Javier Morales is back to lead RSL into a big 2012 campaign. (Getty Images)

Everyone loves a good dark horse story in sports. MLS is no different really as in each season there always seems to be a player that comes from no where to win the MLS MVP race. We saw that in the past with guys like David Ferreira in 2010 and nearly saw it last year with Brek Shea before he lost out to Dwayne De Rosario.

Attacking players tend to do well in the MVP race, but we can’t sleep on those in the back here either. Here are a few guys I see that could be big in this year’s MVP race outside of the traditional names like Landon Donovan, Thierry Henry and Dwayne De Rosario.

Javier Morales (Real Salt Lake) – A big, big year once again for RSL. Morales has been in the MVP mix before but I think there probably won’t be nearly as much chatter about him going into this season as last year, partly due to his injury last season. I still firmly believe that as Morales goes, so will RSL.

Geoff Cameron (Houston Dynamo) – One of the few defenders that I think can make a real difference in this league (Omar Gonzalez and Jamison Olave being the others). Cameron should be slotted into the defense for the entire season this year, unlike previous years where he has played in the midfield. Should Houston make another run at the MLS Cup this season, it won’t be entirely on Brad Davis but more on Cameron in my eyes to get them there.

David Chiumiento (Vancouver Whitecaps) – Vancouver looks to be an offensive power this season with the likes of Camilo, Sebastien Le Toux, Eric Hassli and Chiumiento. But for me, out of all of those names Chiumiento is posed to have the biggest year. He is expected to be back in the center of the pitch (his natural position I might add) for new boss Martin Rennie. I’m not the only one thinking this either.

Marco Pappa (Chicago Fire) – I’ve always been a big fan of Pappa and something about this group in Chicago has me believing a little more this season. As long as he, Patrick Nyarko, Pavel Pardo and Dominic Oduro can continue their form that we saw late last season, this could be a dangerous team out of the Eastern Conference in 2012.

Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City) – He just got a new contract with Sporting KC today and even before that happened I already had him pegged for this spot. Zusi finally seemed to come alive last year (as did SKC), and I think 2012 is the start of even bigger things for him too.

Danny Koevermans (Toronto FC) – MVP voters like goals and Koevermans showed that he can put plenty of them in the back of the net since his arrival last summer. Toronto is such an intriguing side going into this season and for me it comes down to their defense and this man. If he can bag 15 goals or more this season, you can bet on him being in the MVP discussion.

I’ve been sitting on this post for almost a week now, forgive me.  Major League Soccer released its 2012 roster rules last week, with little fanfare too. Just a few changes from last year, nothing too crazy or different from 2011 but enough to note.

Salary Cap

The salary cap has been raised to $2.81 million, up five percent from last year’s $2.675 million. This is something we’ve discussed here before back when LA was getting Edson Buddle and Juninho back.

The minimum salary for veterans has been raised to $44,000 from $42,000 while the minimum for players under 25 is $33,750, up from $32,600.

Only the 20-man senior roster counts toward the salary cap. The rest of the roster is the off budget or developmental roster, which typically includes Generation adidas players, rookies and Home Grown players. Team can leave two of these spots empty on their roster and receive $35,000 in allocation money for each empty slot.

There is no salary cap relief when players go on the disabled list, and they must sit out for six games. They can be replaced on the active roster.

Transfer Window

The summer transfer window will be from June 27 to July 27. The monthlong window closed on Aug. 14 last year. The primary transfer window closes on April 15. (more…)

Can Orlando pass New York here for team #20? (Photo via Orlando Weekly)

Here we go again folks. More expansion talk.

MLS Commissioner Don Garber will travel to Orlando on March 1 for exploratory meetings about potential future expansion into Florida.

Yes, yes, the league continues to say they are focused on getting team number 20 in the Big Apple but I don’t think we can be overly shocked to hear that Garber is going to meet with officials in Orlando to discuss the future here.

“As such, I’ve been impressed with Orlando City’s success on- and off-the-field and look forward to meeting with local supporters and speaking directly with key public officials about the future of professional soccer in Orlando,” said Garber.

The trip will also include a town hall meeting with Orlando City fans at Mojo Cajun Bar and Grill at 12:30 p.m. ET. Doors open at 11:30 a.m.

The meeting is open to the public.

Again, good to hear that the league isn’t just waiting around for things in New York to happen. I still hold firm in my beliefs that New York will eventually happen, and shortly after that the league will expand to 22 teams with Orlando and someone else, followed by another duo down the road from that to get to 24 clubs. Just an opinion of mine that I have had for a long, long time.

