Burnley fighting to avoid relegation

Burnley vs. Chelsea is live right now on the Fox Soccer Channel (401 on Comcast). Burnley can move out of the bottom three with a win against #1 Chelsea today. After a promising start, The Clarets have been struggling most of the season, so we're hoping they can avoid relegation.

The 2010 Roster - Say HELLO to Quavas!

Things are really starting to get moving for the upcoming season. The Timbers continue the process of assembling a roster as they ready themselves for their debut in the USSF 2nd Division aka the USL/NASL arranged marriage league. The 2-day Open tryouts were held this weekend. Video highlights from those sessions are posted below - check it out and see if you can find any diamonds in the rough. Apparently the Timbers were impressed enough by forward Limam Sedyi to give him another look.

This weekend, Sat. 30th - Sun. 31st, the Timbers will put on an Invite-Only Tryout. In the past, this event has lead to the signing of former Timber players who've had significant contributions to the franchise. Recent players such as George Josten, Josh Cameron, and Brian Visser were all "discovered" at the invite-only tryout. Potential hopefuls will pay a $125 fee for the chance to make the team's roster. A marginal cost to play in Soccer City USA. Here's a link from Portlandtimbers.com with profiles on a few of the players that will be in attendance. One interesting note, Maxwell Griffin will be there, brother of former Timbers defender Leonard Griffin.

The 2010 roster so far? Well, along with returning coach Gavin Wilkinson, the Timbers will return much of its core talent. Officially signed for the 2010 season are Mandjou Keita, Ryan Pore, Cameron Knowles, and keeper Steve Cronin. MLS defensive talent Quavas Kirk also signed with the team a few weeks ago (apparently aka the Pink Pink). He'll be helping to replace players like David Hayes and Cameron Dunn, players who we already know will not be returning. Kevin Forrest, Ivan Becerra, and backup keeper Brian Visser are among other players who'll be left off the roster in 2010.

I also wanted to note that Alex Nimo is about to begin training camp with the defending MLS champions Real Salt Lake. It seems that RLS is expecting big things from their 2008 draft pick this year. We'll see what he can do for them in the preseason, which should determine his future with the club for the rest of the year. It seems like playing time will be hard to come by. Real Salt Lake's first exhibition game is scheduled for Feb. 20th. We'll keep you posted as things start to shake out.

Timbers Schedule to Drop Tomorrow

Timbers head coach Gavin Wilkinson was interviewed on Strong at Night today, and he believed we should see the 2010 regular season schedule on Friday. Expect a home owner the third week of April. We will keep you updated. Gavin also mentioned that the Timbers are in talks to host an exhibition match with another Primer League team. I dream of Fulham.

Link to the radio show, Timbers talk is a little after half way through the cast.

Open Tryouts 2010 - Highlight Videos

From Portlandtimbers.com
Open Tryouts Day 1 Video
Open Tryouts Day 2 Video

Yanks Abroad - Landon Donovan's First Everton Goal

Lando makes his first goal in the EPL look as easy as pie and how about Fellaini? Its a shame we wont get to see the Belgian's big hair in the cup.

Timbers Stadium Construction Update

BOOM! Our correspondents are hard at work across the city and the world, bringing you the latest Portland Timbers information. BAM! Whether it is your league goal scoring leader in India, or your number one draft pick get freaky in the mirror, you can count on us to be there holding up the mirror. We report, you decide. ACES!

Saltzman Asks For Support

Seen on the Soccer City boards:

As you may be aware, I am running for reelection as City Commissioner and my opponents have criticized my support to bring Major League Soccer to Portland. That Said, I could use some Timbers style support at the upcoming “Candidate Olympiad.” Event is free! Logistics below:

· What: Candidate Olympiad – event sponsored by the Portland Mercury and the Bus Project

· When: Thursday, January 28th – 7:00pm

· Where: Backspace – 115 NW 5th Ave (between Davis and Couch)

For some reason this prompted anti-everything-Portland blogger Jack Bog to complain that Saltzman is "pandering" to the "hooligans".



If you want to hear a funny response to this douche, check out the pdxsucks podcast (skip to about -36:00 to find the relevant part).

