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    Guest

    Reds off to winning start in pre-season

    By Guest, in 24th Minute,

    TFC’s march to the 2012 MLS Cup began in style tonight, with a 5-1 whitewashing of the Powerhouse University of South Florida.
    Ok, maybe not quite, but scoring five goals against live opposition should not be completely ignored. Let’s recall that this wasn’t the first time TFC has played USF. The Preki Reds struggled to a 1-0 win in the 2010 pre-season.
    You can bet that if that result was duplicated tonight that there would be full-on panic amongst some of the more excitable within the fandom.
    The star of the night was first round draft pick Luis Silva, who had a brace inside 20 minutes. He added two assists to lay further claim to a starting position in the surprisingly loaded TFC midfield.
    Far be it for CSN to suggest that he is a pre-season favourite to be a Rookie of the Year candidate.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Toronto’s other goals went to Nick Soolsma, Joao Plata and Terry Dunfield.
    First half line-up: Stefan Frei; Doneil Henry, Ty Harden, Miguel Aceval, Ashtone Morgan; Torsten Frings, Terry Dunfield, Luis Silva; Nick Soolsma, Ryan Johnson, Joao Plata
    Second half line-up: Milos Kocic; Richard Eckersley, Geovanny Caicedo, Aaron Maund, Elbekay Bouchiba; Matt Stinson, Julian de Guzman, Eric Avila; Reggie Lambe, Danny Koevermans, Jordan Hamilton
    With Toronto scoring all five goals in the first half, a particularly negative interpretation of the game could view the Reds as having lost the second half 1-0.
    Jordan Hamilton is a 15-year-old TFC Academy prospect.
    The game was announced at the last minute. Aron Winter told reporters last week that the club would schedule pre-season friendlies when it felt they were beneficial, but was not planning to schedule them in advance.
    Guest

