Soccer By Ives

Garber to talk expansion with Orlando officials, still eyes New York for 20th team

Photo by ISIphotos.com

USL Pro side Orlando City SC's aggressive push for an MLS expansion team continues to catch the attention of MLS commissioner Don Garber.   

Garber will be meeting with Orlando City owners, and city and county mayors on March 1 for exploratory talks about potential expansion. In a statement, Garber made it clear that while these meetings will take place, he has every intention of expanding to 20 teams with a second club in New York, a stance that he has been firm on for quite some time. 

"While New York City remains the league's focus for our 20th club, it's important to continue evaluating future options as we continue to grow the league," Garber said. "This growth has been built on a foundation of strategic expansion strategies, construction of new urban-based stadiums and a growing passionate soccer fan base across North America." 

It won't be the first time that Garber and Orlando City officials will have met. The two met in Feb., 2011, and again on a couple of reported occasions this past November. This round will also feature a town hall meeting that is open to the public at an Orlando restaurant.

What do you make of this development? Do you want to see an MLS team in Orlando? Think that it is imperative for New York to get a second team?

Share your thoughts below.

Impact ignore retirement threat, make Ching first pick in expansion draft

The Montreal Impact didn't waste any time in making a statement in the MLS Expansion Draft.

Despite threats that Brian Ching would retire if selected, the Impact made the Houston Dynamo forward and captain the first overall pick in Wednesday's draft. 

"I know that he's expressed that he doesn't want to be here, but we would be delighted to get him here," said Montreal coach Jesse Marsch, who added that he informed Ching of his decision in a phone call Wednesday morning. "If it doesn't work out that way, then it doesn't, but we think there's value to him. Our initial phase was just to think about what he is as a player and what value he has.

"When you look at the draft, you have to look at it in terms of building your team and what pieces you want to put in place for your team moving forward, but also how to maximize the value of the draft. If it doesn't work out, then hopefully we'll be able to figure out another situation that's beneficial for everybody involved."

Which players should the Impact select?

Wednesday's MLS Expansion Draft provides the Montreal Impact a chance to build the foundation for its MLS roster, and the club will have some decisions to make based on how much it wants to spend and which direction it wants to go off the bat.

Designated Players Julian de Guzman, Andres Mendoza, Mustapha Jarju, Branko Boskovic, Frank Rost, Milton Caraglio, Omar Bravo and Jeferson are all free for the taking (although Rost is likely to return to Germany after a few-month stay with New York), giving the Impact the option to make a major investment immediately.

Other intriguing names on the unprotected list include Brian Ching (although the veteran striker has reportedly said he will retire if selected), Freddy Adu, Andy Williams, Sanna Nyassi, Bobby Convey and Justin Mapp. 

According to The Oregonian, the Portland Timbers have a deal in place with the Impact to not have any players taken, stemming back to the Timbers agreeing to loan Ryan Pore to Montreal during this past season. That leaves 17 other teams to sweat out the draft process, in which a team can lose no more than one player.

Which players do you think the Impact should take? Should they go for any of the high-priced talent available? Whom do you expect to be selected?

Share your thoughts below.

Wednesday Kickoff: MLS looks into Baltimore, Cassano needs surgery & more

Photo by Jose L. Argueta/ISIphotos.com

As D.C. United continues its quest to find a new stadium location, MLS continues its exploration into whether Baltimore is a viable market for league expansion.

The league sent out a survey to fans in the Baltimore area in an effort to gauge interest in an MLS franchise in the city. Almost a year ago, the Maryland Stadium Authority completed a viability study to determine the benefits of potentially building a soccer-specific stadium in the Westport area of the city, where a prospective MLS franchise would ultimately play.

An interesting note from the survey is that not all of the questions pointed to D.C. United as the only potential club to play in Baltimore. One of the questions asked if a fan could choose to have a club relocate to Baltimore which team would it be, listing Columbus, FC Dallas, D.C., Philadelphia Union, New York Red Bulls or No Preference as the options. 

Here are a few more stories from around the soccer world:

Garber addresses MLS schedule, playoff system, expansion and more

By FRANCO PANIZO

HARRISON, N.J. -- MLS Commissioner Don Garber held an informal press conference at halftime of the U.S. men's national team friendly with Ecuador Tuesday night, and he discussed a bevy of topics, including MLS scheduling and expansion.

The first thing Garber touched on were the comments made recently by U.S. head coach Jurgen Klinsmann. The German-born coach believes the MLS season is not long enough to compete with nations around the world, and that it needs to be prolonged in order to help American players be competitive at the sport's top level.

"Listen, Jurgen's right, season's too short," said Garber. "I'd love to able to have global warming to take its effect and have the weather in our country change and be able to have a longer season. But I think our fan base is developing and we will have Saturday night 56,000 people in Seattle. That's not something we would've dreamed of two years ago.

