Luis Robles is a member of the New York Red Bulls after all.
The Red Bulls used their place in the allocation order to select Robles, who signed with MLS
Tuesday night. The club had initially tried to sign Robles during the winter, but when it became
apparent that he could not sign directly with the club and would have been subjected to the
allocation order, the deal came off the table.
Paul Riley and the Philadelphia Independence seemingly got everything they wanted in Friday's
WPS Draft. When I spoke to the coach on Wednesday, he said they would be looking for a striker,
some defensive depth and a goalkeeper, and in their six picks, the Independence added three
strikers, two defenders, and a goalkeeper.
Sapling Snapshot will look at the Timbers Academy,
Pre-Academy and Alliance Clubs. The snapshots will feature individual athletes, some of the
athletes could become Home Grown Players
The class of 2013 features three members of the Portland Timbers Pre-Academy '95 team and two
invitees for the Timbers U-18 Academy Team's tryouts ranked by TopDrawerSoccer.
Sapling Snapshot will look at the Timbers Academy,
Pre-Academy and Alliance Clubs. The snapshots will also feature individual athletes, some of the
athletes could become Home Grown Players
TopDrawerSoccer.com has slowly, but surely updated rankings on individual youth players across
the country.
Part two of a seven part FanPost series looking at
potential Home Grown Player signings on the Portland Timbers U-23s (based on the "[Brent] Richards
Rule")
Steven Evans, a rising-junior at the University of Portland,
is now in his fourth season with the Portland Timbers U-23s.
Part one of a seven part FanPost series looking at
potential Home Grown Player signings on the Portland Timbers U23s (based on the "[Brent] Richards
Rule")
University of Portland rising-senior Ricardo Carrillo is
currently in his third season with the Portland Timbers U23 side.
With the first game of the season coming up this Friday, the Portland Timbers U23's practiced
Tuesday morning in Tualatin Hills. With most of the players on the team still in school for the
semester, today's practice was a mix of players who have already signed with the team and
non-roster players either hoping to earn a spot or just there to help out.
The Portland Timbers practiced today under cloudy skies at Jeld-Wen Field ahead of their midweek
break. Practice had a surprise in store as the Timbers reserves left the field following the team
warm-ups in anticipation of a closed doors scrimmage against the University of Portland tonight.
Without the reserves on hand, the Timbers first teamers were treated to some small field games
interspersed with running overseen by fitness coach John Ireland.
Out goes one defender and in comes another for Toronto FC.
Just days after agreeing to part ways with centerback Geovanny Caicedo, Toronto signed defender
Logan Emory. The 24-year-old Emory, who last played for the Puerto Rico Islanders, joined Toronto
FC on trial during the Walt Disney World Pro Soccer Classic in Orlando this past offseason.
The fourth member from the U-23 Timbers has signed with the Timbers today with the addition of
Ryan Kawulok. Ryan played his collegiate career at the University of Portland and last year was the
WCC Defender of the Year. Ryan also has show a lot of upside especially playing right back during
the preseason which is probably why he was signed.
The Portland Timbers added five players to their roster on January 17, signing Colombian defender
Hanyer Mosquera and selecting four players in the MLS Supplemental Draft. One of their selections
is a local product, as University of Portland's Ryan Kawulok was their first pick at number 8.
Kawulok has spent the last two summers playing for the Timbers' U-23 club, and becomes the fourth
member of those teams to make the jump from Timber U-23 to Timber MLS.
The Portland Timbers four supplemental draft picks all came from west coast schools as Gavin
Wilkinson and company went with players they had the opportunity to observe this college
season.
Ryan Kowaluk - D - University of Portland
A member of the 2010 and 2011 Portland Timbers U-23 sides, Kowaluk was a two time All-PDL
selection alongside his teammate Brett Richards.
Today has been an exciting day to be a Portland Timbers fan. First, earlier this morning, we
received confirmation that Colombian central defender Hanyer Mosquera has joined the squad. As a
big center back with experience he'll be invaluable in helping the Timbers shore up some of those
defensive gaffes that were far too prevalent last season.
Today US Soccer announced the roster for the US U-18 game that will take place at the Nike Campus
in Portland. Jon Kempin, KC's third goalkeeper and first academy signing has been named as one of
two goalkeepers to the roster for the camp. The camp takes place April 16th through the 24th.
During that time the US team will play games against the Portland Timbers, the University of
Portland, and the University of Washington.
