Photo: Courtesy of Philadelphia Union

After last week's tumultuous events concerning the departures of Sebastien Le Toux and Faryd Mondragon from the Philadelphia Union, and the cancellation of the WPS season, this week's installment of the Philly Soccer Show podcast slows down the pace with a look at the Union as they begin training camp in Orlando.

The United States Under-23's will play Mexico's U-23's in a friendly at FC Dallas Stadium on February 29th. The game will cap a 10-day training camp. "This game is very important for our players and comes at a critical time for us before the start of Olympic qualifying," USA U-23 coach Caleb Porter said.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

The United States Under-23 men's national team is going to get a proper tune-up for CONCACAF Olympic qualifying, as it will square off against Mexico's Under-23 side in a friendly at FC Dallas Stadium in Frisco, Texas, on Feb. 29.

The match will be a culmination of a 10-day training camp in Frisco.

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.

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So confident in the make-up of their first team for 2012, TFC management have taken the unusual step of pre-announcing oncoming cuts. For Reds supporters this is like being in some kind of training camp Twilight Zone.

The Philadelphia Union announced that Keon Daniel, along with Danny Mwanga, has joined the team at its preseason training camp in Florida today.

The 25-year-old has been missing from the Union since a September call up to the Trinidad and Tobago national team. Daniel left the United States on August 28 or 29, then did not re-enter the country until possibly today.

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.

Darwin Jones was among the Seattle Sounders' recent cuts from preseason training camp, but that doesn't mean he'll be going very far. The 19-year-old has joined the University of Washington's 2012 recruiting class, giving the Huskies four Sounders Academy products in this class alone. Jones will be accompanied by Michael Gallagher, Ian Lange and Dominique Dismuke.

I am fond of February. It is the first month of the off-season when you can finally say 'TFC game next month". That, and the signs that days are getting just a little longer, are important to me.
Now since I blogged that TFC was using the pre-season stage to shed some players, they turned around and signed two defenders.

Photo: Nicolae Stoian

In an interview on MLSsoccer.com's ExtraTime Radio podcast, Sebastien Le Toux tells Union fans who are angry that he was sold to Vancouver that it is important that they continue to support the Union: "To have you in the stands—it is always great to play in front of you and all of the guys who played with me are wonderful players and they need you.

Fresh off a transfer from the struggling Bolton Wanderers, defender Gary Cahill is reportedly already unhappy at Stamford Bridge. Cahill found himself on the bench for Chelsea's recent match against Swansea City, as he was hoping to fill in for the injured John Terry.

Goal.com is reporting that an inside source close to the Chelsea training camp noted that Cahill looked as if "his head has gone," but noted that Cahill has not filed any official complaint with manager Andre Villas-Boas.

Keon Daniel is not at the Youth Sports Complex, in Wayne, PA, according to fans that are at the Philadelphia Union's open team practice. Despite seeing a player of Daniel's build with a dreadlocks style haircut, the midfielder is not at the camp today.

Fans tweeted that the 25-year-old was sighted at preseason training camp this morning, before retracting their observations.

And I'm not talking about Beckham's 2-year $15 million contract.

I'm talking about Omar Gonzalez. Last month Omar pulled out of the national team training camp for a very exciting loan move to Nurnberg. His very first day there he suffered a season ending injury at the hands well, feet of his USMNT teammate Timmy Chandler.

The offseason is now kicking into gear as training camp is open and the Seattle Sounders' first cuts should be announced shortly. In this week's episode of Nos Audietis, we discuss the Sounders' new partnership with the Tacoma Tide and their subsequent rebranding as Sounders U-23. The team will play in the PDL and give Sounders Academy products an opportunity to stay close to come during the offseason.

Photo: Paul Rudderow

Philadelphia Union

The silly season got sillier for the Philadelphia Union over the weekend. Following word from England that Sebastien Le Toux reportedly did not sufficiently impress while on trial with Bolton, and the news that Danny Mwanga is training for two weeks with Aston Villa, the Union transfer rumor well still wasn't dry.

