OXNARD, Calif. — With one preseason game under their belts, there are a number of positive signs for Chivas USA. However, there are also a number of kinks to be worked out before the club opens the season in six weeks.
In their first match of their preseason, the Rojiblancos fell to PDL side Ventura County Fusion 1-0 on a blustery day on the campus of Oxnard College. The game featured a pair of 30-minute halves with both first teamers and trialists, but strong winds left players struggling to generate a rhythm.
With less than two months until the CONCACAF men’s Olympic qualification tournament kicks off, there seem to be more questions than answers when it comes to Canada’s entry.
The American U-23 side has just finished up its latest of many pre-qualifying camps, Mexico have had their U-23 program in motion since last summer, and the same can be said for El Salvador and Panama, so Canadian fans can be excused for looking at their southern neighbors with a bit of envy.
TORONTO – This is a different kind of preseason for Toronto FC goalkeeper Stefan Frei.
The head coach is the same as the previous year, as Aron Winter has returned to the TFC bench. Beside him is Bob de Klerk, his lead assistant who retained his role from 2011.
Frei even looks around the dressing room and sees familiar faces, lots of them.
After a bit of a phony war on Twitter during the offseason, Camilo is back for preseason, and the Vancouver Whitecaps FC Player of the Year in 2011 is closer to getting the raise he says he deserves.
"He's back now," club president Bob Lenarduzzi told TEAM 1410 radio in Vancouver on Thursday. "We still haven't redone the deal, but in our case and in his, it looks like we'll get there in short order."
Had the calendars on the walls of the Montreal Impact's offices been flags last spring, they probably would have been flying at half-mast. On April 18, 2011, fan favorite Eduardo Sebrango announced, his voice cracking, that he was retiring from the game of soccer after a 12-year second-division career in Canada and the United States during which he scored 98 goals in 257 games.
The buildup to Friday afternoon’s FA Cup clash was billed as a contest between America’s best and most-accomplished field players in Donovan and Clint Dempsey. It ended as a one-sided display in which the tried-and-true tactics of Everton’s 4-4-2 undid Fulham’s hybridized 4-3-3, producing a comprehensive – if at times somewhat sloppy – 2-1 victory that flattered the visitors.
UPPER MONTCLAIR, N.J. – As the New York Red Bulls prepare to leave for Mexico next week to begin the next stage of preseason training, they will be taking a flier on Icelandic U-21 international Victor Palsson (right).
The central midfielder will join New York on trial as a guest player.
Landon Donovan seized the spotlight in his much-anticipated showdown against US counterpart Clint Dempsey on Friday, leading Everton to a 2-1 win over visiting Fulham in a fourth-round FA Cup match.
The LA Galaxy striker finished the day with an assist on each of Everton’s goals, as the hosts rallied from an early 1-0 deficit to qualify for the Round of 16 on Feb. 18.
Donovan now has four assists in six games across all competitions since joining Everton on loan earlier this month.
LEWIS CENTER, Ohio – As Bernardo Anor hammered in three straight services during a drill Friday, the second-year Crew midfielder showed the confidence that was lacking at times in his rookie season.
The Venezuelan-born Anor hit a high mark June 18 in his first start by scoring and adding an assist in a 2-0 win at Houston. But then he disappeared for most of the rest of the season, due both to an ankle injury and his approach to the game.
FRISCO, Texas — It's been a rough road for Scott Sealy over the last five years.
The striker (pictured above, left) impressed in his first three seasons in MLS by netting 26 goals. However, a listless pair of season with San Jose, two uneventful years in Israel and two injury-riddled campaigns back at San Jose followed. Now, Sealy is looking for an opportunity to make a comeback, this time with FC Dallas, who brought him in a trial at the beginning of preseason training camp last week.