With about a dozen Seattle Sounders Academy players earning scholarships to Division I college
programs around the country, we've known for some time that there's a fair amount of talent in the
youth ranks. Now, we have yet another sign. DeAndre Yedlin, who will be attending reigning national
champion Akron in the fall, has been called into next week's United States U-18 training camp in
Portland.
It was a rainy night on the campus of the University of Portland with both teams fighting to put
some momentum in their season, but in the end, the Portland Timbers pulled out on top.
Jack Jewsbury and Eric Brunner scored as the Timbers defeated Chivas USA, 2-0 to advance in
U.
The Seattle Sounders are defending US Open Cup champions twice over, and in both of their
winning campaigns the road to the Cup went through the Portland Timbers. Unfortunately, this season
the Sounders may not have a chance to meet up with their lucky charms.
For as far back as I wanted to research (at least 5 years) the Timbers have qualified
automatically for the Cup as a USL-1 - or more recently a USSF D-2 - club.
As you surely realized, there was a bye this week. But that doesn't mean we were going to take
the week off. Instead, I think we put together quite the show.
Our guest this week is Darren Sawatzky (@dtarzan66). He might not yet be a household name among
Seattle Sounders fans, but give it a few more years.
I am sure that like me, most of you wondered how the Sounders Women could possibly afford the
star power that they have signed for this season. I wondered how the new ownership could possibly
throw that much money at the few players with big names, and still afford to field an entire high
quality team.
Darren Sawatzky first got involved in a coaching role in youth development back in 1991 while he
was a player at the University of Portland. At this point he's layering duties as coach and GM for
the Sounders U23 team onto his roles as Seattle Sounders Academy Technical Director and Washington
Youth Soccer ODP Director.
Head coach Jay Heaps potentially added two pieces to his team on Monday afternoon as the New
England Revolution selected Nate Jaqua and Clyde Simms in Stage 2 of the 2011 Major League Soccer
Re-Entry Draft. The Revs now control the MLS rights to each player and the league will extend
contract offers to both within the next seven days.
The Sounders Women announced today that they have signed Stephanie Cox for this season. If
you're keeping score, that's five current USWNT players. Four other players have
National Team experience with the U20 and U23 teams, and we have one current Mexican National
player in Veronica Perez.
The Sounders Women have added yet another big name to their roster: United States international
Megan Rapinoe. The move comes just one day after they signed Mexican international Veronica Perez
and now gives the Sounders Women at least five players with extensive international experience.
Rapinoe is the fourth U.
U.S. WNT and former Portland Pilot stars Stephanie Cox visited Town Hall on Wednesday to give a few
gifts to local politicians and receive a proclamation (see below) from the Mayor and the city of
Portland proclaiming a Day of Recognition for the U.S. WNT. That's one of many things we love about
Portland.
The U.S. WNT had a more than a few fans come to watch training during its camp in Leogang, Austria.
But yesterday may have been a first for a U.S. WNT practice: Triplets. They didn't speak much
English, but it was clear they wanted to take a picture with some U.S. players, so Carli Lloyd
nicely obliged.
The Aris Ladies went toe-to-toe with the Vancouver United Timbers for one half Monday
morning.
But in the second half, the Eau Claire team simply couldn't stop Ellie
Boon.
The University of Portland recruit scored four goals after halftime to carry the Washington team
to a 5-1 victory in the girls Under-17 Premier Group final at the U.
The Sounders Women are continuing to add to their roster. It was announced yesterday that they
had signed Ferndale, Washington native Megan Manthey, who started playing soccer at age four. She
dreamed big, and was afforded the opportunity to leave Ferndale to attend the Pendleton School in
Bradenton, Florida.
With the College season coming to end this weekend it is time to take a look at how the U-23
Timbers faired in their respective college seasons. I know there were some older players and
international players, however I only included College players in this report.
Ricky Abrego
Not the best year for the UNLV Rebels as they went 3-12.
I have sat down at my computer today to make an announcement and ask a question. At first I was
going to do a piece on the Gold Cup Final about whether or not Saturday's result indicated Mexico
in the ascendancy, the United States in the decline, or both. After watching my DVR recording of
the USA vs.
CARSON, Calif -- Chivas USA's quest for its first win of the 2011 MLS season ran into the
defending champion Colorado Rapids, who look like a team intent on repeating.
Playing without star strikers Omar Cummings and Conor Casey, the Rapids still managed to post a
1-0 road victory against Chivas USA on Saturday night at the Home Depot Center.