    Impact select Johnson, trade for two

    By Guest, in 24th Minute,

    Eddie Johnson, the man that scored the first ever MLS goal in Canada, has been claimed by the Montreal Impact with the club's allocation selection.
    Johnson won't be learning French, however. The Impact announced that they had already agreed to trade the US international to another MLS side. That club was expected to be Colorado, however the Seattle Sounders ended up getting the player.
    The Sounders sent forward Mike Fucito and midfielder Lamar Neagle to the Impact.
    By selecting Johnson, Montreal moves to the No 19 spot in the allocation order
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Guest
    File this one under “show me don’t tell me”, but MLS executives are saying that the league plans to get tough on players that commit reckless tackles.
    MLS’s executive vice president Nelson Rodriguez told Steven Goff that the league’s five-man disciplinary committee will be handing out harsher suspensions to players in 2012. Additionally, the league will suspend players retroactively, even if the call was missed on the field.
    Rodriguez said to Goff:
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    “We remain concerned about player safety and the frequent nature of certain challenges. As a result, and as part of an overall disciplinary code, we’ll put players and clubs on notice that, if this continues, they will be met with a more active disciplinary body.”
    You can read more here.
    Rodriguez didn’t indicate whether there was any plan to make sure the referee actually gets the call right in the first place.
    Guest
    Yesterday's addition of Barry Robson to Vancouver's squad increased the wealth of talent at Martin Rennie's disposal even further.
    Who will be the regular starters? Who will be the bench impact guys? And who will just have to be patient and bide their time?
    It's a nice position to be in. I'd rather have too many good players to pick from, than not enough, especially once the injuries and suspensions start to kick in.
    The flip side of that though is trying to keep team harmony. Some players will always think they should be in the team or getting more minutes, and some will never be pleased not to be.
    As we've been weighing up Whitecaps line ups for the season ahead, it's certainly something we've been thinking about, so we caught up with Martin Rennie this week to find out how he plans to handle this enviable situation.
    Just how do you keep such a wealth of talent happy?
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    <i>"That's always been something that people have asked me with the teams I've had. I've always had quite deep squads and there's been a lot of competition for places.
    What I've found, over time, is that there's always a place for people because you find there's suspensions, there's injuries. Hopefully we're successful, we have more games, maybe even there's a chance to be in CONCACAF (Champions League) and you need a lot of good players to do all those things.
    I think a lot of it is communicating. If a guy's not in the team, why he's not in the team, and making sure people realise it's never personal, it's just based on how you think the team needs to be put together and what the performance of each player has been like.
    It's something you just got to manage each time.
    The biggest thing right now is guys just need to compete and see where it gets them and I think these guys are competing pretty hard."</i>
    If you look back at Martin Rennie's previous teams, one of the things that stands out is that his line ups and formations are not always that easy to guess.
    At Cleveland and Carolina he played different formations for different types of games. The rigid 4-4-2 we saw last season could be a thing of the past and we finally have a manager who will change things around a little when needed.
    Rennie is not a manager who will work out his best starting eleven and routinely stick with it. Squad rotation will most certainly come into the mix:
    <i>Yeah, I don't think you can just stick with eleven guys now because there's so many games, so much travel. It's unlikely that eleven guys are going to take you the whole way through.
    Jim McLean managed it with Dundee United a long time ago. That doesn't really happen any more, so guys all need to know their job and be able to step in when the time comes."</i>
    If the fans are going to have trouble working out who's going to be starting, then so will the opposition, and surely that can only be a good thing, as will be the competition for places, which is already shaping up to be fierce.
    <p>
    Guest
    As reported by the Associated Press on Thursday, the Canadian women's national team will be squaring off with #4-ranked Brazil in a friendly on March 24, somewhere in Massachusetts*. The third-party location for the friendly isn't overly unusual, especially for Brazil -- the last time the men's national teams of Canada and Brazil met, in 2008, the game was in Seattle.
    (Update, 9:31 a.m. As per WomensSoccerUnited.com, the match will be played at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, which is regrettably still home to MLS's New England Revolution).
    It's also not unusual to see Canada and Brazil meet each other in the women's game. They've battled three times in the last 15 months, with each match being tied after 90 minutes. Most recently, Canada claimed gold at the 2011 Pan Am Games in a penalty shootout against a depleted Brazilian side, thanks largely to a stellar performance from goalkeeper Karina LeBlanc. Prior to that, in December 2010, Canada drew Brazil twice in a Four Nations tournament in Sao Paulo, with Christine Sinclair scoring this goal in the 83rd minute of the final game:
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]


    This game is in addition to the two planned friendlies on Canadian soil for the CanWNT this year. The Canadian Soccer Association hopes to play an "Olympic send-off" game, as well as a CSA centenary match for the women's side (the men's team plays their centenary match against the USA on June 3). As for the location of those games, all the CSA has said so far is "probably not Toronto".
    And before any of that takes place, Big Red will defend its title at the annual Cyprus Cup. Canada has won the tournament three out of the four times it's been played, including a 2-1 victory over the Netherlands in last year's final. This year, Canada (#7) will face the Netherlands (#14) again, in group stage play, along with Italy (#11) and Scotland (#22). The winner of that group will face the winner of Group A -- France (#6), England (#8), Finland (#20) and Switzerland (#25) -- to determine the champion.
    A replay against France would be a good -- though not truly representative -- sign of how far the team has come in its short time under head coach John Herdman. France, as you'll undoubtedly recall, took the Canadian team out behind the woodshed at last summer's Women's World Cup, in a comprehensive 4-0 thrashing. Let's hope for a much different result this time, if that matchup comes to pass.
    .
    Guest
    Today, we're joined by the Toronto SUN's soccer columnist Kurt Larson to talk about Julian DeGuzman's last contract year in Toronto, if their centreback problems have been solved and if they're going to be prepared heading into season.
    We'll also look at the Barry Robson signing by the Whitecaps, talk about what Montreal got for Brian Ching and discuss whether or not Winter and crew are leaving things too late in the preseason as the game with the Galaxy nears.
    The archived show is now up
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    <embed src="http://itscalledfootball.podhoster.com/FlowPlayerLight.swf?config={embedded:true,videoFile:%27http://itscalledfootball.podhoster.com/download/2540/29477/feb162012final.mp3%27,initialScale:%27scale%27,controlBarBackgroundColor:%270x778899%27,autoBuffering:false,loop:false,autoPlay:false}" width="400" height="25" scale="fit" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed>
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    Follow us on Twitter for updates on guests and shows
    I am away all weekend in Montreal. If I'm back early enough on Monday we will have another show, but just so we didn't miss two weeks in a row we put this one out today. Enjoy.
    Guest

    No news is...news?

