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.
Today the Denver Post revealed that trialist Cesar Romero and Supplemental Draft picks Stefano Pinho and Machael David have been released from camp. That leaves defenders Marcello Castro and Brenton Griffiths and forwards David Cortes, Matthew Dunn, and Marcos Pirchio still in camp trying for the final 2 spots.
The team left for Santa Barbara today with two new trialists, forwards David Cortes Armero and Matthew Dunn. Both are former members of their national U-20 teams, Colombian and American respectively.
As expected, Rivero and Castrillon didn't travel, and Serna and O'Neill are with the U.S.
One of my sources at the Rapids has told me that the team is close to signing their 2nd round draft pick LB Kory Kindle and trialist Clint Irwin as the 3rd GK. I would expect official word sometime this week. That would put the team at 29 signed players against a roster limit of 30, with two international spots still available.
The Rapids left for Vegas today before their preseason friendly Friday night against Chivas USA. The Rapids took almost every player in camp. The exceptions are:
Rivero and Castrillon are both recovering from surgery and stayed behind.
Dillon Serna departed for Mexico to join Shane O'Neill and the U.
Just a quick roster update. Pery Martinez did not come back to Colorado with the team, but Colombian forward David Giraldo has joined the team in Commerce City.
Updated camp roster:
Goalkeepers: Steward Ceus Matt Pickens Clint Irwin - Unsigned trialist Jim Mauer - Unsigned trialist
Defenders: Diego Calderon - International Marcello Castro - Unsigned draftee, International Brenton Griffiths - Unsigned draftee, International Kory Kindle - Unsigned draftee Chris Klute (Atlanta loan through late-Sept) Drew Moor Anthony Wallace Marvell Wynne
Midfielders: Davy Armstrong - Homegrown Player Tony Cascio Jaime Castrillon - International Machael David - Unsigned draftee Kevin Harbottle - International Nick LaBrocca Pablo Mastroeni Brian Mullan Shane O'Neill - Homegrown Player Dillon Powers Martin Rivero (Rosario Central loan through 2013) - International Dillon Serna - Homegrown Player Nathan Sturgis Hendry Thomas - International Jamie Smith - Unsigned trialist
Forwards: Andre Akpan Deshorn Brown - Generation Adidas, International Edson Buddle Charles Eloundou - International Atiba Harris Kamani Hill Stefano Souza Pinho - Unsigned draftee, International David Giraldo - Unsigned trialist, International Cesar Romero - Unsigned trialist
That leaves 10 international players in camp, 6 already signed to a deal.
Colorado played their final game in Arizona on Saturday morning. Unfortunately my schedule didn't allow me to watch the game, but the Rapids did finally get a win by the score of 1-0. Colorado started with a close to starting XI:
Calderon has been solid at center back, but the weakness of the left backs may force him outside to start.
Last night Colorado played the 2nd of 3 preseason games in Arizona, facing the Houston Dynamo. Alas the Rapids started playing about 3 minutes after Houston, by which time they were already down a goal. Here was their starting XI:
Due to work I wasn't able to watch the game. According to reports, much like in the Portland game, after an early flurry by the Dynamo (including their goal) the Rapids controlled play in the half but couldn't convert.
Yesterday the Rapids faced the Timbers in their first game in AZ. Both teams ran out a close-to-starting XI to start the game. Here's Colorado's lineup:
Wynne was held out with an ankle injury. Portland had early control but Colorado asserted dominance most of the half. The best Rapids chance was a Hill shot that slammed off the crossbar in the 22nd minute or so.
Hendry Thomas' Honduras National teammate, Walter 'Pery' Martinez, has joined the Rapids on trial in Arizona. The team will play their first preseason game tomorrow against Portland in Tucson, and the game will be streamed live on MLSSoccer.com. Kickoff is 11am Denver-time.
Today Colorado also confirmed that the 4 picks from last week's Supplemental Draft are still with the team despite not being on the Arizona travel roster.
Goalkeepers: Matt Pickens, Stew Ceus, *Jimmy Maurer, *Clint Irwin Defenders: Drew Moor, Diego Calderon, Chris Klute, Anthony Wallace, Marvell Wynne, *Kory Kindle Midfielders: Pablo Mastroeni, Hendry Thomas, Nick LaBrocca, Tony Cascio, Brian Mullan, Shane O'Neill, Martin Rivero, Dillon Serna, Nathan Sturgis, Dillon Powers, *Jamie Smith Forwards: Andre Akpan, Deshorn Brown, Kamani Hill, Atiba Harris, *Cesar Romero
* not under contract
Dropped from the last camp roster we had: * = Unsigned Supplemental draftee ^ = Unsigned trialist GK: Joel Helmick^ DF; Marcello Castro*, Brenton Griffiths*, Luke Vercollone^ MF: Davy Armstrong, Jaime Castrillon, Kevin Harbottle, Machael David*, Carlos Diaz^ FW: Edson Buddle, Charles Eloundou, Stefano Souza Pinho*
Buddle, Castrillon, and Eloundou are expected, the first two injured and the latter with the Cameroon Nats.
