2012 Major League Soccer Thread

[HailtotheYo]

no surprise, Kansas City will host all-star game

[GoGo Yubari]

FC Dallas has signed Raul Fernandez from Ligue 1 to be their new starting keeper (surely).

[HailtotheYo]

^ yup. So I wonder if Philly really is going after Villar.

Valeri is officially signed in Portland.

[GoGo Yubari]

Also, it's not really new news, but might as well confirm that Fredy Montero will be leaving Seattle this year for Millionarios in Colombia. He tweeted a lengthy goodbye to Seattle fans yesterday. And so the long offseason of losing players and not signing any new ones continues.

As far as names rumored to be filling the void, Nelson Valdez and Helder Postiga have both popped up (the former has basically been ruled out).

EDIT: Also, MLS has attempted to trademark the Cascadia Cup. Awesomely, the response of ECS, Timbers Army, and Southsiders has been to form their own Cascadia Cup Council to counteract this since it's their cup, not MLS'.

[GoGo Yubari]

And so the long offseason of losing players and not signing any new ones continues.

And it officially ends! Sounders have signed their first Home Grown Player in Deandre Yedlin, a 19-year old right back who was last playing for Akron and is by all accounts really good. Excited for that one.

[HailtotheYo]

Also, it's not really new news, but might as well confirm that Fredy Montero will be leaving Seattle this year for Millionarios in Colombia. He tweeted a lengthy goodbye to Seattle fans yesterday. And so the long offseason of losing players and not signing any new ones continues.

As far as names rumored to be filling the void, Nelson Valdez and Helder Postiga have both popped up (the former has basically been ruled out).

EDIT: Also, MLS has attempted to trademark the Cascadia Cup. Awesomely, the response of ECS, Timbers Army, and Southsiders has been to form their own Cascadia Cup Council to counteract this since it's their cup, not MLS'.

It's not just the Cascadia Cup .. they've tried to trademark ALL of the rivalry cup/trophies/games.

I'd shit myself if Nelson Valdez were the new DP ... shit myself.

Heinault is officially in at Ross County. So all of a sudden Houston needs some help on the back line.

[HailtotheYo]

Vancouver has signed Brad Rusin.

the following 5 Chivas Guad. players have been incorporated into and are already training with Chivas USA:

Mids: Édgar "Chore" Mejía and Giovani Casillas
Def: Mario de Luna
Fwd: José Manuel Rivera
GK: José Antonio "El Chavo" Rodríguez

... according to oem.com

[HailtotheYo]

Mancini (Inter Milan, Roma), Filip Sebo, Eduardo Echeverria, and Clemens Fritz are the latest international names being linked with the MLS.

[GoGo Yubari]

Luciano Vietto (Argentina U-20 player) is being reported as a Sounders target also, but I think the odds are slim to none that he'll come here.

[HailtotheYo]

TFC signs Julio Cesar. I liked his play at SKC but at 34 I'm not sure he's the answer in a midfield that features Frings (older and injury prone). However, I can see a good rotation forming between the two.

http://www.beinsport.tv/news/article/1sl4v78pr23fc1tetytcq1x9a7/title/life-after-beckham

^ Arena seems to let it slip that they've re-signed Junihno ... nothing officially has been announced on the loan/deal yet, but he says here that he's re-signed.

Goff has reported that GK Samr Badir is looking to sign with the league.

[Lineker]

Keano has signed a new multi-year contract with the Galaxy.

[GoGo Yubari]

Also confirmed that they've signed Juninho on a permanent deal instead of the endless string of loans.

Chicago Fire have gotten Jeff Larentowicz from Colorado, which is exciting news for me because it means I'll only have to see him play probably just once this year instead of three.

SuperDraft is tomorrow. Only the top four or five picks or so are expected to really make an immediate impact in MLS, though. Toronto had the #1 and #3 picks, but they've traded the #1 pick to New England for the #4 pick and allocation money.

[HailtotheYo]

Keano has signed a new multi-year contract with the Galaxy.