    By Guest, in It's Called Football,

    AFTN writer Michael McColl quipped on Twitter today: 'CSN is in danger of becoming VSN!' - a rib shot at the scrawny amount of Toronto FC and Montreal Impact reporting on Canadian Soccer News as of late.
    It's a far cry from just a few months ago when readers often complained about the amount of Toronto-centric coverage. That change in attitude mostly has to do with the terrific work Michael has been doing since taking over the Vancouver stuff. And, for Montreal, don't worry, the Impact editor comes on board with his podcast and French language columns the first week of March.
    But where does that leave Toronto FC? If it has seemed like there has been a lack of news this spring, that would be because, well, there has been a lack of news this spring. There have been no season ticket uproars, no disgruntled players. The same coaches who ended last season look well suited to continue on past this season. And for the first time, perhaps ever, much of the focus is on the football.
    A nice change, no? The only news that drove this spring was a couple of small blips - they re-signed the two key players they needed to in Joao Plata and Richard Eckersley and they went about looking to fill the crater sized hole at centreback.
    And while there is little to conclude yet on the success or failure of solving that defender problem, that can be chalked up to one thing: where exactly is the football?
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Among all the teams in MLS, Toronto FC will be among the first in 2012 to play a meaningful game when they face off against the LA Galaxy in Champions League action. And, among all the teams in MLS, Toronto FC will be among the last to play a meaningful game in pre-season, when they kick off in Orlando next week against Mickey and the gang.
    For those counting - that's only 10 days from the time they first touch the ball in real competition to the time they'll go up against the defending MLS champions and a club who currently has a pair of tremendous players on top form in the EPL.
    10 days for Miguel Aceval, Geovanny Caicedo, Adrian Cann, Ty Harden and the rest of the centrebacks, who have rarely played a minute of in game action side-by-side, to come together and figure out a way to deal with Robbie Keane and Landon Donovan.
    Aron Winter, who took damn near every player in an 80 km radius of Toronto down to Orlando with him this week is, as he has since he came to Toronto, looking at the long game. He refuses to place the importance of one competition over another, instead looking at building the club for the long term by trying players here, there are everywhere. It's a sound approach, and likely the right one, but one that will do little to ready the starting 11 who will step out on to the Rogers Centre field Mar. 7.
    This news year has started with barely a peep for Toronto FC. You can be certain though, however they perform against the Galaxy, it is quickly going to become a roar.
    Guest
    Barry Robson knows about derby games. He should do, he's played in some really heated ones in his career.
    He's had the Highland derby against Ross County whilst at Inverness, the Dundee one whilst at United, the Old Firm one at Celtic, the North East derbies with his current club Middlesbrough and now he has the Cascadian and the Canadian ones to look forward to with Vancouver.
    The atmosphere at derby games are second to none. Players love playing in them and rise to the occasion. Robson certainly has. He's scored against Rangers for Celtic and just recently scored against Sunderland for Boro in a FA Cup tie.
    We asked Barry at this morning's conference call what playing in derby games meant to him:
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    <i>"I've been lucky enough to score in a few. I always respect derbies.
    People always say you're not going to play in a bigger one than the Old Firm derby but when you play down here, I've played against Newcastle for Middlesbrough, I've played against Sunderland. To the fans it is bigger than the Old Firm derby.
    Every derby you play in, the fans think that's the biggest derby.
    It's something I've always respected. They're great games to play in. They're games I've always relished and enjoyed. It's all about how hard you work and everything else can come after that.
    If you're ready to do that in a derby, you've got every chance of winning it."</i>
    So will Barry be relishing facing off against Seattle and Portland?
    <i>"They're games I'll be looking forward to, but not just the derbies. I'm looking forward to playing against all the teams and a different type of football that I'm used to and hopefully I can adapt quickly and do a good job for the team."</i>
    And we hope so too.
    With two Cascadian away games coming up against the Sounders and Timbers in August (as well as two later home games), Robson will certainly get an early baptism of fire, although not as big a baptism as he's going to get with MLS away travel.
    If he arrives on July 1st, his first four games in a Whitecaps shirt will all be away from home, including a Canadian derby match up in Toronto on July 11th.
    Having seen him play in many derby games over the years, he's going to be someone who's not afraid to get stuck in from the off and after Vancouver's limp performances in last year's Cascadia and Voyageurs Cup matches, that's just what we need.
    <p>
    Guest