"I think the time will come (when) we'll be able to spread our season out a little bit. I appreciate Jurgen's support, I know that Dan (Flynn, CEO/Secretary General of U.S. Soccer) and Sunil (Gulati, president of USSF) have been really engaged with Jurgen to have him supportive of the league. He's coming into the office tomorrow to meet with me and (MLS executives) Nelson (Rodriguez) and Todd Durbin and we're going to sit down and talk about how we can grow the game together."

Vikings owner says MLS to Minnesota a possibility if stadium is built

 

By FRANCO PANIZO

Zygi Wilf is known for being the German-born owner of the Minnesota Vikings. He could soon be known for being an owner of an MLS team.

Wilf held a press conference on Tuesday announcing that he had reached an agreement with Ramsey County and the city of Arden Hills for a new retractable roof stadium worth an estimated cost of $1 billion. The stadium will serve as the new home of the Vikings, but Wilf also believes it could be the site of an MLS team in Minnesota.

Even if the stadium is built, there's no guarantee MLS would give Minnesota a team. Wilf would still need to cough up the $40 million necessary to buy into the league, and MLS would still have to decide whether or not Minnesota is a good location for a team.

Here's a video of what the Minnesota stadium would look like:

Bravo, Davies among top MLS imports to watch in 2011

 

Photo by Michael Janosz/ISIphotos.com

By THOMAS FLOYD

As Sporting Kansas City ushers in what could be a defining era for soccer in the American heartland this season, the club’s overhaul won’t stop at its polarizing rebranding or new soccer-specific venue. The team on the field has turned a page as well, focusing on a youthful nucleus that will be boosted by the presence of a veteran Mexican star.

In Omar Bravo, Kansas City has an experienced scorer who bagged more than 100 goals for Chivas de Guadalajara while adding another 15 for the Mexico national team throughout the past decade. Now, seven months after his move to MLS was first announced, the 31-year-old will take his prolific reputation to Kansas City as the club’s new designated player.

Bravo’s introduction to MLS presents an obvious question: Compared to two of his compatriot MLS predecessors, will Bravo be more Cuauhtemoc Blanco, an MVP finalist with the Chicago Fire, or Nery Castillo, an unmitigated bust in the Windy City? Based on Bravo’s proven track record, the smart money is on the former. But his notching just a two-goal output in last year’s Apertura tournament with Chivas isn’t exactly encouraging.

As part of a three-man front line that could also feature U.S. national team forward Teal Bunbury and 10-goal-scorer Kei Kamara, Bravo could be in for a stellar season with Sporting if he does still have that finishing touch.

Here are a few more players coming to MLS via foreign leagues to keep an eye on during the 2011 campaign:

Sunday MLS Ticker: Pappa lifts Chicago, D.C. defeats Charleston, and more

Photo by ISIPhotos.com

By THOMAS FLOYD

An early Marco Pappa strike led the Chicago Fire to a 1-0 win over Toronto FC in Saturday's Carolina Challenge Cup opener between two Eastern Conference foes looking to bounce back from missing the playoffs in 2010.

Pappa found the game's lone goal six minutes in when the Guatemalan midfielder collected a feed from Davis Paul and saw his a deflected shot beat Toronto goalkeeper Stefan Frei.

Chicago spent most of the match, played at Blackbaud Stadium in Charleston, S.C., down a man after Logan Pause was shown red in the 36th minute for a slide tackle on Toronto midfielder Oscar Cordon.

But the Fire's rebuilt back line of re-entry draft selection Cory Gibbs, first-round SuperDraft pick Jalil Anibaba and Croatian signing Josip Mikulic, along with substitute Gonzalo Segares, held Toronto off the score sheet.

Here is a roundup of the rest of Saturday's MLS preseason action:

Wrapping up a wild MLS Expansion Draft Day

By JOSE M. ROMERO

A day that began with 10 expansion draft picks for the expansion Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps ended with seven of those 20 players traded to already established MLS clubs, Portland's promise of international signings and a conference call saboteur.

Call it MLS Madness.

The top two picks in the draft, attacking midfielder Dax McCarty from FC Dallas to Portland and winger Sanna Nyassi from the Seattle Sounders to Vancouver, were with their respective clubs for not even a full day. By late afternoon out West, McCarty was shipped to DC United for defender-midfielder Rodney Wallace and the lower of DCU's two fourth-round Superdraft picks in January 2011. And Nyassi, a tough loss for the Sounders because of how he'd come on late this past season, was dealt to MLS Cup champion Colorado for an international player slot.

Vancouver mirrored a Timbers move from Monday in which the Timbers acquired an international slot in exchange for allocation money, which both expansion sides are entitled to from the league in order to bolster their respective rosters. 

McCarty, Nyassi among those chosen in 2010 Expansion Draft

BY ADAM SERRANO

The 2010 season may be only be a few days dead, but the 2011 season has already kicked off with the Expansion Draft. 

The Vancouver Whitecaps and the Portland Timbers added ten players to their initial MLS rosters on Wednesday as their clubs began to take shape for the 2011 season. FC Dallas midfielder Dax McCarty was chosen by Portland with the first overall pick in the Expansion Draft while the Whitecaps selected Sounders winger Sanna Nyassi with their first selection.

