A big congratulations to Mamadou “Futty” Danso, who departed Monday for Banjul, The Gambia. The Gambian defender is headed to his birthplace, in what could be considered the greatest honor for a footballer, playing for your home nation.

Futty will miss Thursday’s final regular season home match. This is his first time training with the senior national team, and hopefully he gets minutes this Saturday, in a qualifier for the 2012 Africa Cup of nations. He will return to Portland this Sunday.

Futty number 98, has become a defender the Timbers can count on. In regular season play this year he scored the game winning goal against Vancouver, and had a great free kick assist in Ryan Pore’s goal against Baltimore on Sunday. He will be missed this Thursday, but as the season hits the final leg, Futty will be a crucial part.

* Above picture courtesy of Allison Andrews… Read the rest

Portland Timbers News
Timbers Army – Sunflowers and Suits for Timbers
Throw Ins – Jimmy Conway
Timbers – Danso called up by Gambia National Team
Timbers - The Clean Sheet: A day to remember … Aug. 21
Timbers – MLS’ ¡Futbolito! comes to Portland Sept. 18
Oregon Live – ‘Futty’ to miss Thursday’s game
Oregon Live – Who will move on to MLS?
Google Maps – A Footie Fan Guide to Portland, OR

Around the League
Ives – USSF D-2: A Look Back at Week 21
NASL Fanatic – Portland Buries Crystal Palace Baltimore, Austin and Vancouver Draw
Football in Miami and Beyond – Season over for Miami FC? Time to work on the Strikers!
Montreal Offsides – Impact 2, Rochester 0: Message delivered.
86 Forever – Vancouver – Austin Review: New Guys, Same Result

MLS News
Sports Business Journal – Adidas ups MLS bet with $200M deal
WV Hooligan – MLS… Read the rest

So the women of college soccer prove once again, that they are tougher then the boys. This incident flared up in Eugene, between the other OSU, (Oklahoma State University) and the Oregon Ducks. And thanks to Elizabeth Lambert, many will never see womens soccer the same way.

US soccer and Bob Bradley agreed to a contract extension which will keep him as the head coach of US national team through qualifying and the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Bradley’s deal was set to expire in December, which pays him $600,000 plus bonuses. He holds a career record of 39-21-8, and led the team to their best ever finish in a FIFA tournament, the final at the 2009 Confederations Cup

Up next for the U.S. and Bradley is a pair of international friendlies on Oct. 9 against Poland in Chicago and Oct. 12 against Colombia in Chester, Pa.

USsoccer.com
US v Brazil 8/10/2010 highlights

Game Recaps Timbers v Baltimore
Dropping timber – Showing Baltimore Who’s Boss, Timbers win 3-0
Timber Mill - Timbers outclass Crystal Palace Baltimore in comfortable 3-0 win
Offsides – Game 25: Timbers 3 – Palace 0
Oregon Live – Portland 3, Baltimore 0: Timbers’ game starts to crystallize
Oregon Live – Offensive changes pay dividends for Timbers attack
Timbers – Timbers shut out Crystal Palace Baltimore 3-0
KGW – Timbers rout Baltimore 3-0 in front of 15K plus fans

Portland celebrates at “home plate” during their blowout win over Baltimore

The Portland Timbers made a statement and got a taste of redemption Sunday evening. In front of 15,418 at PGE Park, the Timbers (10-7-8, 38pts) put a beating on Baltimore from start to finish – a bottom-dwelling USSF team that had gotten the best of them twice already this season. With the victory, the 4th place Timbers further solidified their spot in the standings and sent a message about the quality of soccer this team is capable of playing on a given night.

“From front to back,” Said Coach Gavin Wilkinson, “We were at a different level. Some of the best football I’ve seen here in the last 2 years. The ball speed, the movement off the ball, the runs made out of the middle of the pack, the runs made up front – it was exciting.”… Read the rest

Portland Timbers

Crystal Palace Baltimore

A team at the bottom of the league standings is coming to PGE Park to play the Timbers. For most, playing a non-playoff team would be a welcome advantage, but this isn’t exactly the case for this year’s Timbers squad.

Against the bottom three teams in the league Portland (9-7-8, 35pts) has an unmoving record of 3-3-1, including a record of 1-1-1 at home versus those same cellar dwelling clubs. Oddly enough the Timbers are 3-1-3 against the top 3 teams in the league – the bad habit of playing down to their competition level… Read the rest

The Portland Timbers (9-7-8, 35pts) played the Austin Aztex (13-3-6, 45pts) to a 1-1 draw in an emotionally charged match that would see a flurry of fouls, eight yellow cards, and multiple ejections, including one for the opposing team’s manager. Despite a chaotic ending that would see a bit of controversy and a red card booking for midfielder Rodrigo Lopez, Portland would play a majority of the 2nd half with a man advantage yet was unable to find the game-winning goal. With the draw, the Timbers will remain in 4th place in the overall standings, and have 6 games left in the season with a tough Carolina Railhawks team only one point behind them.

An interesting and exciting match, the Timbers would open the scoring just 4-minutes into the 1st half, a misplaced ball by an Aztex defender would lead to a break away up the sideline for… Read the rest

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