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.

United States National Team player Chris Wondolowski has signed a new deal with the San Jose Earthquakes. "I'm grateful to the organization for giving me a new contract for a second straight year and look forward to helping the Earthquakes get back to the MLS Cup Playoffs," Wondolowski said. "I think we have a great team heading into this season and I know I'm looking forward to that home opener on March 10th against New.

photo by Don Feria/ISIphotos.com

For the second consecutive offseason, Chris Wondolowski has signed a contract extension with the San Jose Earthquakes.

A year to the day after signing a new deal with the San Jose Earthquakes, Wondolowski has again agreed to renew his contract with the club.

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.

Hot off the presses (so to speak), the Dynamo have announced a 16-game local Spanish language television broadcast deal with MultiMedios. MultiMedios had local Dynamo coverage from 2006-2009 and returns for the 2012 season to broadcast 16 games, all available in high definition.

Here's the press release on the deal:
HOUSTON, TX (Wednesday, February 8, 2012) -- The Houston Dynamo and Spanish-language television partner MultiMedios Houston have reached a broadcast agreement for the 2012 season, it was announced today.

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.

Sporting KC got their first preseason game under their belts today when they took on the San Jose Earthquakes today down in Arizona. The two teams started the game with what would likely be considered their first team lineup. Both teams got things started quickly in the game. The Quakes grabbed the lead inside the first 5 minutes, as Chris Wondolowski finished off a cross from Marvin Chavez.

Sporting KC got their first preseason game under their belts today when they took on the San Jose Earthquakes today down in Arizona. The two teams started the game with what would likely be considered their first team lineup. Both teams got things started quickly in the game. The Quakes grabbed the lead inside the first 5 minutes, as Chris Wondolowski finished off a cross from Marvin Chavez.

Sporting Kansas City's quest to repeat as Eastern Conference regular season champions began today with a 2-1 pre-season victory against the San Jose Earthquakes in the pre-season opener for both clubs.

Kansas City midfielder Konrad Warzycha delivered the game-winning goal, converting a free kick to break a 1-1 deadlock.

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.

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.

photo by Howard C. Smith/ISIphotos.com

The San Jose Earthquakes have added some punch to their attack, and it comes in the form of Colombian midfielder Tressor Moreno.

The Earthquakes announced they signed Moreno on Thursday, adding a 33-year-old attacking midfielder with experience playing for clubs in Colombia, France, Mexico, Peru and Chile.

Photo by David Bernal/ISIphotos.com

As it turns out, Arturo Alvarez won't be suiting up for Chivas USA heading into the 2012 MLS season after all.

Alvarez, who was selected by Chivas in the first stage of the MLS Re-Entry Draft but never came to terms with the club as he sought opportunities overseas, has reportedly signed with Portuguese top-flight club Pacos de Ferreira on a two-and-a-half-year contract.

For the seventh consecutive year, I'm one of the voters for the National Soccer Hall of Fame, and it's a responsibility I take very seriously. I've made each of my previous six ballots and the rationales behind them public, so there's no need to change now.

There are 12 newcomers on the 31-player ballot for 2012.

BY ADAM SERRANO

The San Jose Earthquakes believe that they have found another compliment to Chris Wondolowski with the signing of Turkish forward Sercan Güvenışık.

The 31-year-old German league veteran impressed the Earthquakes during a two month trial with the club last season, which included scoring two goals in a reserve match against the Los Angeles Galaxy.

photo by Andrew Katsampes/ISIphotos.com

Richard Eckersley will be calling Toronto FC home for the foreseeable future.

Eckersley was signed to a permanent move with the Reds after joining the club on loan from Burnley last April, the club announced on Thursday.

Article by Pedro Gomes
As yet another January camp enters the United States Soccer history books, let us take a quick look back at what has transpired and what we have learned from the camp.
Rosters:
Typically US roster announcements are desperately anticipated, usually overly analyzed and this camp was no different.

Quick bit of news from yesterday, the Dynamo's trip to face the San Jose Earthquakes in the second match of the 2012 has been rescheduled, just slightly. Instead of the match being played on Sunday, March 18th at Buck Shaw Stadium has been moved up a day and will instead take place at AT&T Park. The move is so the match can be part of a double header with the Mexico U-23 v.

Everyone loves to know the trialists, so let's start off with the fact that Jonathan Prieto and Alex Caskey make their return to Seattle Sounders FC. Joining them are Academy Alumni Darwin Jones and two keepers in Andrew Weber (formerly of the San Jose Earthquakes) and Tyrel Lacey. The first session consisted of the draftees (except for Banton and Feighner who aren't in town yet) and a handful of returning players.

Portland's pre-season foes were added too. The Timbers will play Montreal, Houston, LA and Chicago during there 12 day stay in LA.

Here is information from the Portland Timbers:

The Portland Timbers today announced match details for the club's preseason camp in Carson, Calif.

Yesterday's rumors about KC announcing the signing of Jacob Peterson turned from rumor to fact today as Sporting KC announced the signing of the 6 year MLS veteran. Peterson had been without a team since he was allowed to entry the re-entry draft by the San Jose Earthquakes. Peterson becomes the third player with a fairly long MLS career to join Kansas City this offseason, joining Bobby Convey and Pablo Nagamura.

By FRANCO PANIZO

Facing media scrutiny and the possibility of disciplinary action, Pepe has issued an apology to Leo Messi.

Well, sort of.

A day after what appeared to be a deliberate step on Messi's hand in Real Madrid's 2-1 loss to Barcelona, Pepe told Real Madrid's website that it was an involuntary act.