It's "Springtime for Winter" as Toronto FC today released the names of the 41 players (so far) who are taking part in the club's pre-season training camp. The major difference from past years on first glance is the absence of any professional trialists. Just a year ago, the likes of Javier Martina, Mikael Yourassowsky and King Osei Gyan (for you TFC trivia buffs) were training with The Reds in hopes of grabbing a contract but this year seems quite different.

Alex Horwath (UW) was all set to go to training camp with Major League Soccer's Sporting Kansas City and compete for the No. 2 goalkeeper job.

But he couldn't get past one thought.

"In the back of my mind, I didn't really want to be a backup in the MLS right now," the 24-year-old said this week from his home in Maryland.

Chelsea defender Gary Cahill is already feeling at home with his new teammates, describing the squad as an 'entertaining' group following the club's short training camp in Mallorca.

The Blues returned home earlier today and after spending most of the time in Mallorca training together in the warm weather, Cahill feels that the bonding within the squad got stronger by the day.

One of the issues with depth charts and roster math is how to place players who can fill many roles. With Adam Johansson in Qatar for the opening of training camp, Seattle Sounders coach Sigi Schmid gets to test a bunch of different options at the right back role. One thing quickly clear when asked was who the leader in that role is:

Obviously Zach Scott is somebody who can play there.

For the past three weeks, Jurgen Klinsmann has emphasized how valuable an opportunity this training camp and games are for the young and up and coming players. Every training session, every game counts, as you'll see from way back in 2005.
The U.S. was preparing to play Panama on Oct. 12, 2005 in an essentially meaningless World Cup Qualiifer.

The U-23 Men's National Team wrapped up their January training camp with a scrimmage today against Alajuelense of Costa Rica.
Caleb Porter's squad has been in Central American since last week as they continue to prepare for Olympic Qualifying in March. A big part of that preparation as been acclimating themselves to the rhythm of a qualifying tournament and that's where this trip has come in: playing two games in four days is just the type of schedule the team will face when they take the field in Nashville for the group stage of the competition.

One of the most hotly debated roster topics this off season has been whether the Seattle Sounders need to upgrade or add tactical depth to the roster at the more attack-oriented central midfield position. The discussion has often gotten bogged down in traditional soccer semantics. Many of us have expressed our desire for a more creative player by suggesting that perhaps the team needs to find a CAM.

When Sigi Schmid said Saturday, "there are a couple guys I'm concerned about a little bit that I don't think came back as fit as I would have liked," some alarm bells went off in with in the Seattle Sounders fanbase. The question asked concerned how the team needed to change training in light of the CONCACAF Champions League series against Santos Laguna that starts a week and a half prior to League play.

Photo by Howard C. Smith/ISIphotos.com

It's been a bit of a whirlwind year for Richie Williams, but he has landed in a spot of extreme importance in the U.S. Soccer community.

Williams was named U.S. Under-17 national team coach on Tuesday, a position that also entails overseeing the federation's residency program in Bradenton, Fla.

The Timbers begin training camp this week in Portland at JELD-WEN Field in preparation for the 2012 season. Optimism is in high supply, as many players showed up to camp in excellent fitness for training. The Timbers just missed out on the playoffs in 2011, and have aspirations to be one of the five participants from the MLS Western Conference in 2012.

TFC training camp opens this week and it would be great to feel that anticipation for a new season rising in one's heart. New season, new faces would be a great motto for TFC to adopt. Toronto certainly seems to have roster spots available.
In the month of January we have spent more time waving goodbye than waving hello.

Monty Hall... a proud father"The boys are back in tow-owu-wow-own!" Oh, sing it yourself then. It's true though - like well-paid groundhogs in shorts, our beloved Reds are making their annual late-winter appearance! And guess what? Spring is coming early! (March 7th at SkyDome - operators are standing by) It's always fun to see old faces return and new faces emerge (except on defence where we are apparently in tip-top shape) and catch up on all the news and gossip from a long off-season.