    Whitecaps Add Barry Robson As Designated Player

    By Guest, in AFTN,

    After a couple of days of speculation, the news is official. Barry Robson is heading to Vancouver in July and will be joining the Whitecaps as a Designated Player.
    The Caps must be starting to hate Twitter and other online endeavours, as their big announcements are always being pre-empted by online sleuths.
    On the other hand, it helps add to the excitement before the official announcement and gets fans talking and hyped up about the club and the signing of Robson has certainly done that here on the west coast.
    The 33 year old Scottish international will join the Whitecaps in July, pending receipt of his International Transfer Certificate and Visa, and will see out the current Championship campaign with Middlesbrough, as he tries to get them back into the English Premiership.
    Robson comes to Vancouver having scored 98 goals in 492 career club matches to date. It's an impressive record for any midfielder, and yes, a lot of them have been penalties, but a lot of them have also been free kicks and spectacular long range efforts too.
    Robson has been capped 16 times by Scotland and is still very much in the international reckoning. He hopes to play in Scotland's 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign and has already spoken to Craig Levein, who has ensured him that a move to North America won't hamper his international aspirations.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    It's a great move for both the Club and the player. I've been a fan of Robson's for a few years now. I actually first saw him play in 1997 for Inverness Caley Thistle and then in 2000 when he was on loan with Forfar Athletic in the Scottish Third Division and playing against my East Fife. He scored his first professional goal against us in a 4-0 drubbing in December 1997.
    He was standing out at that level with Forfar and soon went back to Inverness Caley where he became a first team regular and earned a move to the SPL with Dundee United, playing alongside current Whitecaps assistant coach Paul Ritchie.
    He then went on to join Celtic, scoring with his first touch in a Celts' shirt, where he won the Scottish Premier League and League Cup.
    He adds just the bite the Whitecaps are needing in the middle of the park, but also gives Rennie some options out wide as well if he wanted to switch things up at any time. Add in an experienced head and I think we could be looking at the Whitecaps future captain.
    Rennie is certainly glad to have him in Vancouver, if not a little surprised:
    <i>"He's a player that we've admired for a long time and wanted to try and get on board. We've done a lot of research and found out a lot about him as a player and as a person.
    Although we thought it was a long shot, and one we didn't think would come of, we're really happy that he's going to be joining us.
    We think that he'll be a big part of what we're doing. He's the kind of player we need to add to our group."</i>
    Paul Ritchie is also <i>"absolutely delighted"</i> to be working with Robson again:
    <i>"I was fortunate enough to play with Barry at Dundee United and know what he will be able to bring to the Club with his quality and professionalism."</i>
    For Robson himself, he can't wait to get started with his new team and try and get the Caps <i>"as far up that table as possible"</i> :
    <i>"I am very excited to be joining Whitecaps FC and to continue my career in Major League Soccer. I am impressed by the quality of MLS and Vancouver as a club. They have a passionate fan base and a fantastic stadium in BC Place."</i>
    Will Robson be the missing piece of the puzzle that the Caps have been looking for in the middle of the park?
    I think he will be. His age doesn't concern me, as there is a still a lot of gas in that tank, as he has shown with Boro the last two seasons.
    It's a shame we can't get him until the summer, but hopefully the midfield we currently have will step up and have us battling for a playoff spot by the time Robson arrives.
    With Carlos Bocanegra now being the latest player to be linked with Vancouver, it's an exciting time to be a Caps fan.
    <p>
    Guest
    We're back for episode nine. The episode our German listeners seemed to be most excited about. At least I think that's what they kept tweeting us.
    I'm going to go out on a limb here and say it's our best show yet. Looking at what it actually goes up against in that contest, ok, there's maybe not been that much competition, but still, we've put together a pretty good line up for your listening pleasure this week.
    Pierce Lang and myself are joined by three fine guests and kicking off proceedings is my fellow Fifer, and Whitecaps Assistant Manager, Paul Ritchie.
