Preseason is officially underway, and so begins the long, slow burn toward kickoff of the 2015 MLS season. Catch all the news and updates from MLS training camps below. For the entire preseason schedule, click here.
OLSEN PUSHING HARD
With D.C. United getting set for their second match of the 2015 preseason, Tuesday against Swedish club Jönköpings Södra IF, head coach Ben Olsen spoke with DCUnited.com about the team’s progression.
He said a handful of players who missed their first preseason game, , a 1-1 draw with Orlando City SC on Friday, Nick DeLeon, Chris Rolfe and Markus Halsti will be in action Tuesday.
“We need to get them incorporated and get them minutes,” Olsen said. “The goal with each game is to get better from a fitness and rhythm standpoint.”
He also offered up his assessment on how the camp in Bradenton, Fla., has gone so far.
“I think we have pushed them pretty hard, and I think they have responded in the right way,” he said. “They prepared themselves in the off season, and that’s helped us as we have had to push their fitness and quicken things up in preparations for how early a meaningful CONCACAF game comes for us this season.”
For the full conversation, click here.
MEET TIMBERS' NEW NO. 1
The Portland Timbers already have one preseason match under their belt, a 2-0 shutout vs. Sporting KC. Making his debut for the Timbers and partaking in the shutout was Ghana int'l
GK Adam Kwarasey
, who spoke to Timbers.com:
SO, WHAT'D I MISS?
He may not have been part of the New England Revolution's Eastern Conference championship season in 2014, but Juan Agudelo was part of the Revs' return to the playoffs in 2013 and was welcomed by plenty of familiar faces upon arriving in Arizona today.
GET SPIFFY
Of course, a preseason trip has a different kind of meaning when you're being honored as last year's MLS Cup champions.
You've got to look sharp!
READY TO RUN
Preseason means, perhaps above all, fitness, and one of Major League Soccer's newest clubs is spending the first part of their Monday making sure their players are up to speed. After all, Opening Day is less than five weeks away!
BON VOYAGE
Like many teams, the Philadelphia Union are headed for warmer climes to prepare for the 2015 season, and it looks like winter storms in the Northeast have not prevented their departure:
ACROSS THE POND
The Chicago Fire, meanwhile, are moving their preseason to the not-exactly-balmy shores of the United Kingdom, with which head coach Frank Yallop and new Designated Player Shaun Maloney are certainly familiar.
The trip includes friendly games against Norwich City and Queens Park Rangers, but it may also bring Chicago closer to rumored transfer target and Canadian international Marc Bircham, currently on the books at Millwall.