I have to say, I am rooting for Orlando here though. Everything I’ve seen out of that group suggests they’d do very well in MLS in a few years time.  Naturally they have to work out some stadium issues and probably get another backer in the money department but I think they are well on their way here.

First of all, sorry for the radio silence today. Just been one of those days at the office.

Anyways, I wanted to talk about a fantastic article  in The Guardian that goes into just how tough it can and has been for traveling fans in the US.

The average journey for North American fans is still one of the longest you would undertake in most other leagues; the bigger journeys are more expeditions than road trips; Portland Timbers fans going to New York is the same as going from London to Baghdad. LA Galaxy at Boston is longer than Tokyo to Manila.

The journey those Fire fans made to Toronto clocked in at 1,000 miles round trip, and that’s their second closest game; in England, no-one can travel that far at all, and it’s pushing the longest trip most European fans would have to make. Only fans in Russia can hold a candle in terms of the distances traveled to see a team play, and even there, the average distances tend to be exaggerated by a small number of teams in Siberia and the far-east.

MLS has gotten better at dealing with the away travelers over the last few years and will only continue to improve on it. Not many leagues in the world can say they have to deal with the travel quite like the clubs do in MLS. Outside of the LA rivalry, teams and their fans typically have many miles between them and the next club.

To those who make the road trips, good on you. I can honestly say you are what helps grow this sport.

Dwayne De Rosario finally gets his money. (Getty Images)

It was a long time in the making for Dwayne De Rosario but he finally got someone to show him the money. The 2011 MLS MVP signed a new contract today with D.C. United.

While DeRo isn’t a Designated Player, one has to imagine he’ll be making pretty close to that level. Allocation was used to bring down his contract number to not make him a DP.

“It’s nice to be with an organization that has the same goals and ambitions as I,” said De Rosario. “D.C. United has a very rich history and one that we want to relive in the near future – hopefully we can start this year. It’s a great feeling to be associated with the United family. Ever since I came here, the organization and the fans have accepted me as part of the family, and I want to keep this family growing all across the DC area and relive those special moments.”

The 33-year old midfielder had one hell of a year in 2011, notching 16 goals and 11 assists en route the league’s MVP award. United had stated several times over the last six months or so that they wanted DeRo to be a big part of their club going forward. Signing him to a new deal certainly shows their level of commitment to him, something previous clubs Toronto and New York didn’t do for him.

Two interesting and totally separate stadium discussions to start the week off with this morning.

First up in San Jose.

The Earthquakes are close nearing their final hurdle to get their own soccer stadium built. San Jose owner Lew Wolff’s plan to build a $60 million soccer stadium faces its final vote Wednesday night, when the San Jose Planning Commission is expected to decide whether the city has adequately addressed residents’ concerns about the stadium being in their backyard.

There has been a growing concern from the locals in San Jose near the proposed stadium site that say the stadium will be too loud for the neighborhood. Residents around the area say that the lights and noise issues haven’t been properly analyzed.

Out in Washington, D.C., officials from United and Events DC are close to agreeing on a two-year lease extension at RFK Stadium. That’s not where it gets interesting however.

Parties from both sides are saying this will create a window in which the team and some city officials likely will attempt a last-ditch effort to build a stadium for the team in the District.

“That two-year extension will then provide adequate time for serious negotiations to commence between the city, Events DC and the team about a new soccer stadium in D.C., and one that meets the needs of the city and one that meets the needs of D.C. United,” said Team President Kevin Payne.

Could this finally be the time that both San Jose and D.C. get their own digs? God let’s hope so.

Mike Fucito and Lamar Neagle head to Montreal in exchange for Eddie Johnson. (Getty Images)

The allocation was quick and swift for striker Eddie Johnson. The former FC Dallas and Kansas City man was quickly selected by the Montreal Impact via the allocation order today. The Impact quickly tweeted out that they would be trading him though.

The Montreal Impact has drafted forward Eddie Johnson. A trade regarding this player will be announced shortly. #IMFC #MLS

February 17, 2012 4:29 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@impactmontreal

Impact de Montréal

Montreal took a big gamble by using their allocation spot but they did go out and make a big deal for Johnson. They sent him to the Seattle Sounders for Lamar Neagle and Mike Fucito.

Wowzers. That is quite a trade folks.

Seattle fans will likely hate this deal to the very core as Johnson hasn’t been a top level striker for nearly four years now. Giving up two quality players in Neagle and Fucito is a major gamble for Seattle. But saying all of that, given the likes of Fredy Montero, Alvaro Fernandez and Mauro Rosales on the Sounders roster right now, Johnson won’t be called or asked to carry the team on the offensive side of things. That is good.