    Always a danger having two Scots talking together, especially two from the same hometown, but don't worry most of you won't need a transcript as we chat about the Caps off season moves, what kind of football fans can expect to see from the new look team, the importance of younger players in MLS, Paul's journey into coaching and much more besides.
    From a leader on the touchline, to a leader on the pitch, with Joe Cannon joining us as our next guest.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]It's always interesting to hear Joe wax lyrical and he lets us know his thoughts on the new Caps management team and shares just how much he's enjoying his football right now. We find out if Joe thinks he has it in him to play another 300 games, how he felt replacing a fan favourite and I finally get to ask him if I can shoot him out of a cannon! We also delve into his Canadian roots, and it's not an Olympic hoodie.
    Still room for a small one, but we don't do things in small measure on this show and crammed a big one in instead, as Sportsnet.ca's Martin MacMahon returns to the podcast to talk about the busy week it's been in Whitecapsland. Who will be coming? Who will be going? And should we be planning the parade yet?
    This week's show is so busy that we don't have time for any hotdog gags and there's only a couple of references to Chelsea Stewart. What is the world coming to?
    Have a listen and remember it's a light-hearted show, no staid analysis here. Or production values (sorry Pierce!).
    You can listen to this week's podcast (and the previous ones) on iTunes HERE or download it for your later listening delight HERE.Can't wait? Have a listen on one of the players below:
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    Guest
    Another day in the books at the Whitecaps' training camp, and as transfer rumours swirl around Barry Robson, David Bentley and now Carlos Bocanegra coming to Vancouver, all the players know that squad places are prized commodities going forward, never mind a place in the starting line up. Even those already on the squad shouldn't feel too settled in BC.
    Today's training was a day for some intrasquad game action. Everyone put in a good shift and worked hard, but once again, one of the standout players was Supplemental Draft pick Greg Klazura.
    The 22 year old defender was the Caps' second round pick in this year's Supplemental Draft, and as we've mentioned before on AFTN, Klazura's performances have stood out and impressed <a href="http://www.canadiansoccernews.com/content.php?2752-Whitecaps-First-Week-Training" target="_blank">not only ourselves, but more importantly Martin Rennie</a>, during pre-season training so far.
    Playing at left back, Klazura not only looked solid in defence today but was one of the key men going forward, with many breaks originating and continuing through him. Great to see and something we will need to see more off on both flanks this term.
    We're pretty sure that his performances will see him earn a spot on the Caps MLS squad for the season ahead, so what better time to catch up with the former Notre Dame captain to see how he's finding life in MLS and his first professional training camp:
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    <i>"I've enjoyed it. I like the pace of the games. I think the intensity of the sessions has been really good.
    I like getting to know the guys and the staff really know what they're doing. I'm liking it quite a bit."</i>
    It can never be easy for rookies to come into an established set-up, albeit one with a lot of new faces. Is there much difference between training with the Caps and training with Notre Dame?
    <i>"To be completely honest, it's not horribly different. You warm up, you do a session with focus on whatever it is and then a cool down, so it's kind of standard, but the pace is a little bit faster and the level, obviously, is expected to be a little bit higher. Overall it's pretty similar I think.</i>
    Klazura was expected to be in last year's draft, and there was even talk of him being one of the Generation Adidas guys, but he decided to go back to Notre Dame for a fifth college year and continue his studies.
    With so many young, talented guys just itching to get into the professional ranks, what was behind that decision?
    <i>"I decided to go back because I wanted to graduate. That was the biggest thing. It's nice having that little bit of security with a degree, but also I really wanted to play for Bobby Clark [Head Coach at Notre Dame] and the Fighting Irish one more time back in the States.
    I really enjoyed my time there and I thought we had a really good team this past year, even though things didn't quite go our way.
