naranja, but at least getting a first round draft pick out of Portland soothes the situation like Pepto Bismol.