Current MLS clubs could only lose two players and several did lose their full allotment. Eight clubs including Seattle, Dallas, Real Salt Lake, the Columbus Crew, Chivas USA, Chicago Fire, San Jose Earthquakes and the Philadelphia Union each lost the maximum two players. No players were selected from the Los Angeles Galaxy, New York Red Bulls, New England Revolution and the Houston Dynamo. 

The complete list of picks is below the jump:

Projecting the MLS Expansion Draft

Trying to predict expansion drafts is never easy, trying to do so for two teams is downright impossible.

That doesn't mean we can't try though, and with Vancouver and Portland set to make their expansion draft selections on Wednesday afternoon, there is plenty of speculation about which directions each team will go.

I projected how Wednesday's Expansion Draft will go in my Mock Expansion Draft for Fox Soccer. There aren't any major surprises, but certainly some big names being grabbed by both teams. 

Give the mock expansion draft a read and feel free to share your own thoughts and predictions, as well as what you think of my predictions, in the comments section below.

List of players available for MLS Expansion Draft announced

Major League Soccer has released the names of the players protected by each of the 16 current MLS teams ahead of Wednesday's MLS Expansion Draft.

Portland and Vancouver will choose from the players left unprotected on Monday, with each MLS team in position to lose as many as two players in the expansion draft.

New York Red Bulls striker Juan Pablo Angel, Kansas City defender Jimmy Conrad, Columbus star Guillermo Barros Schelotto and FC Dallas midfielder Dax McCarty are just some of the more intriguing names on the list of available players for Wednesday's Expansion Draft.

Here is the full list of players who were left UNPROTECTED for Wednesday's Expansion Draft:

Timbers considering options as MLS expansion draft nears

 

By JOSE M. ROMERO

The four walls of Gavin Wilkinson's office are covered with white boards on which there is much of the information the Portland Timbers' technical director will need for next week's MLS expansion draft.

But first, Wilkinson and other representatives of the organization will head to Toronto to be part of the MLS Cup festivities and gatherings this week. When they all return, the focus turns immediately to an important day for the new franchise.

"The preparation for [the draft] has been under way for some time," Wilkinson siad. "We've identified the players from every roster who we like."

MLS teams preparing for 2011 preseason in Arizona

By JOSE M. ROMERO

On the pitch, the Seattle Sounders are focused on their opening-round playoff series that begins this weekend against the L.A. Galaxy. 

Off the field, the team is firming up plans for a return to Casa Grande, Ariz., in winter 2011 for preseason camp.

Sources close to the team and and Grande Sports World, the soccer complex in Casa Grande about an hour's drive south of Phoenix, said the Sounders are set for a return to the eight-field, 45-acre facility. Discussions are ongoing and nothing has been made official, but the first team to arrive at Grande Sports World is likely to be Real Salt Lake in late January. RSL was scheduled first because it has CONCACAF Champions League matches in February.

Timbers look to build after adding first four players

By JOSE M. ROMERO

The Portland Timbers have their first four MLS players signed and in the books as the fledgling franchise's original quartet.

Timbers technical director Gavin Wilkinson introduced forward Bright Dike, midfield wing Ryan Pore, goalkeeper Steve Cronin and a surprise - former Austin Aztex forward Eddie Johnson - to the public and media in Portland Tuesday morning. 

Wilkinson and coach John Spencer wasted little time in signing the Timbers' first players. The USSF Division 2 playoffs ended for the Timbers only nine days ago. 

Wilkinson said he plans for the team to acquire 28 to 30 players, including Tuesday's four, through next month's expansion draft, the MLS Superdraft, international signings and allocation. He also said the Timbers expect to sign two more players from the USSF-2 Timbers, a midfielder and a central defender.

MLS Timbers sign first four players for 2011

The expansion Portland Timbers have signed the first four players in the club's history, including a trio of top scorers from the USSF Division 2.

Portland announced the signing of forward Bright Dike and midfielder Ryan Pore, as well as goalkeeper Steve Cronin, from the USSF D-2 Portland Timbers, while also signing English forward Eddie Johnson away from the Austin Aztex (Portland traded for Johnson's rights at mid-season and loaned him out to Austin, so the Timbers already had his rights).

Dike was a 2010 MLS first-round pick for the Columbus Crew before being waived and picked up by the Timbers. He scored 10 goals for the USSF D-2 Timbers, second to Pore's 15 goals. A former member of the Kansas City Wizards, Pore finished as the leading scorer in the USSF-Division 2. Johnson scored 14 goals for the Aztecs, good for second in the league.

Cronin will return to MLS after having spent five seasons with the Los Angeles Galaxy. He remained one of the top goalkeepers in USSF D-2 this season after being named goalkeeper of the year in 2009.

What do you think of these signings? Impressed with the collection of forwards Portland has put together? Think Cronin can be one of the better goalkeepers in MLS?

Share your thoughts below.