Portland came out in a 4-5-1 and Nagbe saw his first action of the pre-season as Portland
defeated the Houston Dynamo 2-0. The goals came from Captain Jack Jewsbury (on an assist from Ryan
Kawoluk) and James Marcelin.
From the tweets Bright Dike started as the lone man up top and the defense was pretty shaky in
the early goings.
Well it's just a preseason match and doesn't count for anything, but the Dynamo's 1-0 victory
over the LA Galaxy does give us the ever so slightest bit of retribution after last season. Nathan
Sturgis scored his second goal of the preseason as the Dynamo defense continued it's streak of
clean sheets with their fifth straight shutout of the preseason.
BY ADAM SERRANO
Friday's scrimmage between the Houston Dynamo and the Los Angeles Galaxy may have been a rematch
of the 2011 MLS Cup, but last November's match was far from the minds of all involved.
The Dynamo defeated the Galaxy 1-0 after Nathan Sturgis scored the lone goal of the match on a
header from a looping cross from Josue Soto in the 68th minute.
The Dynamo had another positive preseason match today, defeating San Jacinto College 4-0. Goals
from Nathan Sturgis, Will Bruin, Adam Moffatt and trialist Jorge Escobar did the damage for
Houston.
Houston Dynamo Press Release:
The Houston Dynamo continued their 2012 preseason with a 4-0 victory over San Jacinto College,
Wednesday morning, at the Houston Amateur Sports Park.
"Letsh have de chit-chatsh..."It's safe to assume any TFC Media Day will be forever
considered a success if the star player doesn't openly discuss going on strike. With that lofty
criteria only a year old, today's meet and greet with the city's press will be considered downright
cosy. Optimism, a seemingly happy squad, plans for the future and heck.
Similar to any pledge nearing his way toward an initiation, there were some, ah, "tasks," to
complete before being allowed to smudge up the margins of this blog. Rather than having been taped
to a goalpost wearing my girlfriend's undergarments or made to drop a brick tied to a part of my
anatomy from an upper floor ledge, though, the project was a bit more nefarious.
Currently considering trading TFC Academy for magic beansFor a brief period a little
over a year ago, Earl Cochrane was in charge of Toronto FC lock, stock and Barrett. While Jurgen
Klinsmann was busy searching the planet for the management team that would eventually be headed by
Aron Winter, Cochrane had the keys to the player cabinet and even seemed to be in the running to
grab the permanent GM job.
Photo by Nick Turchiaro/ISIphotos.com
Almost six years ago, Nathan Sturgis was a Generation adidas signing, a U.S. youth national team
prospect and a player with a bright MLS future.
Five teams later, he hopes to have finally found a long-term home.
Sturgis was dealt to the Houston Dynamo from Toronto FC for a conditional draft pick in the 2014
MLS SuperDraft on Wednesday, marking his second trade in 13 months.
Dynamo Acquire Nathan Sturgis
Once called the most average player in MLS (he's the basis for our tools) and once traded for a
first round pick, the former Sounder was acquired from Toronto for a conditional Draft pick.
The Dynamo have acquired 24-year old midfielder Nathan Sturgis from Toronto FC in exchange for a
conditional MLS SuperDraft pick. Jesus Ortiz broke the news on Twitter.
Sturgis hasn't fit in to Aron Winter's plans in Toronto and he has an extremely reasonable
salary which shouldn't hurt the Dynamo's cap space too much.
The Dynamo have acquired an unknown 24-year old defensive midfielder from an unknown team for a
conditional draft pick.
No seriously.
The details came from Jesus Ortiz on Twitter, but that's all we know right now. The player has
apparently not been informed of the trade so that's delaying the press release.
Happy Boxing Day!Boxing Day... not only the one day of the year that Maxim Usanov
celebrates his hero, Soviet-era pugilist Ivan Drago, but the day where you look at all of your
Christmas gifts and ask your loved ones... "do you still have the receipt?" It's not always quite
as easy as gently hinting that the new Cosby sweater your dear Aunt Nora gave you "isn't quite you"
though.