Beat you by 10 days on that one .... http://www.ewbattleground.com/index.php?app=forums&module=post&section=post&do=reply_post&f=24&t=87017&qpid=2811150

Also, Hassli want's out of TFC but new president Kevin Payne has said "We'll decide where Eric Hassli plays this year, not Eric Hassli." .... Jesus, this franchise is the drizzling shits.

Robbie Rogers might be on his way back after he and Leeds both said 'enough' with the experiment.

Apparently Pascal Chimbonda says he'd like to play here. Meh.

[HailtotheYo]

http://www.thestar.com/sports/soccer/article/1315860--under-new-boss-kevin-payne-tfc-embarks-on-culture-change

^ Kevin Payne letting the cat out of the bag ?

“Also, we’re first in line to participate in the league’s new young, designated player program. So, as players are acquired by the league and made available to the teams, we’re at the top of the list. This is a key program because the players will come in at a discounted cap charge and they also will not count (as one of team’s three) designated players.”

Interesting, as the rules are now that's not how the "young" DP works.

Rumors about Anderlecht offering about 9M US for Najar.

Ives is reporting an Avila for LaBrocca trade between CUSA and COL (win for COL by a mile there).

[HailtotheYo]

Timbers traded Fucito to San Jose for a 2nd round pick.

RSL has re-signed Morales.

I can't find anything official, but it seems as though FCD has singed Santos reserve FWD Yomeri Reyes.

In absolutely shocking news, Portland has parted ways with THE 'World Class' Kris Boyd.

Draft is under way ... NE takes Farrell with first pick. http://www.mlssoccer.com/superdraft/2013/tracker

[HailtotheYo]

Oh, also:

That green kit is horrid ... but the Ajax-esque red is freaking lovely.

Sponsorship on SKC kit:

[GoGo Yubari]

Timbers kits look pretty ugly/derivative to me.

Reaaaaaaaaaaally happy with trading up for Zavaleta.

EDIT: We also got Dylan Remick, which on paper looks like a good pick. Young, fast LB who would be a good compliment to DeAndre Yedlin as our RB prospect in the same mold.

I'd say fans of Seattle and Toronto should both be very happy with what their teams did today.

[HailtotheYo]

Hackworth says Adu won't be with Philly when camp opens .... signs of being shipped off ?

Surprised that Vancouver took two forwards with the 4 and 5 picks especially since one of them is essentially the same player as Mattocks but not as fast. Neither was Deshorn Brown, who went 6th to COL (which I think is a great steal).

FCD got Zimmerman at 7 which could be one of the best picks in terms of player talent/team need. As GoGo said, SEA and Zavaleta looks really good as well.

Still surprised that Finley watched 3 FW go before him but CLB is probably crapping their pants with happiness they got him at 9.

[Sweet Holy Moses]

First, I actually really like the Timbers' new kits. Though I think the red one is a little too Ajax-esque. Those shoulder stripes look awful, though, as usual. And good on SKC getting a local sponsor -- for $2.5m per year, too!

I'd say fans of Seattle and Toronto should both be very happy with what their teams did today.

As the one of the board's (also world's) few TFC fans, I am definitely happy with what they did. Two local boys who played together as kids, both of whom are very happy to be playing for their hometown club. And to get three trades' worth of allocation money is huge in a league like MLS. Estimates have it at around $500-$600k, which is like 20% of the salary cap, if memory serves me right.

I'm quite excited about Bekker's potential -- I'm almost certain he'll be a Canadian senior international in the next few years, certainly by the 2018 World Cup qualifiers. I wouldn't be surprised if he eventually leaves for Europe, though.

[HailtotheYo]

The cap for 2013 is 2.95m so it's somewhere between 15-20% essentially.

Also, lost on draft day was that COL officially signed Kevin Harbottle. They also had a fantastic draft by directly placing the Ginger Ninja as well as Cummings, AND got themselves a LB that is more suited to Pareja's preferred 4-3-3.

GoGo I'm not sure how ingrained you are with the scene up there but did you catch Portland's pick ? They took Dylan Tuckger-Gangnes ... a Seattle born guy that played at UW ... directly before SEA took their defender. Awesome bit of rivalry business.