Chicago head coach Denis Hamlett has some tough decisions to make as the Fire look to finalize their roster in the final weeks of preseason.

Read on here.

The Houston Dynamo face an uphill struggle to advance in the CONCACAF Champions League after a disappointing 1-1 draw with Atlante FC of Mexico in the first leg of their quarterfinal series Tuesday evening at Robertson Stadium. Houston took the lead in the 34th minute on Bobby Boswell’s header, and should have gone to halftime at least another goal up. But they instead conceded a devastating away goal to Atlante’s Gabriel Pereyra in the 82nd minute. “For our first competitive game, I thought we played well. Obviously, the 1-1 makes it more difficult as we head down to Cancun. It’s a good result for them, it’s not a terrible result for us. We just need to win a game away from home, which we’ve done before,” Dynamo coach Dominic Kinnear said. Read the full story from ASN's Houston correspondent.

Toronto FC acquired Canadian international defender Adrian Serioux on Tuesday for the club’s 2010 natural first round draft pick and allocation money, bringing the versatile hardman to BMO Field for the second time after he was first acquired by the club in the 2007 expansion draft.

After initially joining the club ahead of their expansion season, Serioux had been traded to FC Dallas for Ronnie O’Brien, allowing then-coach Mo Johnston to address a more pressing need at right midfield. One season and only 13 games later, O’Brien has since left for San Jose.

Serioux is a regular at central defense for the Canadian national team but can play anywhere in midfield or defense. At former club Milwall in England, Serioux was renowned for his long throws, a strategy that Stoke City have used to famous effect with Rory Delap in the English Premier League this season.

Toronto FC have been criticized for a lack of commitment to Canadian soccer, but 2009 has so far looked bright for fans of both TFC and the Red and White. The Canadian Championship will go ahead for another year, with TFC desperate to take home the Voyageurs Cup and emulate rivals Montreal Impact in challenging the continent’s elite at the CONCACAF Champions League.

Toronto FC’s Academy is in full swing for their second CSL season, while Serioux represents another Canadian addition to Carver’s roster. It’s a far cry from the scene of several Canadians leaving the club at the end of 2007, arguably not good enough for the rigours of MLS.

Serioux joins fellow Scarborough native and former Houston Dynamo teammate Dwayne De Rosario in signing for his hometown club ahead of the 2009 campaign. Several Canadians remain scattered throughout MLS.

Will Johnson scored the 2008 MLS Goal of the Year for Real Salt Lake, while leftback Ante Jazic joined Chivas USA from LA Galaxy this offseason. 41-year-old goalkeeper Pat Onstad remains the lone Canadian at Houston.

In other transfer news, defender Tyrone Marshall joined expansion side Seattle Sounders for allocation money this month, while Argentine forward Pablo Vitti has joined TFC on loan from Ukrainian club Chornomorets Odessa.

Serioux will get his chance to impress when Toronto kick off theircampaign in Kansas City on March 21st. A large continent of travelling fans are likely to land in Columbus on March 28th for the second match of the season, while April 4th will see TFC welcome Seattle for the Canadian side’s home opener.

We are in the process of removing all ads on this site. Several factors contributed to this decision, not least of which the fact that it simply was not worth it, from a financial perspective. The (very) small income from pay-per-click services such as Google AdWords were simply not worth cluttering up the site with banners and text links. Ultimately, these services end up being nothing more than free advertising for Google. If Google (or anybody else) wants to advertise in this space, they are free to contact us to discuss it. But it won’t come free.

Instead, we are putting up “donate now” buttons that allow readers and others to give us money, should they feel so inclined. The default rate has been set at $4.95–the cost of a magazine (remember those?) Benefactors can contribute through paypal or a major credit card and, if they so choose, be listed on a recognition wall (link to be published shortly). ASN reserves the right to decline donations from any or all organizations or individuals without notice or explanation. These sums will be refunded immediately.

Proceeds will be used to cover costs such as hosting. Anything left over will be shared with writers, editors and photographers, who have historically contributed their considerable talents for free. Eventually we will configure the site so donations can be made to a specific team’s beat coverage. We are currently having internal discussions for how to structure a profit-sharing agreement between contributors. Once these details are worked out they will likely be made available in the interests of transparency.

The “donate now” fields look like this.
[donateplus]
[donatetotal] has been raised to date through this method (this should be in real time).