Finally, we've come to the end of my rather lengthy interview with former Seattle Sounders
play-by-play voice Arlo White. In the first two parts, he dealt with some of the big picture stuff
both about his time here and what led to his departure. In the final installment of the interview,
many of the questions were generated by our readers.
The Rides of March
THE BUZZ:For TFC supporters it felt as if this match was five years in the making. Half a decade of less
than mediocre results and high drama off the pitch had the chance to be erased, even if only
temporarily, if The Reds could grab a win tonight.
PSP photographer Nicolae Stoian was on hand for the Philadelphia Union's home finale.
Although the match ended as a 1–1 draw, the beautiful fall day featured a beauty of a goal from
Sebastien Le Toux. Most importantly, the Union assured themselves a place in the playoffs for the
first time in their two-year history.
A Reds takes Philly's best on the chin
THE BUZZ:The only real curiosity going into today's match at PPL Park for Reds' supporters was what kind of
line-up Aron Winter would trot out. With the official "Most Important Match of the Season" coming
up on Tuesday in Champions League, would the first-year manager opt to play it safe with a B-Squad
- or, would the Dutchman's competitive streak best the coach and see him go for three points
against Philly, risking stamina and injury?
Toronto came into the match having scored the second fewest goals and conceded the most in MLS.
However, they have been decent at home picking up 14 of 18 goals. Dallas has failed to score in the
past two MLS matches.
Toronto's StrategyOff the back of two designated player signings and several trades, the side was almost
unrecognizable.
TFC attacking strategies of 2011 - not a best-sellerTFC wins have been rare things this year. Tonight Toronto managed to find a way to gain their third
of 2011, but it was underwhelming to be charitable. There is no room for gloating tonight,
Vancouver must have their eyes on Saturday's Canadian Championship game as priority one.
Toronto FC showed up in New England and played with some of the fire that was on display late
Saturday night in Los Angeles. Not enough fire to score against the Revolution, but I give them
credit for some ignition.
There seemed to be signs of cohesion from Toronto. Players seemed to know each other that much
more.
I will admit it freely, I was getting tired of hearing about how the injury to Alan Gordon was
affecting TFC. It felt like a feeble excuse. I thought he had been a very good player for Toronto,
but rather than lament his loss we should be expecting others to raise their game. He was a smart
acquisition, but he was not the answer to TFC's scoring woes.
TFC played their final two games in the Carolina Cup Challenge this week. On Wednesday the Reds
faced Charleston Battery. Here's how we lined up for that match:
TFC Starting XI: Stefan Frei, Ty Harden (Dan Gargan 46′), Nana Attakora
(Ashtone Morgan 46'), Dicoy Williams, Mikael Yourassowsky, Nick LaBrocca (Matt Gold 58′), Oscar
Cordon (Andrew Ornoch 63′), Nathan Sturgis, Jacob Peterson, Javier Martina, Keith Makubuya (Nick
Soolsma 70′)
I didn't get to watch this game, and apparently I didn't miss much.
Sigi Schmid didn't reveal much in his weekly conference call with reporters on Wednesday, but it
does sound like this team is really rounding into shape. By the time the Seattle Sounders leave for
Florida next week, the list of players still competing for roster spots will be anywhere from one
to five names shorter.
On Thursday I will be posting a video blog from the TFC Media day, including some exclusive video
from new TFC acquisition Nathan Sturgis. But before I get to the media day the DeRo situation has
sort of blown up on this Wednesday afternoon/evening. I was lucky enough to attend the press
conference Wednesday and the event itself, with questions asked and questions answered, was not the
only interesting thing about it.
Seattle Sounders Central Midfielders Ratings based on 2010 performance
View full size photo »
Our discussion of soccer tools goes right to the Center now.
Caskey is more of a box-to-box midfielder. We hear he had a good combine. He takes a lot of free
kicks and corners, which is something the Sounders need with Sturgis gone (though it seems unlikely
Caskey would contribute to the first team in 2011).
Random fact: Caskey, Carrasco, and Cruz are 3 of the 4 players on page 40 of the SuperDraft
media guide.