    The two big reasons were to get my degree and hopefully win a National Championship. The second one didn't pan out but I'm still glad I went back."</i>
    It's nice in this modern age to meet a player who has his head screwed on and realises that you need something to fall back on after your footballing career or if things take a downturn. It's also nice to see some loyalty to a team and a program.
    By taking that extra year at college, and with Notre Dame not having the best of seasons, Klazura maybe fell under the radar a little bit and was not only overlooked in the MLS SuperDraft, but also in the first round of the Supplemental Draft before Vancouver snapped him up in round two.
    With Supplemental Draft picks notoriously the first ones to get cut in training camps, was Klazura worried that he may not get his chance at MLS this season?
    <i>"I was pretty confident that once I got drafted I would be able to show my stuff wherever I went. Unless you sign a contract before the combine, you get a senior deal or are Generation Adidas you're kinda going on trial.
    So I knew this would be a trial for me, whether I was picked 60th or 15th, I was just happy for the opportunity and hoping it works out."</i>
    He's impressed many on-lookers so far but there's still a lot of hard work to go to make sure that he earns one of few remaining roster spots. What does he feel he needs to do to make it to the Whitecaps MLS squad?
    <i>"Well if people are saying good things, probably just keep doing what I'm doing! [laughs] You don't want to try to play like a player you're not and do things that you don't normally do. I'm an attacking outside back and just need to keep doing that and try to play well."</i>
    Klazura certainly likes going forward and Martin Rennie is known for building teams that like to break from a firm footing at the back and this ethos suits Klazura down to the ground:
    <i>"Originally, like a lot of players, I started in the midfield, then quite a lot at outside mid, then started to play outside back. I just like getting forward and never really took that out of my game, even when I was moved to the back line.
    I kinda don't like playing in the back line if I'm told not to get forward. I enjoy doing that."</i>
    And it clearly shows and hopefully Klazura gets a chance to develop his talents in Vancouver. I think he will.
    It's going to be tough though. You have to expect that Klazura, Chris Estridge and Bilal Duckett are all really fighting for one roster spot, and Martin Rennie basically said as much today, although he did add that there could be two available depending on positions they could cover and needs.
    With so much on the line, does that put any extra pressure on Greg?
    <i>"Honestly, I try not to think about it. The writing's on the wall. We kind of all realise there's a limited number of spots. They're both good guys and good players. If you sit around and think about it, it's not going to do you any good. You just got to come to training and play hard.</i>
    And he's certainly doing that.
    Greg Klazura is a footballer with talent and a great attitude, both on the football pitch and in the community.
    He would be an asset to the Caps squad and we hopes he makes it. Won't be long till we all find out.
    <p>
    Guest
    It looks like Brian Ching is headed back to Houston.
    SB Nation is reporting that the Impact will receive a conditional draft pick for Ching. The Dynamo agreed to the trade on the condition that Ching renegotiate his contract.
    The Impact don’t exactly lose the transaction, but they don’t particularly win it either. They gambled that the Dynamo would offer up something far more valuable than a pick. As defending Eastern Conference champions the Dynamo’s first round pick is not likely to be in the top 10 overall, and picks outside the top 10 are far from a sure thing. it’s also unlikely that the conditional pick will be a first rounder.
    Houston ends up ahead of the game by getting the fan favourite back at what we can assume will be a drastically reduced salary.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Guest
    The time is rapidly approaching when Canadian Soccer News will be able to ask actual, on-the-record questions to CSA insiders on the lead-up to May’s election, and the implementation of reform.
    So – what do you want to know?
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    If you’ve been following these governance stories, and are puzzled about anything – I certainly am! – here’s a chance to put your question forward.
    For now, I suggest focusing on the nomination process, and the future structure of the CSA board. No guarantee all questions will be asked, but I will certainly be guided by your curiosity.
    The comments section is yours.
    Onward!
    Guest