They will be placed in select locations, as unobtrusively as possible. There will be no other campaigns to cajole or guilt-trip readers into donating. Just this: In a day and age when the general public has come to expect (if not demand) free content, many news organizations have accepted that profits will eventually dwindle, if not disappear altogether. ASN is no different in this regard, except that we never expected to get rich off this site to begin with. And we still don’t. And that’s fine. But not booking profits–even marginal ones–from an operation and breaking even is different from having said enterprise cost you money. That’s where we’re at now (hosting costs, travel to and from games, not to mention the opportunity costs involved, etc.). Anything to help us mitigate this is greatly appreciated. And that’s it. We’re done. No more sob stories. Enjoy the (soon to be ad free) site!

U.S. Under-20 Men’s National Team head coach Thomas Rongen has named 20 players who will compete for the 2009 CONCACAF Under-20 Championship, from March 6-15 in Trinidad & Tobago. The tournament will qualify four teams to the 2009 FIFA Under-20 World Cup, which will take place from Sept. 24-Oct. 16 in Egypt.

Read on.

Bayern Munich are not interested in acquiring Landon Donovan’s rights on a permanent basis, the team’s executive director Karl-Heinz Rummenigge told German press Tuesday. This paves the way for Donovan to return to the L.A. Galaxy when his loan deal with Bayern ends March 15.

Read on here.

Red Bull New York announced today that it had signed designated player Juan Pablo Angel to a multi-year contract extension. Per club and League regulations, terms of the deal were not disclosed. Angel said in an announcement he was excited to extend his contract and was looking forward to be a part of the team when it (finally) moves into its new Harrison, N.J., stadium in 2010.

Read on.

As you can see from the redesigned, ad-free sidebar (due to the new, ad-free ASN), we now have more real estate to accommodate links to sites of interest. The goal is to link to sites that cover as many aspects of U.S. soccer as possible. Team-specific blogs and news sites can be found on individual teams’ ASN sub pages (U.S. Men’s National Teams, U.S. Women’s National Teams, ‘Over There’, etc.)

Independent news sites and blogs are preferred, though some “corporates” are of course unavoidable (such as the MLS home page). Post ideas in the comment field below or send them to us by email or via Twitter or on Facebook.

We also would like to put up some of the links that were deleted in the interests of space over the past few months. If that is you, please don’t hesitate to contact us as well.

Khano Smith, whom the New York Red Bulls acquired from Seattle Sounders FC today is certainly a solid player and very worthy professional who, in the words of sporting director Jeff Agoos adds "depth and athleticism to the left side of our midfield." Red Bulls fans hope that is all he is meant to supply this team.

Read more, on the RBNY@ASN page.

We are in the process of removing all ads on this site. Several factors contributed to this decision, not least of which the fact that it simply was not worth it, from a financial perspective. The (very) small income from pay-per-click services such as Google AdWords were simply not worth cluttering up the site with banners and text links. Ultimately, these services end up being nothing more than free advertising for Google. If Google (or anybody else) wants to advertise in this space, they are free to contact us to discuss it. But it won’t come free.

Instead, we are putting up “donate now” buttons that allow readers and others to give us money, should they feel so inclined. The default rate has been set at $4.95–the cost of a magazine (remember those?) Benefactors can contribute through paypal or a major credit card and, if they so choose, be listed on a recognition wall (link to be published shortly). ASN reserves the right to decline donations from any or all organizations or individuals without notice or explanation. These sums will be refunded immediately.

Proceeds will be used to cover costs such as hosting. Anything left over will be shared with writers, editors and photographers, who have historically contributed their considerable talents for free. Eventually we will configure the site so donations can be made to a specific team’s beat coverage. We are currently having internal discussions for how to structure a profit-sharing agreement between contributors. Once these details are worked out they will likely be made available in the interests of transparency.

The “donate now” fields look like this.
[donateplus]
[donatetotal] has been raised to date through this method (this should be in real time).

They will be placed in select locations, as unobtrusively as possible. There will be no other campaigns to cajole or guilt-trip readers into donating. Just this: In a day and age when the general public has come to expect (if not demand) free content, many news organizations have accepted that profits will eventually dwindle, if not disappear altogether. ASN is no different in this regard, except that we never expected to get rich off this site to begin with. And we still don’t. And that’s fine. But not booking profits–even marginal ones–from an operation and breaking even is different from having said enterprise cost you money. That’s where we’re at now (hosting costs, travel to and from games, not to mention the opportunity costs involved, etc.). Anything to help us mitigate this is greatly appreciated. And that’s it. We’re done. No more sob stories. Enjoy the (soon to be ad free) site!