You cannot stop us. We are the Rose City

By: Bob Kellett | May 20th, 2008

TOTW
What does it take to make the USL First Division Team of the Week? In the case of Portland Timbers midfielder Bryan Little, it took an excellent second half against the Puerto Rico Islanders followed by a pedestrian performance against Miami. For Timbers defender Cameron Knowles, it took his usual solid backline performance in the Tropics and a willingness to overlook the sitter he missed at the end of the game against Miami. I wonder if the league gives the players anything when they are named to the TOTW. I once got a gift certificate to Dairy Queen for making the all-tournament team at a U12 tournament. I still list that honor on my résumé.

Justin Thompson’s road report
Quick, someone get that sturdy Canadian a blog.

Checking in with the national media
You can add Shedhead to the list of adjectives that describe Soccernet and The Offside’s Anne Ramzy. Even though she informed us last week that she did indeed attend a Timbers’ game back when we hoped to fill the first three rows of section 107, she isn’t completely in love with the way the lads are playing this very moment. Her USL-1 thoughts are here.

Burse’s other boss booted
FC Dallas coach Steve Morrow was given the proverbial pink slip Tuesday, following on the heels his team’s pathetic 5-1 loss to the LA Galaxy last weekend. Normally I would care about this about as much as I care about picking out flowers for the centerpieces at a wedding, but this could impact our beloved Timbers. A new boss could mean a new direction for the Hoops and that new direction could include recalling keeper Ray Burse from Portland. This is just speculation, of course, but let’s say Dallas goes in the tank. Wouldn’t they be tempted to get Burse some MLS experience later in the season?

Breaking down the MLS expansion race
I really wonder what people are going to do when MLS is done expanding. It is a full-time job speculating about which cities will enter the league and when. If you check out Big Soccer and some of the other message boards out there you’ll find almost as many threads about MLS expansion as you will find about what is actually happening with the current teams. I’ll admit that now that Portland is part of the mix I am following things more closely than I should, but not as closely as people like WV Hooligan, who has a decent breakdown of where things currently stand.

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