Half Field Goal from England 6th Division

Timber Bits

Read a personal account of a local guy who went to the Timbers Open Tryout this past weekend.

Timbers Abroad - Mandjou Keita played the entire 90 minutes yet failed to score, as Salgaocar dropped into relegation zone in a 2-1 loss to Air India. Full info at Goal.com


Kansas City just broke ground on their new MLS stadium. Hillcrest Road - the official blog of the Kansas City Wiz, has all the details and pictures.

And now more PGE Park Stadium Porn...

Timber Gear for Haiti

Scot Thompson has put up a ton of Timbers gear for auction on his Facebook Page. All the money raised will be donated to help the people of Haiti recover from their devastating earthquake. This is a chance to get some really great gear and help those in need. The auction ends this Friday.
Direct Link to the Gear

Lastest Pictures from PGE Park

Portland Timbers Stadium 2011 Update

Some links courtesy of the city of Portland...
City of Portland PGE Park Renovation Project
PDF file (11.1MB) with more pictures and blue prints of PGE Park renovations

We were lucky enough to get some pictures of what PGE Park looks like this week, from one of Portland's elites. BB

Textbook Football by 8 year olds

You really have to hand it to the text book through ball to split the defenders, they were left with no choice but to drop the attack before the box. There are so many things going right in this short video, midfielder intercepts, quickly counterattacks, through ball to the striker making a run and defender left with little choice. Bellissimo!

Timbers Bits - Gavin Wilkinson to Stay in 2011

Gavin Wilkinson will be the head coach for the 2010 season and in 2011 will remain with the Timbers as technical director. Wilkinson has been with the Timbers for nine years and might know the club better than anyone. The Timbers are most likely looking for a head coach with previous MLS experience.
Timbers name Wilkinson Technical Director of MLS club

Gavin Wilkinson was named the 2009 Field Turf Coach of the Year, it is he second honor in three years with the Timbers.
Wilkinson earns FieldTurf Coach of the Year

Listen to the radio interview on Strong at Night on 95.5 , Head Coach Gavin Wilkinson, Owner Merritt Paulson, and 1st pick of the MLS Draft Danny Mwanga from Oregon State

• Gavin Wilkinson says that we should have final schedule for 2010 within the next two weeks.
  

Salgaocar drops to 12th place, two points from relegation. Next game is this Friday.
We Need To Win Against Air India - Salgaocar Coach Tim Hankinson



The NASL have launched their official website.


Clint Dempsey hurt his knee playing for Fulham on Sunday. He is still under medical assessment but we should know full details within a day or two.
U.S. Team Awaits Word on Dempsey’s Knee Injury
UPDATE: Clint Dempsey gives USA World Cup boost after positive knee scan

We are the Portland, the Portland Timbers

Blondes Have More Fun

World Cup Group C Update

The USA will face Algeria on June 23rd, in the final game of Group C play. This last game could be crucial for both teams as one or both may face elimination from the Cup. Algeria is busy in group play of the African nations cup and blew its first game 3 nil, with some shoddy goalkeeping.

Yanks Abroad - Landon Makes his Everton Debut

See ESPN's take on Landon Donovan's debut performance for Everton against Aresnal. Donovan's home debut will be this Saturday, against high flying Manchester City and live on Fox Soccer Channel at 9:30AM.

Timbers Abroad - Mandjou Keita Scores in the 61st Minute

What do natural goal scorers do? They score goals like its going out of style. The answer to how long would it take Mandjou Keita to score in a regular season game is 61 minutes. At the hour mark Captain Luciano Sabrosa, headed a Francis Fernandes cross towards Keita, who headed it past the Mumbai FC keeper for the equalizer. Salgaocar had more chances on goal through out the match but, gave up a second goal in the 84th minute.

Mandjou Keita has scored 3 goals in 4 games of playing for Salgaocar. Keita's goal scoring is needed by Salgaocar who have only scored 7 goals in 8 regular season matches. For the standings in the Indian I-League go to Goal.com

Salgaocar's next game is January 17th against Pune FC, we will keep you posted.

USSF 2nd Divsion, USL/NASL Agreement

Finally, after months of back and forth, America's 2nd division is set and ready for play. The United Soccer League (USL) and the North American Soccer League (NASL) will play in the same league separated by two conferences of six teams each. The league will be overseen by the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) for the 2010 season, and titled the USSF Second Divsion. This is a happy conclusion to months of speculation and rumor, in the end we have a league for our boys to go out and win.