Virginia's Brian Ownby, a U.S. Soccer Development Academy alum from the Richmond Strikers program, was selected by the Houston Dynamo during Tuesday's first round of the 2012 MLS Supplemental Draft.

The U.S. Soccer Development Academy was well represented during Tuesday's Major League Soccer Supplemental Draft as 15 alumni were chosen in the three-round selection process by MLS's 19 teams.

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.

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.

photo by ISIphotos.com

By FRANCO PANIZO

A day after unveiling Quaker Oats as its jersey sponsor, the Chicago Fire made another big announcement.

The Fire re-signed midfielder Pavel Pardo on Wednesday, the club announced on its website.

The process that brought him in was a little unexpected, but the end result really wasn't. Today, Sporting KC acquired the rights to former San Jose Earthquakes draft pick, Michael Thomas for a 4th round Supplemental draft pick, the 73rd overall. The fact that Sporting had to give something to San Jose for Thomas is the surprising part.

The process that brought him in was a little unexpected, but the end result really wasn't. Today, Sporting KC acquired the rights to former San Jose Earthquakes draft pick, Michael Thomas for a 4th round Supplemental draft pick, the 73rd overall. The fact that Sporting had to give something to San Jose for Thomas is the surprising part.

The Philadelphia Union's used their first pick, 13th overall, in the first round of the 2012 Supplemental draft to selected defender Tom Brandt (University of Pennsylvania). With their second pick the Union selected forward Krystian Witkowski from Marist College

Round 1 Pick # MLS team Player Position Affiliation 1 Montreal Impact Evan James MF UNC-Charlotte 2 Vancouver Whitecaps FC Gienir Garcia D Cruz Azul 3 New England Revolution Dawyne Smith MF Bethel University 4 Toronto FC Michael Green MF New Mexico 5 Chivas USA1 RJ Allen D Monmouth 6 Real Salt Lake2 Andy Rose MF UCLA 7 Houston Dynamo3 Brian Ownby F Virginia 8 Portland Timbers Ryan Kowaluk MF Univ.

The Colombia-to-Portland pipeline is back in action.

The Portland Timbers announced the acquisition of 24-year-old defender Hanyer Mosquera, a 6-foot-1 centerback expected to come in and add a dominating presence along the Portland back line. Mosquera becomes the fourth Colombian on the Timbers, joining Designated Players Diego Chara and Jose Adolfo Valencia and forward Jorge Perlaza.

The Rapids released their preseason plans today. They'll be making two trips, first to Oxnard and San Luis Obispo in California and second to Hawai'i for the Hawaiian Islands Invitational Tournament. In between the trips they'll be training out at the Dick. The first day of training is a week from today, though players report on Thursday for physicals and fitness assessments.

Houston Amateur Sports Park via www.houstondynamo.com

You won't have long to wait before you get a chance to see the Houston Dynamo in action. Twelve days from today, to be exact, until the first team has their initial scrimmage, against the Dynamo Academy. Remember that scrimmage dates have a way of being changed, so before you make any plans, remember to check back here or over at HoustonDynamo.

The day has finally arrived. Coaches, General Managers, Owners, and PR battalions all across Major League Soccer have descended upon Kansas City in hopes of landing the next big name in American soccer. This year's draft has a particularly heightened importance and buzz around New England, given the Revolution's #3 overall pick in this afternoon's draft, and with several holes to fill, it's clear that the 2012 MLS Super Draft has huge implications on the birth of the new Revs regime.

PSP will be updating this page with each team's pick as they happen in today's SuperDraft. Page will auto-refresh every 2 minutes with updates.

Check out PSP's pre-draft coverage examining possible Union selections and local players in this year's SuperDraft.

Round 1 Pick # MLS team Player Position College 1 Montreal Impact 2 Vancouver Whitecaps FC 3 New England Revolution 4 Toronto FC 5 Chivas USA 6 San Jose Earthquakes 7 D.

In his eleven seasons playing in MLS, Eddie Robinson has only played for one team. In 2001, Robinson signed on with the San Jose Earthquakes and he stayed with the team when it moved to Houston in 2006 and was rechristened as the Houston Dynamo. During his tenure, Robinson became a fan favorite for his rough, no nonsense style of defense, despite the fact that he was prone to injury and being carded.

photo by Nick Turchiaro/ISIphotos.com

After uncertainty clouded his future with Toronto FC, Joao Plata is staying right where he is.

One of MLS's most technically-gifted players, Plata has agreed to re-sign with Toronto FC on a multi-year deal.

The 19 blogs that individually cover each Major League Soccer team on the SB Nation network came together on Sunday to conduct the annual mock MLS Draft. It's a very imperfect science as no one has the long term plan of any front office at their disposal. We don't know if a big striker signing is in the works so a team will pass on a talented ready to start forward and go defense surprising everyone.

Veteran MLS goalkeeper Jon Conway has decided to hang up his cleats and gloves.

Conway, 34, was selected by the Los Angeles Galaxy in this past December's re-entry draft to compete for a backup spot behind Josh Saunders, but he instead elected retire after a 12-year career.

The Philadelphia Union has released its schedule for 2012. A downloadable file containing the entire schedule can be found here. With the addition of the Montreal Impact to the Eastern Conference this year, MLS has moved to a conference based schedule. Each team will play 34 games, but instead of the balance schedule we enjoyed last year, we will be seeing the following:

Due to the higher number of clubs in the Eastern Conference, each club will play a total of 25 conference matches.