This Friday the Portland Timbers will officially convene back here in Portland to begin their training for the 2012 season. With the SuperDraft behind us and a few weeks left open in the international transfer window there's a lot expected to go on, but the beginning of the training is probably the most exciting for the simple fact that it means.

It's likely that Fraser Forster could make a permanent move to Celtic next month. Fraser Forster - Newcastle could sell in January The giant 6'7″ goalkeeper , who has never played in the Newcastle first team in a competitive game, was given his chance in the pre-season at Newcastle, when the manager took a good look atn him on the US tour and in pre-season games.

Good afternoon and welcome to the first match day of the season! At long last its finally here and what a way to kick it off against Sydney tonight. Pre-season games can only tell you so much and the first game is always somewhat of an unknown. How will the team line up? Can they

While FP is getting mentally prepared to blog the next season for the A-League, there should definitely be a quick mention of two Perth Glory pre-season games against State sides this week.
The games will be played against Stirling Lions tomorrow (Wednesday, September 7) 7pm, at Macedonia Park, Balcatta, and against Balcatta on Saturday 11am, at McGillivray Oval, Mt Claremont.

Josh McEachran pretty much did what most of us would expect him to do before the season started and asked AVB if he could go out on loan. It's seems that Fabio Capello's advice for Josh to do that was noted by our talented youngster so he asked the question. AVB's answer was a firm no and the reason's as to why he said no great to hear.

Jake Livermore will earn a lot of praise after his all round display was capped off with Spurs' third goal in their 5-0 demolition of Hearts. The 21 year old defender found himself thrust into the team after a midfield injury crisis and took his chance well. After cropping up with some useful goals in pre-season games of the past, he sealed his performance with his first competitive goal for the club.

Kenny Dalglish has revealed he is under no pressure to sell players – and that Liverpool's owners are instead urging him to continue his summer spending.
Bankrolled by Fenway Sports Group, the Anfield outfit has spent more than £50million to strengthen their squad during the transfer window.
In front of the biggest home attendance in more than 25 years, the new-look Liverpool, featuring four debutants, began the Premier League season in stuttering fashion on Saturday when they were held to a 1-1 home draw by Sunderland.

Nemanja Vidic believes United are perfectly prepared for the start of the campaign - though he is wary of a potential upset against West Brom in Sunday's opener.
The Reds' skipper is fully focused on extending the 100 per cent run at The Hawthorns since the inception of the Barclays Premier League after enjoying a perfect record in terms of the pre-season.

The Biggest Manchester United Season Preview You'll Ever Read - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Imagine that you're appointed manager of Manchester United tomorrow morning. The world is at your feet. You have (statistically speaking) the best team in the world alongside Barcelona in club football and you have a phenomenally talented young squad that will win titles before it reaches it's full potential.

There is a lot of money flying about in the Blue Square South this season as the teams jostle to fill the void at the top left by Braintree Town and Ebbsfleet United. The gap between those with a decent budget and those without seems to be growing a bit more in the southern half of Step 2 than in the northern half.

Pre-season games often be no more than glorified fitness sessions, and with due respect, the ‘Supercoppa de Italia' could be that type of encounter, struggling to elevate itself beyond ‘kick about level' certainly for players accustomed to scudetti and Champions League endeavours. But while the cachet of a Supercoppa triumph is debatable, an early opportunity for Milan to lay down a.

Is his ankle alright?

From the 6 pre season games that Arsenal have played, the result stands at 2 wins, 3 draws and 1 defeat. Is there anything that can be drawn out of these matches? Pre season are meant for fitness/stamina building, creating understanding between players and improving the camaraderie within the squad.

Why Liverpool and Arsenal fans should forget pre-season defeats and my fantasy team

Liverpool have shipped 15 in five pre-season games and Arsenal were booed off at the Emirates after conceding sloppy goals. And you know what? It doesn't matter a bit. Yes, both those teams need to sign commanding centre-halves but pre-season games are no indication of what is going to happen in the season.

Cesc Fabregas has returned to training but doubts surrounding his future remain ever-present with Barcelona seemingly closing in on his signature, according toThe Guardian.

The Spanish midfielder has missed all of Arsenal's pre-season games so far with a niggling hamstring injury which has only added fuel to the fire of his protracted Catalan move.

The new Arsenal right back, Carl Jenkinson, has impressed watchers during his pre-season games and has not joined the Gunners to be left on the bench watching Bacary Sagna play every week. He said: "Well I'd like to think I'm quite an ambitious person, so I want to get into that starting XI and I [..

Liverpool outcast Alberto Aquilani could be set to end his Anfield misery by joining AC Milan in a €10 million deal, according to his agent Franco Zavaglia.
Italy international Aquilani is keen to secure a permanent move back to Serie A this summer but, despite interest from Juventus and Fiorentina, no deal has been reached.

Arsenal 1-1 New York Red Bulls

I have been to pre-season games before. I stood on the terraces at Underhill one July afternoon and though the memory is a bit hazy now, I'm sure I have also paid visits to Borehamwood and Stevenage in my time. Solid pre-season turf on all counts.

So the Emirates Cup kicked off with a 2-2 draw which, as you would expect in most pre-season games, had some good stuff and some bad stuff.

For me the good stuff included Gervinho who looked sharp, quick and showed some end product in the final third again. I thought Frimpong was good in midfield, obviously he's still quite raw but he's got a drive and energy about him that I like.

It's the final of the Asia Trophy and we're taking on Chelsea for a chance to grab some pre-season silverware in Hong Kong. Like all pre-season games, it would be a mistake to read to much into performances, and the result doesn't really matter, but doing well in this one wouldn't hurt confidence.