I haven't had time to watch it yet, but here's part two of the Inside the Superdraft series:
The big news today was two signings by the Rapids. First this morning Colorado participated in a lottery for the rights to Charles Eloundou, a Cameroonian striker who signed a contract with the league prior to the SuperDraft but a delay in his work visa prevented him from being available on draft day.
Pareja confirmed today that Jaime Castrillon is on the trading block. He was also apparently diagnosed with a significant injury int he post-season exam last fall. He is at the Dick with the rest of the team in preseason but not participating in team drills.
Ruben Luna has left camp after getting an opportunity in another league.
Today the Rapids signed their thrid homegrown player, Brighton's Dillon Serna. He joined the Rapids Academy in 2009 and played with the U.S. U-17 and U-20 teams. He spent this past fall at Akron University, starting regularly as a freshman. He now leaves college to join the Rapids first team where he can play a number of positions in midfield and defense.
Rapids re-sign Steward Ceus - We'll have to see how much they ended up paying him, but Ceus seems like a good solid backup and worth re-signing.
Training camp opens January 17th - Same day as the Superdraft, as normal the first couple of days will be physicals and tests while Bravo and Pareja are at the draft.
Sporting KC closed out their preseason schedule today in Orlando against Toronto FC. After originally being grouped against their first kick opponent, Philadelphia, the schedule was changed so that Sporting took on Toronto.
For Sporting KC, Chance Myers returned to the lineup giving KC a virtual first team starting lineup, save for Seth Sinovic who rested in place of Josh Gardner.
Sporting KC was set to close out their preseason this coming Saturday in Florida in the 3rd place game against the Philadelphia Union. When that game was announced though there immediately became questions of whether the game would take place. The reason for that is because a week from this coming Saturday, Sporting KC is set to kick off the 2013 MLS season against the same Philadelphia Union in Philadelphia.
Sporting Kansas City continued preseason today with two games. The first game was a game that featured heavily in reserves against the Columbus Crew. Trialist goalkeeper, Brian Sylvester got his first appearance of the preseason for Sporting in goal. Kansas City got off to a flying start as Soony Saad played a nice ball through to Dom Dwyer who scored to put Sporting up 1-0 inside the first 5 minutes.
Sporting KC got back to winning in preseason tonight down in Orlando, defeating DC United 2-0. Eric Kronberg got the start and played the full 90 minutes in net for KC. The rest of KC's starting lineup played about 75 minutes. Other than Kronberg in place of Jimmy Nielsen, there were three other regular starters that were missing from the lineup.
Sporting KC dropped their first preseason game in 2013, falling 2-1 to the Montreal Impact in Orlando, Florida. Kansas City had their closest lineup yet this preseason to their first team lineup. The only player that started that probably isn't really a candidate to be starting on March 2nd in Philadelphia was trialist, Mechack Jerome at right back in place of regular starter, Chance Myers.
Sporting KC today released an updated preseason roster ahead of their beginning training in Orlando for the final phase of preseason and the Disney Pro Soccer Classic. Two new trialists are in camp, while two are no longer with the team.
Not joining the team in Orlando is second round supplemental draft pick, Mitchell Cardenas.
Sporting KC remained undefeated in preseason last night, beating the Portland Timbers 1-0 on the back of a Mechack Jerome free kick. The result though was the last thing on most fans minds after the game ended. The reason for that was the possible serious injury to reserve forward Soony Saad. In the 60th minute, Saad was posting up against Futty Danso at the top of the box.
Sporting KC played to a 1-1 draw with FC Tucson tonight in Arizona in the team's second preseason game. Soony Saad scored early off a cross from Chance Myers. Shortly after that Tucson equalized. It was actually Tucson who had some of the better chances, putting a shot just wide and hitting the cross bar.
Today in Arizona, Sporting KC had their first preseason game of the year against the New England Revolution. Sporting and the Revolution played to a 0-0 draw in a game that lacked many chances for either side.
All the Sporting KC players save for a few got their first taste of preseason.
