Rumors: Timbers To Announce Kit Sponsor

The Portland Timbers will be announcing the kit sponsor tomorrow morning at the Portland International Airport.  Additionally they have confirmed that the teams MLS Uniforms and training wear will be revealed in December.

Most are guessing that this is the Alaska Airlines sponsorship announcement. We will have the news as soon as we hear confirmation. 

Timbers to announce signing Kevin Goldthwaite within the hour

The Timbers will be announcing the signing of defender Kevin Goldthwaite within the hour. The 27 year old defender was waived by the New York Red bulls in June.  Goldthwaite has been on an MLS roster for six seasons, and has played in 92 MLS matches with the Red Bulls, Dynamo and Earthquakes.

Update: It's official.  Here is the press release.

This is Goldthwaite's second time as a member of the Timbers:

While on loan with the Timbers in 2005, Goldthwaite logged 892 minutes in 10 matches, helping the Timbers to a USL First Division playoff appearance. 

Interestingly enough, he also appeared in a US Open Cup match against the Timbers in 2005 as a member of the Earthquakes.  The Timbers were 4-4-2 (W-T-L) with Goldthwaite on the team and 10-9-9 overall that season.

Timbers Rumors: Timbers to announce signing of Kalif Alhassan?

Gavin Wilkinson recently hinted on Talk Timbers that the Timbers would be signing a young prospect who they expect to make an impact in the MLS. Today John Strong tweeted "News coming today...check that St Louis box score again...". One thing that stands out on the St. Louis box score is that Kalif Alhassan is listed in the ineligible section.

Kalif Alhassan is a 19 year old from Ghana who is listed as an attacking midfielder and a forward. His first name may also be spelled Khalif. Gavin Wilkinson went on a scouting trip to Ghana in May, so this signing may be the result of that. We have no confirmation on this, so it's just a rumor at this point. The Timbers will be announcing the signing this afternoon.

Update:
It's official, the Timbers announced the signing of Kalif Alhassan for the remainder of this season.

From the Timbers official website - Timbers sign Ghanaian midfielder Kalif Alhassan.

And from Oregonlive blogger Kip Kesgard - Timbers invite Salgado to Camp, sign midfielder Alhassan

Portland Timbers MLS Coach Rumors

We knew the Timbers would have a new coach for next season, and the rumors surrounding the decision have been building and now the Portland Business Journal is reporting that the next coach of the Portland Timbers will be the former assistant coach of the Houston Dynamo, John Spencer. Spencer has been in the assitant coaching spot for the past four years and resigned yesterday.
The Houston Dynamo website reports the following...

Spencer – or “Spenny,” as the players called him – had been notably absent this week from practice, and several Dynamo players claimed his ultimate destination was Oregon, for a coaching role with the 2011 MLS expansion Portland Timbers. Both Dynamo and Timbers officials declined to comment on Spencer’s plans.

Spencer is a very exciting prospect for our new head coach, as he has been considered one of the most sought after coaches in the MLS. He had a long playing career, starting for the likes of Rangers, Chelsea, QPR and finishing his playing days at Colorado. He played in 88 matches for the Rapids tallying 37 goals. Spencer has been the assistant coach with the Dynamo since they first entered the league in 2006. There is no official word from the Timbers as of yet.

My prediction of head coaching announcements was blown, when I hypothesized that the US team might announce Klinsmann as the new coach during the WC final weekend. So with no credibility at stake, maybe we hear a Spencer announcement this weekend around the Man City game.

Links to the rumor mill...
Portland Business Journal - Spencer to be Timbers first MLS coach
Houston Dynamo - Dynamo drop Landín, announce Spencer will leave
Prost Amerika - Timbers Coach Will Have MLS Experience
Oregon Live - Timbers' coaching candidates include John Spencer

US Head Coach Rumors

The sports world is full of rumors at the moment, where is Lebron headed, Donovan has a lovechild in the UK, Henry will sign with the NY Red Bulls and then there's the US Men's National Team head coaching job. Current head coach Bob Bradley, has stated that he would like stay with the team, but history tells us that most coaches don't make two World Cup appearances in a row. The rumor mill has been spewing that Bradley is being looked at for the top Fulham job. He might be on the list, but first he would have to leave his current spot.