Fucito scored six goals and added three assists in 28 appearances, 17 of those as a starter, across all competitions in 2011. He also appeared in three career MLS playoff games.

Neagle scored five goals and added two assists in 23 matches for Seattle last season, tied for third on the team lead.  He made two playoff appearances, one as a starter, scoring a goal.

Montreal is coming out of this deal looking like total winners. It’s a gamble both ways but in the end you have to favor the Impact on this deal.

Michael Ballack could be coming to a MLS side near you. (Getty Images)

German international midfielder Michael Ballack could be close to joining a Major League Soccer team. Sources close to Goal.com say the midfielder is in “deep negotiations” with the league.

Sources from both sides have confirmed that MLS Executive VP Todd Durbin initiated talks that would bring the former Germany captain and current Bayer Leverkusen midfielder to North America. A source close to the player revealed that Durbin listed five teams interested in bringing Ballack onboard, including New York, Montreal, Chicago, Philadelphia and Seattle.

Of those clubs a couple don’t make a ton of sense. I believe Philadelphia lacks any open international spots on their roster.

Ballack is looking for an annual salary within the range of Thierry Henry’s $5.5 million and David Beckham’s $6.5 million and would prefer to play for a team that can potentially win the MLS Cup this season. So that may knock New York, Montreal and Chicago out of the running here for him (no offense to those three clubs but come on, we know how deep the Western Conference is right now)*.

Ballack has the option of terminating his current contract with Bayern Leverkusen but the report says he is looking to finish out that contract that goes to this summer.

I’ve always been a fan of Ballack so seeing this news is pretty nice but I do worry about the contract itself with the league. If he is making Henry/Beckham money but is only putting forth a so-so effort in the last two years of his career then I’d pass on this move for any MLS side.

* Sarcasm folks…don’t take that comment too seriously here.

Now that the Brian Ching saga is over and done with we can now look back on what the Montreal Impact probably should have done instead of playing the hardball game with Ching and the Houston Dynamo.

Obviously getting just a conditional draft pick* isn’t bad but for the most part it wasn’t what Montreal and their fans would have expected in return for a player like Ching.

(* it could turn into a first round SuperDraft pick IF Ching appears in 20 games)

I would think you can expect the Impact to think twice before going down this road again considering the fact that they own the top spot in the 2012 Allocation Order.

Anyways, below is a list of players that the Impact probably should have taken a better look at in hindsight over Ching. Feel free to add your thoughts below. (Note this list is in no certain order)

1. Daniel Paladini (Chicago Fire) – A solid midfielder that many thought would be taken in this draft.

2. Blake Brettschneider (DC United) – A decent up and coming forward that could have probably seen decent minutes under Jesse Marsch. (And yes, they can still have him now that he is a free agent)

3. Bobby Warshaw (FC Dallas) – A tireless worker that would have been slotted into the defense or defensive part of the midfield for Marsch on day one.

4. Michael Stephens (LA Galaxy) – I’m still very shocked he got passed over by Montreal. Stephens should be competing for minutes with the Olympic team this summer. Would have been a starter in year one for the Impact.

5. Eric Alexander (Portland Timbers) – Another guy I really expected to be taken by the Impact. I’ve seen him enough over the years here in Dallas to know he has the ability to be a solid player for any club.

You have asked, and now you shall receive. Below is the 2012 MLS Allocation Order.

Here’s a little background on the allocation order:

The allocation ranking is the mechanism used to determine which MLS club has first priority to acquire a U.S. National Team player who signs with MLS after playing abroad, or a former MLS player who returns to the League after having gone to a club abroad for a transfer fee. The allocation rankings may also be used in the event two or more clubs file a request for the same player on the same day when the discovery period opens in December. The allocations will be ranked in reverse order of finish for the 2011 season, taking playoff performance into account.

Once the club uses its allocation ranking to acquire a player, it drops to the bottom of the list.  A ranking can be traded, provided that part of the compensation received in return is the other club’s ranking. At all times, each club is assigned one ranking. The rankings reset at the end of each MLS League season.

Eddie Johnson looks to be the first to go through the order. Teams can (and will) pass, so don’t expect the top team to use their spot right away (remember last year with Chivas?).

1. Montreal Impact
2. Vancouver Whitecaps
3. New England Revolution
4. Toronto FC
5. Chivas USA
6. San Jose Earthquakes
7. DC United
8. Portland Timbers
9. Chicago Fire
10. Columbus Crew
11. FC Dallas
12. New York Red Bulls
13. Philadelphia Union
14. Colorado Rapids
15. Seattle Sounders
16. Sporting Kansas City
17. Real Salt Lake
18. Houston Dynamo
19. LA Galaxy