While Sporting KC has made a number of announcements over the past few days, one announcement that continues to be rumored but yet to be announced is Claudio Bieler. The Argentine striker is currently closing out his season in Ecuador with LDU Quito. Their final game of the season is on Sunday against Emelec.
Sporting KC had already announced that they'd be returning to the Disney Pro Soccer Classic but today more of their preseason was announced, including a return to Tucson. For the third straight year, Sporting KC will spend part of their preseason in Arizona. Sporting will arrive in Tucson on the 20th of January to begin their preseason training.
Lee Nguyen scored from the spot to help lead the Revolution to a 2-0 preseason win over the Red Bulls on Saturday. (Photo: Kari Heistad/CapturedImages.biz)
Lee Nguyenand Jerry Bengtson scoredfirst half goalsto give the New England Revolution a 2-0 win over the New York Red Bulls in Saturday's Desert Diamond Cup consolation game.
Vancouver forward Darren Mattockspulled out the wandto perform a quickhat trick and ex-Revolution goalkeeper Brad Knighton shut the door in the second half to hand New England a 4-1 preseason loss on Tuesday.
Mattocks wasted no time collecting his trio of goals, which came in the 2nd, 5th and 15th minutes.
Revolution midfielder Kalifa Cisse was brought in during the offseason to lend his experience to the club both on and off the field. (Photo: Chris Aduama/aduama.com)
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. New England Revolution midfielder Kalifa Cisse wasn't just looking for another club when he found himself out of contract last year.
As they've done in years past, whether the team was in the playoffs or not, FC Dallas will continue to train in Frisco after Sunday's regular season finale against Chivas USA. FCD head coach Schellas Hyndman has even set a final date of training. OK, well maybe it was the powers-that-be in the league office in New York that came up with that date but it's still a date nonetheless.
Gimp walkers, fear not. We still have love for you! Image: CHRISTOF STACHE/AFP/GettyImages. As we
head into one of the more exciting parts of the footie season, let's take a moment to think of the
many players who can only sit injured and frustrated on the sidelines. From Jack Wilshere to Chris
Smalling, through Martin Caceres and [.
Image: NBA Photoshops via ESPN.com. The van Persie family is officially headed north for McMansions
and WAG inner circles anew. Not totally sure how Arsenal fans are taking the news, but we're
confident they'll let the Dutch international know when they travel to Old Trafford on 3 November
and again when their former captain returns to [.
Liverpool Football Club will be holding a testimonial match for skipper Steven Gerrard against Greek side Olympiacos.The match will take place on August 3, Liverpools only pre-season fixture at Anfield.
Gerrard's opponents are the side he scored a dramatic 86 minute goal to send Liverpool into the Champions League knockout stages in 2004- which they eventually went on to win.
FC Kansas City today unveiled their team's jerseys for this year as well as their first jersey sponsor as well. The jersey sponsor is Title Boxing Club. The boxing/kickboxing fitness club first started in the Kansas City metro back in 2008. I think the sponsorship matches up well with the Blues and fits well with both sides.
The striker crisis is solved!  Why were Toronto FC so horrible last year? Ask some returning players (and some ex-members of staff) and the answer is simple: a terrible 2012 pre-season. Yes that was obviously the issue. Obviously. Well nothing to fear - the new TFC hierarchy has answered the call by er.
Another busy day out in Commerce City. Two notes, then onto the Supplemental Draft.
Edson Buddle left the U.S. Nats camp with an injury to his right knee. The same knee he's had issues with in the past. No word on the severity of the injury.
The Rapids completed the long rumored trade of Eric Avila's rights to Chivas USA for former-Rapid Nick LaBrocca's rights.
Ulloa is by trade a defensive midfielder and while he has been played at other spots, notably in the back, Clavijo remains convinced his best spot is at holding mid. However, that could all change if he performs well in other spots, something FCD plans to experiment with once preseason starts in January.
Today, the MLS players union released another update to the player salaries again. Only one new addition on the list for Sporting KC, the addition of former Barcelona B player, Oriol Rosell. The Spaniard is making $90,000 for his base salary and $98,750 in guaranteed compensation, the salary is prorated since he didn't sign until midseason.
Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew was happy to keep all his big stars like Yohan Cabaye, Demba
Ba, Fab Coloccini and Cheick Tiote on Tyneside in the summer, with reports that clubs came after
our top players over the last few weeks of the transfer window, but owner Mike Ashley turnedÂ
down the bids, and it's not clear how big those [.
Those 'hearts' strategically placed behind Berba's back weren't our doing. But we'll take full
credit for them anyway! Image: Getty Images; taken during MUFC's July 2012 tour.