    Ghanaian Trialist Joins Whitecaps Training Camp

    By Guest, in AFTN,

    Vancouver Whitecaps returned to Burnaby Lake this morning to continue their pre-season training camp in colder climes.
    Having been in the Arizona heat for their last ten days of training, the Canadian chill will certainly have been a rude awakening for many, none more so that the new addition to the camp, 23 year old Ghanaian Nuru Sulley.
    Sulley is on a week's trial with the Caps after impressing Tommy Soehn on a recent scouting trip to Africa, as Martin Rennie told reporters after today's training:
    <i>"Tommy saw him when he was over visiting in Ghana, same kind of region that Koffie came from. So we're looking to see how he does and, obviously, if he ends up being as good as Koffie that might be a good thing for us."</i>
    Sulley (also listed on some sites as Suley) is a central defender, who can also play the defensive midfielder role, and currently plays for Accra based club Tudu Mighty Jets FC of the Ghana Premier League, having previously played for another Accran club, Great Olympics.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    His last appearance for Mighty Jets was as an 84th minute sub in their January 14th GPL game against Arsenals, having missed the two previous matches. He has featured in 13 of the Mighty Jets' 15 GPL games so far this season, starting 12 of them, and seems to have split his time between defensive and midfield roles, with no goals.
    Want to see him in action? Have a look at his highlights reel below:
    <center><iframe width="500" height="369" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/gafOcu8bx_M" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center>
    It's impossible at this early stage to tell what kind of acquisition Sulley could be. He didn't look out of place in today's training and was partnering Jay DeMerit on the back line.
    He's seemed a little bit taller than Carlyle Mitchell, possibly around the 6'2" or 6'3" mark. It could be another gem of a find like Koffie, or we may never hear of him again after this week. We shall have to wait and see.
    The addition of Sulley in the camp was offset by Irish midfielder Patrick Cregg going back to Bury, after failing to impress enough down in Arizona. Draftees Greg Klazura and Chris Estridge are also still in the camp and trying to earn a place on the MLS squad.
    Martin Rennie also mentioned today that the Caps are unlikely to head into 'First Kick' with a full 30 man squad and there is likely to be at least one, and maybe two, spots available to fill.
    With Sulley having come over, Etienne Barbara still rehabbing, the likelihood of Klazura signing and the prospect of another couple of trialists making the trip to Orlando next week, what the final make-up of the Caps initial squad will be is still anyone's guess.
    Movements of current signed squad members are still expected by many, myself included, if further additions are to be made.
    It's certainly going to be interesting to see how the next couple of weeks play out.
    <p>
    Guest
    RDS is reporting that Italian central defender Matteo Ferrari is set to join the Impact.
    The Algerian-born player has extensive experience in the Serie A, and most recently played for Besiktas in Turkey. He joins the team as a non-Designated Player, and should shore up a backline that had taken a hit with the latest injury of fellow Serie A veteran Nelson RIvas.
    Ferrari has represented Italy at a number of levels.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Impact and Timbers fight to scoreless draw
    Montreal's pre-season continues in Los Angeles, with the club playing to a 0-0 deadlock with the Portland Timbers last Friday. Highlights below.

    <param name="movie" value="http://p.mlssoccer.com/SAu5a/video/867467/league_2012-02-10-170107.640hq.mp4"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed width="310" height="175" src="http://p.mlssoccer.com/SAu5a/video/867467/league_2012-02-10-170107.640hq.mp4" id="cf44b4cei" name="cf44b4cen" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" /></object>


    The Impact will be looking to score its inaugural goal against MLS competition in a pair of exhibition matches Tuesday. Montreal will face off with LA Galaxy and Chivas USA in consecutive games as head coach Jesse Marsch runs the rule over his entire roster.
    Ching trade talks re-heat
    The never-ending saga pertaining to Brian Ching seems to be finally drawing to a close, as the Impact and Houston Dynamo are said to be in advanced trade talks that would see the American international return to the Texas club.
    There are no details of who or what would be heading Montreal's way in exchange for Ching's rights, but the 33-year-old has been excused from Impact training camp for "personal reasons."
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