Not a striker.

The fight is on for roster spots as half of last Reset's trialists are gone and new faces arrive for the Florida camp. I'm still not seeing the potential for significant improvement in the weakest areas (finisher, left back), but at least we're no longer stuck in stasis-land and the depth issues look like being addressed.

This doesn't sound too promising. While the rest of the boys headed off to Spain after the disappointing draw with Norwich City, Frank Lampard remained behind. Poor guy.

He instead headed back to London in order to undergo scans on what is suspected to be a torn calf muscle. You may recall him being removed after only 37 minutes at Carrow Road.

The U.S. MNT is training in Costa Rica

The U-23 Men's National Team is in Costa Rica for the conclusion of their January training camp, and Saturday they played the first of two scrimmages when they took on the reserves of perennial Costa Rican powerhouse Saprissa.
The teams dueled to a 0-0 draw at Estadio Ricardo Saprissa, which U.

The U.S. men's national team kicks off 2012 in Arizona, taking on Venezuela at University of Phoenix Stadium in its first match of the year (9 p.m., Galavision/ESPN3.com).

The friendly comes as part of the culmination of January training camp, and it provides Jurgen Klinsmann a chance to see some of the players he has yet to observe in international game situations on a competitive stage.

Being a professional has less to do with getting paid, and more to do with the proper attitude and approach. The adjustment for young professionals making a jump to the next level from college normally starts with how quickly they can apply that approach, and adapt to those demands.
Craig Merz of MLSsoccer.

The Rapids made a trade late today, sending an international roster spot and our 2nd round pick in the 2014 draft to Vancouver for allocation money. I'm guessing the signing of Castrillon is imminent. The Rapids now have 3 open international spots and 3 filled ones.
Colorado also invited two players from their open tryouts earlier this week into training camp with the team.

Agudelo: One Foot Out the Door?When the New York Red Bulls' disappointing 2011 season drew to a close, both Hans Backe and Erik Solér assured fans that they had identified the team's main weaknesses and would be taking steps over the winter to address them. But with 2012 preseason training camp having opened this week, the RBNY roster is still a work in progress, with question marks hanging over the heads of several players and doubts remaining about key positions and bench depth.

By Dario Camacho - MIAMI, FL (Jan 20, 2011) US Soccer Players -- As with any new year, all teams in Major League Soccer are in a period of transition. Whether it is a minor tweak here or there, or a full system reboot, most teams will see a few new faces in training camp. In recent years, that's been due to the predictable disruption caused by expansion teams coming into the fold.

By Clemente Lisi – NEW YORK, NY (Jan 20, 2012) US Soccer Players – Following the annual January training camp, the United States National Team opens its 2012 schedule with a friendly against Venezuela on Saturday at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, AZ. For US coach Jurgen Klinsmann, the game will be his first chance to test new players five months before the USA begins the task of trying to reach for the 2014.

The SR boys are back to chat with Chris Heck, Red Bulls President of Business Operations. We discuss the 2012 home schedule, ticket sales trends, staffing changes, marketing plans, and success metrics for the season to come. First comes a review of Henry at Arsenal as well as roster additions in and around the MLS draft.

Happy 27th birthday, Benny Feilhaber

Benny turns 27 today! Let's all be sure to wish him well this year, and right now as he continues in USMNT training camp.

It's how he'd want to be rememberedThe man who filled the coveted "Supervillain" role after Maxim Usanov left town has been unceremoniously dispatched himself. Without having to sabotage a giant laser, use a submarine Lotus or rake any moons, TFC waived Mikael Yourassowsky from the roster.

Thursday morning marks the beginning of training camp for the Seattle Sounders. Training camp is the MLS version of musical chairs. While the music is playing every one at the party gets to play. But once the music stops, some of these men are going to find themselves without a seat. The current roster of 28 players will be augmented in camp by 7 draftees and a collection of trialists.