Fighting words from Fernando Torres in Asia that he will regain his goalscoring touch this season.

Torres, who scored only one in 18 games for Chelsea last season has yet to score in the Blues two Asian games, but he is not worried about his lack of goals:

"I'm 27.

A sign of things to come? I hope so.

Valencia wrapped up a comfortable victory against big-spending and ambitious English second division team Leicester City in Austria some hours ago. In doing so Los Che won the Cup Kärnten as they continued preparations for the new season. They won the best of four competition that also featured PSV and Bursaspor.

New Recruits set for Liverpool Debuts

Liverpool's summer signings Jordan Henderson, Stewart Downing and Alexander Doni are set to make their debuts against Hull tomorrow afternoon. Kenny Dalglish is keen to blood his new recruits after they were excluded from the club's pre-season tour of Asia, but the Reds boss insists no one will be rushed into action before they are ready.

Kenny Dalglish is considering handing debuts to LFC new boys Stewart Downing, Jordan Henderson and Alexander Doni in tomorrow's friendly at Hull City.
The trio have all trained at Melwood this week and will be added to the squad which took part in the pre-season tour of the Far East.
Downing and Doni missed the trip as they waited for their respective deals to be completed, while Henderson was granted extra time off following his exertions for England in the Under-21 European Championships.

AVB spoke after Chelsea had beaten their Malaysian counterparts last night and after being asked questions about getting the best out of Fernando Torres, the possibility of Torres and Drogba playing together and a lack of movement in the transfer market, he showed for the first time a frustration of the "obsessions" some people have at the moment with Chelsea.

Chelsea have played two pre-season games, and won both of them 1-0. However, they have yet to score a goal other than an own goal. The Blues beat a Malaysia All Star XI today and also beat Portsmouth last week ... Continue reading →

We all saw the Brisbane Roar flying around the field last year, the Mariners were not far behind and of course Melbourne and Adelaide always set a standard, often exciting.
Perth failed, failed to excite and this after being top of the boxing league after a few games.
Had a review - kept Iain Ferguson - and done the same.

Newcastle United midfielder Cheik Tiote says he has committed himself to the club and has a positive attitude towards the coming pre-season games. I can only presume all the gloom with Toon supporters is due to my unplanned absence from article writing of late (more of which later). Or possibly not. Anyway, there is some [.

By Chris Wright

In which a young Malaysian pays good money to watch one of LIVERPOOL's pre-season games, then proceeds to turn up to the stadium wearing the most inappropriate shirt he could have possibly pulled over his head that morning incurring the jeers of a terrace-full of people.

By Walter Broeckx Okay forget all the transfer rumours, forget all the gossip, forget it all. As from today the only thing that really matters in football has restarted: the game on the pitch. I am full aware that you don't win anything in pre-season games. Apart from the Emirates cup maybe. But after sitting [.

Twiggster was shot sideways whilst recording this week's show. The first two parts are just trying to analyse the incoming info that was happening whilst recording the show this week! Probably the nearest thing ever to a LIVE GGL Show! But plenty of listener emails, player and manager interviews and some red hot pre season games Leeds news, have helped to restore the usual "normality" of the only on line Leeds Utd show with EVERYTHING you need to know about Leeds United.

Originally posted July 22, 2009
The Summer of Soccer continues to open eyes. Sports fans are taking a second look and new fans are getting hooked. This period of time has undoubtedly been Soccer's most historic in the U.S. But are sports fans getting confused and could this confusion be counter-productive?

We exchange three questions with Daniel Robertson of Big D Soccer in order to get some insider perspective on FC Dallas as the Chicago Fire head to Pizza Hut Park this Saturday. My answer to Daniel's first question is below and the other five questions in the exchange are after the break.

Big D Soccer asks Hot Time In Old Town

1.

The New England Revolution fan base has had a common refrain for the last few weeks, and it went something like this... "Please, please let us see some of these pre-season games. We can't wait to see all these changes and drive the memory of 2010 from our minds." This refrain may also have included a complaining "waaah, waaah, waaah", or something like it, depending on who you were listening to.

Chicago FIre vs. Red Bulls pre-season games streamed live starting at 10:00 AM CST

You can watch the Chicago Fire in action this morning as the New York Red Bulls are live streaming the two exhibition matches the two teams are playing this morning at Lockhart Stadium. I wish it were the Fire that were doing the live streaming but something is better than nothing, right?

If this pre-season is the time when Chef Nicol creates the Revolution main dish that will be served for the MLS 2011 season, then it's clear that the meal is still half-baked.

Here on Soccer Soap Box I have occasionally counted on the contrasting perspectives of situations being "Half Full" or "Half Empty" in game reviews, and will apply a modified, point by point, version for reviewing where the team is so far this pre-season.

The Chicago Fire announced today that they have signed 25 year-old Uruguayan forward Diego Cháves. From the Chicago Fire press release:

The 25-year-old striker leaves the Primera Division Uruguay to join the Men in Red and will be added to the club's roster upon the receipt of his International Transfer Certificate (ITC).

The first pre-season games for Orlando City have been announced, and they'll be against MLS teams at the Disney World Pro Soccer Classic.

The team will join MLS clubs Houston Dynamo, Toronto FC and FC Dallas in the two day tournament on February 24 and 26 at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex.

By Chris Wright

That went well! The man that Wigan Athletic busted their transfer record open for, Argentinian striker Mauro Boselli, has joined Italian side Genoa until the end of the season after failing to even come close to scoring a league goal (despite notching six in six pre-season games) for the Latics since signing from Estudiantes for £6 million in the summer.