There are many candidates to replace Bradley and one that sounds high on the list is Jurgen Klinsmann. So for those of us that watched the semi-final match between Spain and Germany, Klinsmann an ESPN correspondent was not in the Soccer City Studio, but joined the conversion via satellite from California? Why would the German ESPN correspondent leave South Africa while his nation has a chance to be in the finals. It's not like the World Cup hasn't been scheduled for years, what could possibly be so important, that he would drop everything and head to west coast. Well the headquarters of US soccer is in California, and in my opinion there is a decent chance that this weekend a new US head coach will be announced.

St. Louis, Where there's Smoke?

photo: AC St. Louis Fanatic's Facebook

This morning the rumor mill sparked up that AC St. Louis and WPS team St. Louis Athletica were in financial trouble, the kind of trouble where they are having trouble paying bills. As the day went on, the news seemed to only add fuel to the fire.

Inside Minnesota Soccer - AC St. Louis and Saint Louis Athletica in Peril – Jeff Cooper Out
St. Louis Post-Dispatch - Athletica, AC St. Louis rumors

AC St. Louis has been much hyped and after 30 years without a professional team in STL, this is sad news for soccer in the US as a whole. AC has only had two home games, the first of which sold out at 5,695 and the second at 2,985. Those two home crowds don't seem too bad for a first year club. Miami has been in the league for years and they drool over those numbers.
Jeff Cooper who chaired the ownership group in St. Louis, and had even tried to make an MLS bid, has simply left the organization just as the season started. It looks like Cooper, an attorney by trade, bit off more then he could chew. How big of a problem this becomes, only time will tell. MLS is less than a year away.

Timbers taking on Two EPL Teams?

Hot news on the Soccer City boards, posted by Keeper01:

The club expects to play four or five exhibition matches this year. There may be two matches with Premiership teams and another match with a Mexican club.

Any guesses who it will be? Burnley could be back, but it looks like they may be facing relegation.

Miami FC Fans Look to Becks

Miami FC averaged the lowest attendance in 2009 with just around 1000 peeps deciding to show up. An end of the season plea to the fans that one player would shave his head for every 500 fans who showed up, only cost 1.5 Miami FC players their locks, because only 860 Floridians showed up. So what are such die hard fans to do when they need a boost for an MLS club, pray to the great messiah, David Beckham. It has been widely reported that Beckham is interested in ownership of a club, he at one point said "I have the right to own an MLS franchise, which I will action immediately after I have stopped playing." David's contract with the Galaxy will end in 2012, and that time his contract gives him an option to buy a MLS franchise.

We reported rumors a few months ago about Beckham being interested in Montreal, which has a huge loyal fan base that averaged around 12k a game this year, but could you see Beckham and the spice girl really living in cold Montreal? I think not, but the MLS is expanding the next few years, with the Union next year and Vancouver and Ptown in 2011. Beckham and Montreal in 2012 could be the perfect little fit just imagine the providence being renamed to QueBecks. This rumor of Beckham and Montreal has been refuted by the Beckham people and really is only tabloid bs.

British newspaper the Sunday Mirror and Miami FC blogs report that Miami has caught the eye of Beckham and that there is interest in bringing a new Team Beckham MLS outfit to South Florida. Hey the second time might be the charm right? A new stadium and a team that galvanizes the huge Latino population could be a success for the MLS and Miami. The city is one of the largest US cities without an MLS side and some of the strongest Latino roots. Sources say that Beckham is now looking for the right financial partners and sponsors to make this Miami bid a reality. Besides Posh Spice likes to get her tan on.

Montreal Impact and Beckham in bed for MLS bid?

The rumor mill is turning and cranking out a story that the Montreal Impact are working with sex panther David Beckham in a bid for an MLS team. Montreal has been making a strong bid for a MLS franchise, as it is already a successful USL franchise with great attendance figures and a semi successful team of inbreeds. Yours truly at one point feared that Montreal's bid for a team would steal our chance to join the MLS ranks. So the David Beckham rumors are just that rumors, Beckham and the Impact's owners have not confirmed any of this, but it is an interesting twist in the expansion of the MLS. Beckham has the cash and resources to make a successful franchise, but Montreal is poised to be successful with or without Becks. I think Beckham would be better off helping a struggling franchise such as FC Dallas or helping jump start another city's bid. For more information on the Beckham and Montreal sex rumors go to Ottawa Citizen.