A congratulation is in order for our owner Merritt Paulson, who stayed out of the fray and assured Timber fans from the get go that Portland would be playing a regular season in some 2nd division league in 2010. A thanks is in order for the bloggers who fueled the fire and gave the geeks like me something to think about in the off season.

Now for those of you, who had sleepless nights wondering what will happen in the USL/NASL dispute, buy your season tickets and sleep like a baby on Benadryl.

USL Conference
Austin
Portland
Puerto Rico
Minnesota
Rochester
Tampa Bay

NASL Conference
Baltimore
Carolina
Miami
Montreal
St. Louis
Vancouver

More Details to come...

Timbers Abroad - Mandjou Keita Salgaocar Update

Mandjou Keita was the star performer for Salgaocar in the December Indian League. In the three matches Salgaocar played in, they scored only two goals both coming from Keita. Results from those three game are below. Of note the one team that Salgaocar failed to score against was Kingfisher East Bengal, which won the Federation Cup.

• Dec. 22, 2009 JCT Mills Football Club Vs Salgaocar S.C 0-1 -Keita in the 14th minute
  
• Dec. 24, 2009 Salgaocar S.C Vs Kingfisher East Bengal 0-1
  
• Dec. 27, 2009 Viva Kerala Vs Salgaocar S.C 1-1 -Keita in the 88th minute

Salgaocar and most likely Keita's next game is this Friday, January 8th, between Mumbai FC and Salgaocar SC. We will post the results and hope that Keita makes his regular season debut a special one.

Toronto FC BMO Field and another stadium upgrade.

BMO Field, the home to MLS club Toronto FC is getting another upgrade, a gift for the new year. As reported earlier the Toronto City Council voted to remove turf field and replace it with natural grass. Well now it looks that the organzation will be investing 2 million bucks to add 1,249 seats before the 2010 season. In the 2009 MLS season Toronto averaged a near sell out of every game in a stadium that holds 20,500 people. They sold out of season tickets at 16,000 sold and an additional 1,249 seats will help alleviate some of the pressure. This is some of the MLS success that we are sure to see here in Ptown.

2009 MLS Attendance

Yanks Abroad - Clint Dempsey Volley Goal

This link may die, and we will update post once a new source is found.

Yanks Abroad - Landon Donovan's Mexican Lottery Commercial

This is a new ad featuring Donovan trying to sneak into Mexico to play the Mexican lottery game. Our expert Spanish translators have told us that Donovan basically says "that is is easier to win in Mexico." Mexicans love to hate the US star and the fact that the US struggles on Mexican soil is a source of national pride. This August during a World Cup qualification at Mexico City's Azteca Stadium, while taking a corner kick Landon was rained on by fans with bottles and cups containing things you don't want to know about. Winning in Mexico is not that easy.

USL not sanctioned for second division

The Timbers 2010 season remains in limbo. U.S. Soccer refused to sanction the USL or the TOA (the group of teams which split off from the USL) as a second division soccer league, citing that there "are still too many uncertainties for both organizations, which would be extremely difficult to resolve in a timely fashion that would allow them to prepare for the 2010 season".

Merritt Paulson still thinks the Timbers will play a full season, but with a slightly later schedule.

Read more at Biz Journals

The Mandjou Keita Show Goes Overseas

Mandjou Keita, the leagues leading scorer in 2009, is on loan to the Indian club team Salgaocar and is continuing what he does best. The Indian I-league is currently on mid season break, but the Federation Cup was in full swing in December. Keita scored 2 goals in three games of group play, but Salgaocar was unable advance. His second goal was an 88th minute stunner to capture the draw. The Federation Cup is now over and regular season play starts this weekend. We will continue to bring you updates of Mandjou Keita's journey to the Indian football world.

Highlights from 2009 Portland Destroys the Rhinos 4-1

A new video was posted on the Rochester Rhinos facebook page that features the 4-1 thrashing by the Timbers. Nothing new, but a fun 2009 game at Rochester.

Portland 4 - Rochester 1 August 15, 2009.